The Festivals of Mewar: The Interaction of India and the West in Early Nineteenth-Century

Indian Painting
Author(s): George D. Bearce
Source: Studies in Romanticism, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Spring, 1965), pp. 121-142
Published by: Boston University
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25599639
Accessed: 18/08/2010 07:38
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.
Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=boston.
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Boston University is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Studies in
Romanticism.
http://www.jstor.org
_STUDIES
IN
ROMANTICISM_
VOLUME IV SPRING
1965
NUMBER
3
The Festivals of Mewar:
The Interaction of India and the West
in
Early Nineteenth-Century
Indian
Painting
GEORGE D. BEARCE
DURING the
eighteenth
century
and the
early
decades of the
nineteenth,
India's cultural
development appears
paradoxi
cal. On the
one
hand,
India had deteriorated
politically,
for
its
princely
states
warred
senselessly
with each other and faltered be
fore the
growing might
of the British.
Similarly,
India's economic
and social condition
was
full of serious
deficiencies,
although
this
situation
was
the
product
of
many
centuries. At the
same
time,
how
ever,
India
experienced
what Hermann Goetz has called "the
brilliant,
refined,
sweet culture of the courts."1 India
enjoyed
the last remark
able
age
of its
Rajput,
Maratha,
and
Mughal aristocracy,
and under
their
patronage
a
creativity
in
art, music,
and
literature,
and
a corre
sponding
distinction in the
arts
of
gracious living
existed
despite
or
perhaps perversely
because of the
political
and economic difficulties
which seemed
beyond comprehension
and solution in this
early
pe
riod of India's involvement in the modern world. This culture flour
ished while British
power
spread
over
India,
and
one
may
wonder
what role the West had in its stimulation.
Later British and Indian historians have
depreciated
the culture and
social life of the
period
and have concentrated
on some
obvious
polit
ical and economic
deficiencies?blaming
British
conquest
and Indian
degeneracy
alike for India's
grave
modern condition. But the aristo
cratic culture
cannot so
easily
be dismissed
nor
its cultural attainments
forgotten.
Of
course,
by
the mid-nineteenth
century,
in the cold
light
of the
Sepoy Mutiny,
as a
result of the
overwhelming impact
of
Westernization and India's disillusionment with its aristocratic
past,
this "sweet" culture
began
to
fade,
until
only fragments
survive in
our
time. From these
literary
and artistic remains
something
of the
i. Hermann
Goetz,
The Crisis
of
Indian Civilization in the
Eighteenth
and
Early
Nine
teenth Centuries
(Calcutta, 1938), p.
21.
[121 ]
122 GEORGE D. BEARCE
brilliance and charm of the
eighteenth
and
early
nineteenth centuries
can
be
resurrected,
and
something
of the role of the West in Indian
culture.
Rajasthan,
which had
a
full-blown Indian culture and
was
among
the last
to
experience
British
sway,
reveals
some
interesting
facets of this interaction.
A set of five
Rajasthani
miniatures from the Lewis Collection of
the Free
Library
of
Philadelphia provides
a new
and
striking glimpse
into the
problem.
These
miniatures,
hitherto
unidentified,
lack marks
or
writing,
so
that their
identity
must
be based
entirely
on
their
con
tent and artistic character. Their
provenance
is clear. Mewar is
recog
nizable from the
palaces
of
Udaipur
on
Lake
Pichola,
from the
em
blem of
Mewar,
the
sun on a
black
disc,
accompanying
the
royal
pro
cessions in the
miniatures,
and from the festivals
themselves,
with
features
peculiar
to
Mewar alone.
Judging
from the
style,
one
may
conclude that these
were
painted by
the court
painters
of
Udaipur
under
royal
patronage
during
the
reign
of the Rana 'Bhim
Singh
(1778-1828).2
Indeed,
the artists made the
rana
the center of attrac
tion,
featuring
him at
the head of cavalcades
enjoying
the festivals
with his nobles
or
enthroned
on a
pleasure
boat in Lake Pichola.3
Festivals and
pageantry
were one
of the
abiding pleasures
of Bhim
Singh. James
Tod,
British
agent
to
the
Rajput
States and the historian
of
Rajasthan,
described his ceremonial welcome
to
Udaipur
in 1818
upon
the establishment of the British
protectorate.
