Mandana art

The Meena tribes of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, India, trace their ancestry to the Matsya tribe of the Matsya kingdom (both "Meena" and "Matsya" mean fish in the Sanskrit language) that flourished in the 6th century, B.C. The women of the tribe decorate the walls and floors of their house with motifs drawn with a paste of ground rice and milk, or with a mix of lime and chalk powder. The floor and walls are first prepared by applying a paste of cowdung, a local clay and red ochre. This form of art, known as "Mandana" art, draws upon the surroundings of the village women, like birds, animals, leaf and flower motifs.

Madan Meena, an independent visual artist, recently held an exhibition of his paintings at The Triveny Gallery, New Delhi.  Using his personal association and research in the region and the Meena tribe, he has evolved his own language, using the traditional Mandana forms and a contemporary interpretation.

Three characteristics of the Mandana Art are:
the use of simple geometric forms: triangles, rectangles, circles; the community method of working, with groups of women painting together, each adding their own creations and embellishments; and the use of small motifs drawn from their surrounding objects, specially natural flora and fauna.

Madan Meena used similar techniques, presenting a "Bara-Masi" (or twelve-month) representation of Mandana art. He made clever use of the plant motifs and birds, specific to a season. For example, the peacock motifs in this composition represented the spring season.

The Ranthambore national park area in Rajasthan once served as the hunting grounds for the Maharajas of Jaipur. Now they serve as a major wildlife tourist attraction, abounding in tigers, leopards, hyenas, sambar deer, nilgai, bears and jackals, besides a large number of smaller animals, birds and plants.


The artist has used the wild forest setting with a similar Mandana treatment in this composition called "Ranthambore Dreams".








Elsewhere figures of kings, queens, and figures from folk tales and legends have been used, in interesting ways. The compositions have used the "Bundi" method of miniature painting, prevalent in Rajasthan, in the Bundi and Kotah districts.

It is interesting to think of more such possibilities: a marriage of various traditional drawing techniques in India, and themes drawn from urban, modern lives.

The Shekhawati Havelis

Doors signify a transition. They create spaces and differentiate one space from another. As a child, one is always curious about closed doors. Like Alice in Wonderland, one never knows what awaits behind a closed door. In India, doors have been made with fine craftsmanship, and probably the most famous type is that found in the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan.

These doors are part of large "havelis". The doors leading into the outer courtyard are large and heavy, and could sometimes let an elephant in. The outer courtyard would have places for visitors to lounge around, fountains and recessed corners, with decorative "jali" or woven work done on doors and windows.


Motifs were drawn from battles and tales of bravery, legends about lovers, nature, plants and animals, and typical things around the household. Yellow ochre provided the major colour in the palette, with some some brick red, yellow and green pigments.





The doors to the inner courtyard were generally smaller, and more intricately carved. The merchants of Shekhawati who patronized the unknown craftsmen, are to be thanked for not only having got these beautifully carved doors made, but also for taking pride in their "havelis", and preserving these painstakingly.


One also finds similar rich complex motifs painted on the walls and ceilings of these "havelis".












As the merchants of Shekhawati have moved all over the world, some of the "havelis" and the richly crafted doors have fallen into disrepair. Some have found unlikely champions. Artist Nadine Le Prince who traces her ancestry to Jean-Baptiste Le Prince bought one of these, and has restored all the old fresco work, so that the place now looks more like an art gallery!

Where has the "Jatra" gone?

Till about 15 -20 years back, various Jatra or performing drama troupes would descend on the capital to perform during the Durga Puja. The word "Jatra" itself means a journey, and the troupe members would be on the road in various parts of the country, for most of the year, except for the harvesting season, when they returned to base, presumably somewhere in West Bengal.

 Most of the stories they told would be based on mythology, the epics, or folk tales. The stories would cover legendary kings, gods and goddesses (specially Ma Durga, Kali, Chandi, Ma Manasha), and characters from the puranas. The performance typically started late evening, and could go on for 3-4 hours, stopping just before day-break.

Over time, the Jatra started covering whatever was current in national politics, the literature of the times including love stories (stories from Bankimchandra and Tagore), stories about royalty, and they also made comments on social changes that were taking place.

