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Murshidabad Painting a new school of painting with traditional
mughal qalam at its root developed in Murshidabad, the capital
of the far-flung Mughal province of Bengal during the first quarter of
the 18th century. This province was earlier a great centre of art and
culture during the Pala and Husain Shahi period. The Mughals too patronized
art and culture of the area.
Murshidabad School was established under the direct patronage
of its governors when dispersed court artists of the crumbling
Mughal Empire took refuge at the court of Murshidabad in search
of their livelihood. During 18th century Murshidabad emerged into
a new era of prosperity as a result of European trade and settled
government. It is not certain whether any royal atelier of Murshidabad
was formed under its first subahdar murshid
quli khan (1716-1727). He was a pious ruler who despised
all sorts of luxury.
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Murshidabad Painting |
Yet some paintings of his time - Murshid Quli Khan holding
darbar by the Bhagirathi River (c 1720), Muharram processions,
festivals on Khwaja Khizir - are preserved in a folio of Clive Album now
housed in the India Office Library, London. The style of these paintings
are local variations of regional Mughal albums. No extant examples of
paintings under the aegis of the next subadhar shujauddin
muhammad khan (1727-1739) have come down to us.
The real Murshidabad style of painting came into vogue
under the next ruler alivardi
khan (1740-1756). A contemporary historian Ghulam Hussein Salim
is of opinion that Alivardi Khan was an avid patron of art and culture.
Some of the paintings of his court, entitled 'Nawab Alivardi Khan hunting
Roe Buck' (c 1750-1755), 'Alivardi Khan seated on a Garden Terrace in
conversation with his nephews', are now preserved in the India
Office Library. These are evidence of the early Murshidabad atelier and
this aged ruler favoured darbar and hunting scenes, somber moods, chilly
palette, dominant whites and grays in both hunting and court scenes.
Under sirajuddaula, the grandson of Alivardi Khan, Murshidabad painting reached its highest apogee. His liberal views widened the horizon of Murshidabad court painting. Apart from formal court scenes and scenes of conversation his painters were encouraged to portray the cosy scenes of the zenana and also ragamala scenes. Thus a renewed vitality is noticed in the art activities of Siraj's brief reign. Like the pleasure loving later Mughal rulers scenes portraying women in romantic love scenes, as well as scenes portraying women in various activities in the zenana, and also women outside their precints were favoured by Sirajuddaula. Among the numerous raga and ragini scenes were depicted by the court artists. Among the ragas, hindola raga, gujari ragini, kakubha ragini, madhumadhavi ragini, bangali ragini etc are noteworthy. Lovers amidst a romantic landscape or on a royal terrace or on a river cruise are the most favourite scenes of this period. Like their Mughal precursors, the Murshidabad artists painted on hand made papers in gouche. They worked on Mughal qalam. Themotifs of semi circular bushes bordering the terrace, the placid river with storks dotted on its banks overlooking the terrace; also far away vistas of undulating hillocks with schematically arranged semi-circular shrubs are indicators of Murshidabad provenance.
Under the next ruler mir
jafar (1757-1760), Murshidabad atelier witnessed no remarkable
change in the style of painting except losing vitality and charm of Siraj's
period. During this period Puran Nath, alias Hunhar, a renowned artist
from Lucknow joined the Murshidabad atelier.A beautiful painting by Puran
Nath, now preserved in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, depicts Nawab
Mir Jafar and his son Miran inspecting armies amidst a vast field. Other
miniatures representing single portrait of the nawab amidst barren natural
settings, formal court scenes, etc recall the style of Alivardi Khan's
atelier for their similarity of themes and choice of somber atmosphere
and pallid colour scheme. The Lucknow painters who worked under Mir Jafar
continued to work in the atelier of the next ruler mir
qasim (1760-63).
Among them the most renowned painter was Dip Chand, from whose
meticulous brush came the famous portrait of Gurgan, a courtier
of Mir Qasim, which is now preserved in the Victoria & Albert
Museum. Formal court scenes of the nawabs were also painted during
this period, which are reminiscent of the paintings of his preceeding
rulers.
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Murshidabad Painting |
By the time of Mir Qasim, the arrival and predominance
of Lucknow artists brought in a remarkable change in the Murshidabad style,
when the prevailing Mughal qalam was replaced by the Lucknow qalam. Portraits
of nawabs and courtiers overwhelmed by exaggerated emotion, with fine
stipplings of grey and brownish ground, the flower beds at the back drop
of the portraits, yellow palette of the lily pond are indicators of Lucknow
qalam.
The defeat and deposition of Mir Qasim by the English
and the ascendancy of the aged puppet Nawab Mir Jafar for a second term
to the masnad of Murshidabad, disturbed the congenial atmosphere
needed for the promotion of art and culture. The patronage now passed
on to the opulent zamindars, Muslim nobles, Hindu and Jaina businessmen
and British officials residing near Murshidabad, who employed the disbursed
artists to illustrate popular Hindu-Muslim manuscripts as well as muraqqas
(picture albums) containing portraits of Mughal rulers, nawabs, courtiers,
representation of ragamalas etc. Among those manuscripts and albums Dastur-i-Himayat,
Razamnama, Nala Damayanti, Nabwa Daman, Ragamala,
and Nayaka-Nayikabheda miniatures received the patrons favour.
In the illustrations of Hindu gods and religious themes the artists represented
local varieties of Hinduism in Bengal, such asVaishnavite and Tantric
mode. While depicting those miniatures, the artists faithfully represented
the flora and fauna of Bengal in a rather naive and folkish manner. However,
the famine of 1769 dealt the final blow to the last vestiges of Murshidabad
painting when the famine-striken poor artists took shelter at the Britsh
master's atelier where they adapted themselves to the European influenced
company style of painting. [Najma Khan Majlis]
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