The rana's
son
and
heir,
Javan Singh,
met
Tod and the British mission two
miles outside
Udaipur
and conducted them into the rana's
presence.
Pageantry
was
everywhere:
The mission
proceeded through
streets
which
everywhere presented
the marks of
rapine,
hailed
by
the
most
enthusiastic
greetings....
The bards
were not
idle;
and
the
unpoetic
name
of the
Agent [Tod]
was
hitched into
rhyme. Groups
of musi
cians were
posted
here and there_As
we
ascended the main streets
leading
to
the
2. See the Free
Library
of
Philadelphia,
Oriental
Miniatures,
John
Frederick Lewis
Collection,
ed. M. A. Simsar
(8 vols.,
1941).
This
manuscript catalogue
identifies
these
Rajput
miniatures as
from
Jaipur during
the last
part
of the
eighteenth
or
early
years
of the nineteenth
century.
In
general,
it describes the miniatures
unsatisfactorily
as a
Rajput prince leading
his forces into battle.
Actually,
the rana,
the lake
palaces,
the
festivals,
and the emblems are so
distinctly
those of Mewar that the miniatures
would not have been
painted
elsewhere.
3.
There are a
number of
comparable portraits
of the Rana Bhim
Singh,
among
them one from an
anonymous
collection shown in an exhibition at Bowdoin in
1963.
See G. D. Bearce and Stuart C.
Welch,
Jr., Painting
in British India
1757-1857,
Bow
doin
College
Museum of Art
(Brunswick, Maine,
1963), p. 13.
THE FESTIVALS OF MEWAR 123
Tripolia,
or
triple portal,
which
guards
the sacred
enclosure,
dense masses
of
people
obstructed
our
progress;
and even the walls of the
temple
of
Jagannath
were
crowded.
According
to
etiquette,
we
dismounted
at the
Porte,
and
proceeded
on
foot
across
the
ample
terrace;
on which were drawn
up
a
few
elephants
and
horse,
exercising
for the Rana's amusement.4
This
activity
was
characteristic of Bhim
Singh's reign
and
was
pic
tured in the miniatures of Mewar's festivals. It is
interesting
to
realize
that,
even in hard
times,
after
a
long period
of Maratha
plunder
and
oppression
was
ended
only
with the establishment of the British
pro
tectorate,
Bhim
Singh
could still
provide
his
city
with
some sort
of
pageantry.
Of
course,
the British
encouraged
the continuance of such
ceremonial where it contributed
to
their
own
prestige
and
power.
Various circumstances
suggest
a
date in the last
years
of Bhim
Singh's reign, probably
1818-28,
for these miniatures.
Javan Singh's
presence suggests
a
late
period.
Also,
before the establishment of the
British
protectorate,
Mewar had
truly
suffered from the Marathas.
The
country
had been
depopulated,
its
agriculture disrupted,
its feu
datories allowed
to commit
depredations
with
impunity,
and its cul
tural life
impaired.
After
1818,
as a
result of
James
Tod's
work,
the
financial condition of Mewar
was
restored,
and there
were
ample
means
for
a new
and lavish
patronage
of festivals and for
an
atelier of
artists. The
coming
of the
British, indeed,
enabled the
Rajput
states
to
enjoy
a
brief and brilliant renaissance of
courtly
life,
before this
aristocratic culture withered in the harsh
light
of Western moderni
zation. It was
in this brief
period
of cultural renaissance that the festi
vals of Mewar were
preserved
in miniature
painting.
The miniatures
reproduce
the
panoramic splendor
of five
major
festivals:
1.