The clothes, script, dialogue delivery, the posters used for Jatra were all stylized and over-dramatic. The music was semi-classical raga-based or based on well known folk tunes and rhythms. Instruments were usually, dholak, pakhawaj, harmonium, flute and behala (the local violin), tabla, cymbals and trumpets. Songs had to be sung by the actors themselves.

Since the performance was on a stage open on all sides, with practically no sets, and humans sang, or had monologues and dialogues coming in from all sides, there was much commenting, accompanying and merriment in the crowd, which sat on all sides of the stage.

There was another special feature about a Jatra. Apart from a commentator or Sutradhar who strung together various poems, side stories, and dances to the plot, there were a few special characters in a Jatra performance: A figure called Bibek or Conscience would come in at any juncture, pose questions to the audience, give his philosophical perspective, and also discuss future scenarios. Another character called Niyoti or Fate, usually played by a female, would comment on, or foretell the role of time and destiny. There was also sometimes a special actor called Bahurupi (or the one with multiple forms), who true to his name, could take on all sorts of different persona!

I wonder where the Jatra has gone in the days of TV and the internet. I do hope it gets revived and it could then possibly get telecast from a huge arena, with live twitter and messages coming in just like the big games!

Dilli O Dilli

Madhubani paintings refer to various distinctive and ritual art forms practices in the Mithila region of Northern Bihar.
I attended an exhibition of Madhubani paintings from "Traditional to Contemporary" curated by Manisha Jha, who was also one of the artists.
It was extremely refreshing to see Madhubani paintings where the artists while being true to the medium, and its heritage in terms of strokes and nuances, explored their individual creativity. The artists happened to be all women, and their works dealt with events in their lives, their issues, their gods and goddesses, as well as contemporary challenges, and surroundings.

This black and white composition called "Dilli 2" is by artist Manisha Jha :

The show is currently on at Rabindra Bhavan, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi.

Papier-mâché elephants

Imagine life size elephants made out of paper. Obviously the pachyderms were strong, as the report below mentioned children and adults mounting the animals! The children could not have had joy rides, but could have patted the animals, and sat on them as long as they wished. 

I have heard of baby elephants being made of paper, and displayed in fairs or school functions. But this one is a commendable feat. I do wish the organizers bring these elephants to other cities too!


http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/the-spirit-of-onam-rekindled-in-chennai/article5254793.ece

Rangoli patterns

While the majority of Indians honor the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi on the day of Diwali, Bengalis do a special "puja" or prayer ceremony for Lakshmi on the full moon following Dussehra. It is called Kojagari Lakshmi Puja and fell on the 18th October this year.
One important part of the puja is the "Rangoli" patterns or "Alpana" done on the floor. The second important part of course is the food, made of grains from the new harvest, accompanied by sweets made of coconut and jaggery.
The Rangoli is easily done even in urban homes, with a paste of rice soaked in water for a few hours. The patterns are all woven around the feet of Lakshmi, stalks of the new harvest or lotus flowers, the favorite of the goddess. The feet of Laksmi are always drawn pointed towards the house, to depict her entering and blessing the house.
Here are a few traditional patterns:

You will find many more patterns at these sources amongst others:

http://www.drikpanchang.com/rangoli/lakshmi-pada/rangoli-design.html?designid=9

http://www.hindu-blog.com/2007/11/pictures-of-rangoli-designs-for-diwali.html

http://hindupad.com/sankranthi-muggulu-pongal-kolam-rangoli-designs/

Sanjhi Art

Sanjhi is the art of hand-cutting designs on paper. It originated in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India, and therefore motifs from stories of Krishna abound in Sanjhi creations:



http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-07-29/people/40870829_1_art-enthusiasts-art-lovers-art-show


Like most urban artists, I did not know much about this art form and was driven to explore only because of a few mentions in the media lately. The one above was in the Times of India.

One of the main proponents and National Award winner, Mr. Ram Soni was covered in The Hindu recently:
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/the-cutting-edge/article5227338.ece

Puja pandals

Pujas are a great occasion to bring alive the spirit of  "Ma"/ "Devi" with spectacular puja "pandals", decorations and cultural events.
This time there has been a renewed interest in Jamini Roy, witness this great effort at Dwarka, Delhi:



Source: http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/a-brush-with-mother/article5217775.ece

And these (above) were the scenes from puja pandals in Delhi and Gurgaon.