The
Teej,
a
festival
celebrating
the return of the
people
of Me
war to
their ancient and forsaken homes
(Fig. 1).
2.
Dasehra,
a
military
festival
commemorating
the
day
on
which
Rama
began
his
expedition
to
redeem Sita
(Fig. 2).
3.
Karga S'hapna,
the
worship
of the sword
(Fig. 3).
4.
Gangore,
the festival of the
goddess
Gouri
(Parvati) (Fig. 4).
5. Holi,
a
festival of bacchanalian mirth and
license,
in which cele
brantsdeluge eachotherwithcrimsonpowder
and water
(Fig. 5).*
4.
James
Tod,
Annals and
Antiquities of Rajast'han (London, 1914),
1,
375-376.
See
also A. C.
Banerjee,
The
Rajput
States and the East India
Company (Calcutta, 1951),
pp. 85-86, 308-312.
5.
Lewis
Collection,
Rajput
Miniatures, R-124
to R-128.
124 GEORGE D. BEARCE
The miniatures have certain
common
characteristics. The occasions
were
different,
but the
people, palaces,
horses,
carriages,
and ele
phants
which fill the
space
in the miniatures were
obviously
the
same.
It seemed such
a
brilliant
concourse
of the
nobility
and
people
of
Mewar. The
costume was
impeccable,
the nobles in their full white
skirts,
red
slippers,
vibrant
sashes,
and brilliant
headgear,
the
women
dressed in
brightly
colored
transparent
silk saris. Even the
accoutre
ments of the horses
were rich and
colorful,
and the
most
important
horses
were
specially
decorated with
painted designs.
In this environ
ment,
there
was no
hint of
poverty
and
disease,
no
dissent
or
impiety.
The
rana
received the chivalric
support
of this
aristocracy
and the
adoration of his
people.
It
was
the
picture
of
a
happy
world,
which
had overlooked the
impact
of the West and
was
without self-con
sciousness of its
own
troubles. It was
the ideal world of late
Rajput
and
Mughal
culture?a
society engaged
in its most
important
activ
ity,
devotion
to
the
gods
and
homage
to its traditional leaders.
The miniatures were
the work of
a
single
artist,
perhaps
aided
by
a
son or
nephew.
This
was
the characteristic mode in which the
paint
ing
of
a
Rajput
court was
done. Such work
was on a
much smaller
scale than that done
by
an
atelier of
painters
in the seventeenth
century Mughal
court.6
The miniatures
are
large,
25%
inches wide and
19
inches
high,
and
they
must
have
engaged
the artist full time to
complete
the
great
de
tail
required
in the
painting.
A bit of the
workmanship appears hasty,
particularly
at
the
edges,
and
some
chipping
and
peeling
has
occurred,
though
this resulted
probably
from later misuse rather than the omis
sion of the usual technical
safeguards. Despite
a
few defects in
detail,
the
general quality
of the work is
high.
Of
course,
neither in
style
nor
in mood
are
these like
Mughal
court
painting
in the sixteenth and
seventeenth
century,
which
one
may
prefer
without
denying
merit
to
the Mewar work of the
early
nineteenth
century. Rajput painting
had maintained both
craftsmanship
and taste.
The
representation
of
space
in the miniatures is
complex
and
dy
namic,
and the artists have done
as
much
as
possible
to enhance the
panorama
of the festivals and reveal all the
many
events
going
on.
The
use of Western linear
perspective
in these
scenes
would have
been
a
total
failure,
and
only
in one
miniature,
the
Teej,
have the
ar
tists
attempted
to
deal with the
rectangles
and cubes of houses in
a
6. Moti
Chandra,
The
Technique of Mughal Painting (Lucknow, 1949), p. 78.
^H^^B^^WSHHM^Hr^sM,rt&ffllt. v* ^^^^^^^^^^^BP*f*^Ti!*JVHiHl9I^^^^^^H^^^'Q^Hr?
4 v
^# *****?' HH
B|.....j
B
|'-mi
*?.
^Sk^Mr^jy^^^^^^^^^^BBI^^BBi^^^^^Bi^^^BBfcka?^iih-j?^i J*f??ll Si
^HBBliifMjyy;f^2^2jiCibSjfF^^ ^5*831 j^mmhi
Figure
i.
The Festival of the
Teej, celebrating
the return of the
people
of Mewar to their ancient
homes, c.
1818-28.
R-124,
Lewis
Collection,
The Free
Library
of
Philadelphia.
J^ ^fiBBBBBSBZfSM^^lSFwJSlBBBm^.^ ?JBBBBBM^^MiBBF*iPI -msl is*iklB
Wb
J| 1RUB'Ww ^ra^BBBBBBBBBM
-
^J#3r^l^^Kl^BHWiWPlr re'JHK^feJS?^c^^^^^7il^^^^^H
Figure
2.
Rana Bhim
Singh
and his court
celebrating
the Festival of Dasehra. c. 1818-28.
R-125,
Lewis
Collection,
The Free
Library
of
Philadelphia.
ySIBP^^?1*!*^^
t, ^ wwigr^fctills y.iiaBWKJp^l^^Bk ^fc ^B
^ C'.>
-*
* .
-
jk^ik^B^B^B^B^B^B^B^B^B^B^B^B^B^B^B^B^B^B^B^B^B^BI
mwmMt%K
^ ^ ^ Bmmmmbmmmmmmmmmmmmmmv^Il, ^^_flHHHHHHHMI^_^3|*J^^I ^l^fe^^^^^^i !"w^^OSEi#??^r^^F^B???????!
fl^^^^^^^^H^^BPB^flBHBBBBBftmnBBBBBP^n^B^HaBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBL
it
^^^P**^*?*fl^^'4^/^
^
i*fcf #**
v
B
1^^^
b
W*
.
^ii^^iyMBT^^B^?w'?^^^^^ ^^^p
B^^^^D^Bb
'
yA^-v^^^hhbhhbhhbhhBT. I
^j^BBBBJi^^B .^^B" ^" r^^B??BL^lK5BPm^???Bro^P^ysriM ^ y**iBHHII^9Hp,f,*il^H
B >vAVjte^ -.BBBBBBBWttMB^^Bl'JBB^'^^^BWCfK^^BBTvAliL^BBBr
"
-***? '^'^JBbBbBBBK "#1B
\jQ^BBBBtrt^BrHABBB^^KT^BBBBll#'4BBI^ P^?P*li^BB^ t^ :^7i ^ t/
^
^^BBBBBBBBk
>
vJwBBBBBY
iiBt BBJB=kil JBBB^m^B1&k?Bt^Bi
*
't
*r*BB^I; P^^ A< !! il m.
iBBBBBBBBf ^JBBl
PPCJwV^J^Bl!^aBKBBM 1 fBBJI U **? JbI^ BBBFtT^ ^ m ^^^ BMBBBBBBBftir^S
IJui iW ^^rtB^C^K^BlBp*^i?"^^BB^,??^j^ki-
'**
'i?pK<'V5J' L^ir a ^L^B^^B^B>XWAWAWasfiBp<i:'*H*AWi
9PI V^^BHR Ir^ Kw*i?*ffr wMf^Wr"
w #
''#^BHflPIHHHHHflHHHHHHHHHHHBHPM9
-
"fflKii
*
i^A. Jf* "m ?2HBk'B^MB? ILhkBb nB^*
""-u:-~*rm v'^^B^:!- ^
" " " " " " " " " " "
1
jvj ^J^H^Si" l^^B iJ^KfMBiK
^ *
JT'Ibt /^^
^
l^^^HBRP^BI^^H
Bk
nfl^B^B^ ?^^^BB IpBBtT vW^i^B ^f ii
?
^... S/V*
m
S^'^aB^^^Bffll^^^B^B
^^'Si^^^^BA^^P-,_v\$*fS%*
?
1*
^
"*dH^B* li*"iBBfei a IflMOl"" J^^^^^HK?w^il^E'^"^^H
^^''"^^ ^J^^B^^K
-
t^i'^
4 4
l\Jk.?L\
A
^ BflKBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB^HBHHB^HBCalHL^^?BK;: ?B
^
n!^ ? ^l^l^lll^llB^4<dlllHHM0PflMBBkBi
iy^9M^p^BI^K^^?^B* J'1^'s?^'JP^^p^B^^a^mi^B'm*'s^l^ Ml
mi^^^BP^BHi^B-%" ^ j^t?SjP^^^BI^^^^^^^H|^^^^^BflH
Figure
3.
Rana Bhim
Singh
and his court
celebrating Karga S'hapna,
the
worship
of the sword
(detail),
c. 1818-28.
R-126,
Lewis
Collection,
The Free
Library
of
Philadelphia.
V ** 3/ > H fJk" Y ITr * ?^A ^ * ^ vt7/.h4T * * *\.i Stiff -Wf^rvWr * .%* I ^^MMffMBBKifTT^^^mnii?lfiilk 1i i 7 liiniirf -
Hi . niiiiiiMiiiniini^MliiliiiiiM i ii mm ' ' j. .r *^m lB8Kjtf; /^?'r ^ J*??." ^?^?* ** tB JiB 1, c ^S^H^^^^^?^Hi^^9B^BS^3MffiiffiillHHMil^^^^HHfe7*''%WH^BBB^I^HH
BIWIPllflBHHiBjHBM # i^ y* **I^^b
Figure 4. The Festival of Gangore at Udaipur
in
honor of the Goddess Gauri. c. 1818-28. R-127,
Lewis Collection, The Free Library of Philadelphia.
9^' SB^t BF?1 f'jJ*^L...ZjBiSftfeH?:'..ai:. tf^..-&?$%&
-? **'
ij ..J?p..
^3SmKm^M^m9uik^-f?wlJ
%
-W^'S)B^(^^te4lfflBl^^-:^TT WmS^^'BK^^E^t^M^M' 'mBa
^B:
V
*
. *
-v--vWi4t *. * *%???
^HL
...
^.
..^a^-... j-
i^^^s aiisi?v .:...:a?-.- .ViMifBiiitiiii iiiiaijiiw ?^Miii"'<iiK ^^HMMh
-if^'MlIill'
Figure
5.
Holi on horseback at the court of Bhim
Singh
in
Udaipur. (detail),
c. 1818-28.
R-128,
Lewis
Collection,
The Free
Library
of
Philadelphia.
BIHlaJ.T
"
Vi^*
>
*"
*
?"j.4
*
*
,
%'-&!jSr*t%%.\?^ww'' ,.?V*v. ^BI^H
^ ii^m*^
'*.
*
vm- -v
v
*
*iS
\
"v^f^^^B
IbIB hh^bW
?';
JyfeMliMfe?:*lMwBl
,:
'||
.
:^bb^bb^bb^bb^bbH^bb^bbB?^^bb^bb^bb^bb^^bh^H
BH HaBa
-
THr^SSBtBHB' "^
-
BiB^IBBB^IBBBBiH^rBH^Ii^^^lBAB^IB
BHbkJBbB
^
-
1! Niiiimiii niiinln -% ^BBBBBBBBBBBilVyiBiiil^K *^Hfl^H
HIhPIHI
^
"
:
i
i?^iwiiiiiiimiiimi8iiK'
/r
^^hbiw
WOW ;^m|tfM|^^ '^^pM^nH^HH ^1^ lHHH
Hi \
^d^^^^--l--l--Bm^^lfc'^& ^QI^^^hb^ v'<JHHIH
^H
^s*"^
;?s
^^^ ^r \!l^h
j
^iTjIIIIHHr
*
HHHH
BH \ v^^^^^B
'
1% \~ mJL -'O^^^^^^^m
*
h^bb^bH
BbB ImJW^^ -?^'.^ffiB^^^BkV
;
W\J^fW. ^ AM \ /WBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB^i nl^^^^^B
bYbVIbI bPIbbbbbYbYbYbYbbYbYbb^^Rbbbv
^ *
lralill^rBBBV iSI^bYbhWbYbYbYbYbWbYbYbYbbbbf^ ^^bYbYbYbYbYbYbbbbbbI
bbbbbI BjHbbVbYbYbVbYbwbbb^
'-
^^bbV fV ;';e=??. ?dBI*:E^'v^? ^id'BWBBBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYflr ^^bbVbYbYbYbbWbbbbI
^ bI bbb9B^bIIbV^BI *:*m* Y
''
(W-^y Wfwm^^^^^^^^^r
sit.
^^bIIbIIbIIbIB
bIIbII^^HbB^bBO bUbBb^P^^^^L ^^R^^bJl^^^^^^H^ii^il^^^^^^^^^^^^^H
^bBBv I2bbbb^^B^^^BB?BBr*SAtfVv <^R^ j^^^^bbBHbbbbbB J^ 'TJ^bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbB
IbWbebHHbPBBP-^ 'iilWst ''^^bbbbbWb^^T \ \ jf /wT
'
-
^9*!3BB^B?B?BaBlHL?r^ JbbBIbbBbbWbWbWbWbWbWbbbWbB
Blr "*^a
"T^
.^^^ b?A-
V
5 fy
**
yf^^- ^b?^ ^bPS^B^B^bIbbIbbIbW
*^BH^n|||:
?f
aBBafcuiii
in
Jl
Biitufc*
?"
.AhIi
*
^?4''^^"'?^ 1
Figure
6. Rana Bhim
Singh
of
Udaipur installing
the
image
of Sri Nath in a tented enclosure at Udai
pur,
whence the
image
was sent for
protection
from Holkar who fell on Nathdwara after his defeat at
Indore in 1801. c.
1820.11V2
x
%lA inches. Victoria and Albert
Museum,
Royal
Asiatic
Society,
Loan
29
THE FESTIVALS OF MEWAR 131
linear fashion. But this is
just
a
momentary
fancy.
Most of the
space
of the
pictures,
indeed,
is
represented
in inverse
perspective.
The
walls
appear
larger
the
more
distant
they
run;
the
people, carriages,
elephants
are more
prominent
in the
distance;
the lake
palaces
in the
foreground
of the festival of
Gangore (Fig. 4)
are
diminutive
com
pared
to
the terrace and
palace
areas
in the
background
where
most
of the ceremonies take
place.
The vertical
position
is used
to
indicate
depth.
With this sort of
perspective,
a
dynamic
two-dimensional
panorama
results,
and the viewer
can
participate
in the distant
activity
of the festival
as
well
as
the
near. A somewhat
oblique bird's-eye
view
is
employed
in
handling
the
palace
and
tent
enclosures,
so
that the
viewer will have
a
glimpse
into the
gardens
of the
palaces,
with their
rows
of banana and
mango
trees,
or
into the
activity
within the tent
erected for the Dasehra Festival
(Fig. 2).
A third device is used with
these
two:
the
importance
of the
person
determines the
size,
regard
less of inverse
or
linear
perspective.
The
rana
is
invariably
the
greatest
size,
his attendants
are
smaller,
his horse is
huge compared
to
the
pat
terns of the horses in the
procession
of his
feudatories,
and the banks
of
people
are
proportionately
less
significant.
To
complete
the task of
creating
a
striking panorama,
the artist used
a
multiple,
simultaneous
perspective
in the
paintings,
so
that several events of the festivals
might
be
depicted
in the
same
space.7
These devices of
handling
space
brilliantly reproduce
the total view of the
pageantry?telescoping
time,
amending
distance,
transforming shapes
and sizes for artistic
purposes.
Several
European
writers have left
descriptions
of these various
festivals of
Mewar,
and
they
have
pointed up
some
of the distinctive
features of these festivals. Of
course,
a
European
visitor had
only
a
limited view of the festivals and could
not
understand all that he
saw
or
heard about. There
are some occurrences
in the festivals which
can
be discerned
only
in the
paintings
themselves. The
European
visitor
did not see
the
same
things
as
the Indian
painter,
for there
were
subtle
barriers between East and West.
James
Tod,
the British
political agent
in
Rajasthan
1818-23,
was
the
most
important
of these observers. His
descriptions,
indeed,
are so
complete,
that
one
wonders whether
or not
the
paintings
of the festi
vals were
made
to
instruct and
please
him. He
employed
miniature
7.
The
concepts
and
terminology
of this discussion follow
Gyorgy Kepes, Language
of
Vision
(Chicago, 1951), pp. 71-87.
132 GEORGE D. BEARCE
painters
himself.
During
his
stay
in
Rajasthan,
he
acquired
a
striking
painting
of "Rana Bhim
Singh
of
Udaipur installing
the
image
of
Sri Nath in
a
tented enclosure
at
Udaipur,
whence the
image
was sent
for
protection
from Holcar who fell
on
Nathdwara after his defeat
at
Indore in 1801"
(Fig. 6).8
This
painting,
dated
c.
1820,
is
remarkably
similar to a
portion
of the Dasehra miniature
(Fig. 2)
in which the
same
ruler is
attending
to
religious
ceremonies in
a
similar tented
en
closure. The
subject, style,
and date of the Tod miniature is so
akin
to
the five festival miniatures
as to
add confirmation
to
their identifica
tion.
Moreover,
the existence of the Tod miniature
strengthens
the
realization that
European patronage,
to
be discussed
presently, sig
nificantly
affected the
production
of such
paintings.
Whether Tod
patronized
the
Philadelphia
series cannot
be
determined,
but he and
his
countrymen
together
were
encouraging
Indian artists to
produce
some
especially picturesque
festival
scenes.
The
Teej (Fig. 1)
is a
festival
particularly important
to
Rajasthan
and
significantly
celebrated after the
expulsion
of the Marathas.
James
Tod found that the festival
was
celebrated with
greater
honor
in
Jaipur
than in
Udaipur.
In his
description
Tod
explained
the back
ground
of the festival and
briefly
described it:
The
teej
is
accordingly
reverenced
by
the
women,
and the husbandman of Ra
jast'han,
who deem it a most
favourable
day
to
take
possession
of
land,
or to rein
habit
a
deserted
dwelling.
When
on
the
expulsion
of the
predatory
powers
[the
Marathas]
from the devoted lands of
Mewar,
proclamations
were
disseminated far
and
wide,
recalling
the
expatriated
inhabitants,
they
showed their love of
country
by
obedience
to the summons.
Collecting
their
goods
and
chattels,
they congre
gated
from all
parts,
but assembled
at a common
rendezvous to make their
entry
to
the
bapota,
"land of their
sires,"
on
the
teej [third]
of Sawun. On this fortunate
oc
casion,
a
band of three hundred men, women,
and
children,
with colours
flying,
drums
beating,
the females
taking precedence
with brass vessels of water on their
heads,
and
chanting
the suhailea
(song
of
joy),
entered the town of
Kapasan,
to re
visit their desolate
dwellings,
and return thanks
on
their
long-abandoned
altars
to
Parvati.
. .
.9
The artists
emphasized
somewhat different details in their minia
tures.
The
richly
dressed
women were
still the center of attention. As
one
may
perceive
in the
multiple,
simultaneous
perspective
of the
8. Tod Collection at the Victoria and Albert
Museum, London,
from the
Royal
Asiatic
Society,
Loan
29, nKx8M,
c. 1820. I am
deeply
indebted to W. G. and
Mildred Archer for
bringing
this miniature to
my
attention and
suggesting
its im
portance.
9. Tod, 1,
461-462.
THE FESTIVALS OF MEWAR 133
painting,
the
women
had arrived with
symbolic pots
on
their heads
(though
not with
heavy
brass
water
pots).
Then
they
visited the
abandoned
dwellings, worshipped
at various shrines
(especially
one
to
Ganesh),
and
gathered
beneath the
mango
trees to
honor Krishna.
There
one sees a
mother and
baby,
who in emulation of Krishna holds
his foot to
his
mouth;
and the
women
engage
in the divine
sport
of
swinging,
as
the
courtly
women
did
on
other occasions in honor of
Krishna.10 The
artists,
moreover,
gave great prominence
to
Bhim
Singh,
his
son,
and the feudal cavalcade
as
they
crossed the
green
in
the
presence
of
long
lines of white
garbed
men
and
brilliantly
attired
women. The court artist could
not
neglect
to
emphasize
Bhim
Singh's
role,
though
this somewhat distorted the
proportions
of the festival.
In the two
military
festivals, however,
Bhim
Singh played
a
very
significant
role. The first of
these,
Karga S'hapna,
the
worship
of the
sword
(Fig. 3), emphasized
these events:
After
fasting,
ablution,
and
prayer
on
the
part
of the
prince
and his
household,
the
double-edged
Khanda is removed from the hall of arms...
and
having
received the
homage (pooja)
of the
court,
it is carried in
procession
to
the
Kishenpol (gate
of
Kishen),
where it is delivered to the
Rajjogi,
the
Mahunts,
and band
ofjogis
ascetic
warriors assembled in front of the
temple
of
Devi,
"the
goddess," adjoining
the
portal
of Kishen.
By
these,
the monastic militant adorers of
Heri,
the
god of
battle,
the brand emblematic of the
divinity
is
placed
on
the altar before the
image
of his
divine consort.11
Ten
days
later,
after
intervening military
celebrations and
religious
rituals,
the Dasehra
occurs?a
festival
universally
celebrated in India
(Fig. 2).
At
Udaipur, according
to
Tod:
The
day
commences with
a
visit from the
prince
of chieftain to
his
spiritual guide.
Tents and
carpets
are
prepared
at the
Chougan
or
Marachil
mount, where the artil
lery
is
sent;
and in the afternoon the
Rana,
his
chiefs,
and their retainers
repair
to
the
field of
Mars,
worship
the
kaijri
tree, liberate the niltach of
jay (sacred
to
Rama),
and return
amidst
a
discharge
of
guns.12
In both of these
festivals,
Tod
emphasized
some
of the
preliminary
religious
ritual,
while the
painters
concentrated
on
the climactic events
of each. In the
Karga S'hapna,
the focus of attention was
the
delivery
of the sword
to
the chief
yogi,
after which the
yogis engaged
in a
dancelike ritual with the sword. The cannon were in
place,
but had
io.
Fanny
Parks,
Wanderings of
a
Pilgrim
in Search
of
the
Picturesque (London, 1850),
n,
116-118.
11.
Tod, 1, 465.
12.
Tod, 1,
467.
134 GEORGE D. BEARCE
not been fired. Their
significance
was
much less than
during
the
Dasehra
festival,
when the
firing
of the
cannon
seemed
to
be the cli
max
of the
events. In their
treatment the court
painters
of
Udaipur
revealed their scale of
values,
their
sense of what
was
significant
in the
festivals. These varied somewhat from the
European
view. Tod did
not mention the
ordinary
man
and
woman
worshiping
at
the shrine
of
Ganesh,
though
the artists included this detail. In the miniature of
the
Dasehra,
the
scene of the courtiers
waiting
for the
rana at
the red
tent
provides
a
kind of
suspense
which Tod did
not
describe. The
ar
tists,
moreover,
depicted
the cannonade in
an
unusual
way.
The
guns
were not all
firing
at
the
same time. Some
were
being
loaded,
some
were
being
fired,
some
had
just
been fired. This
process,
to
the
artists,
seemed
more
interesting
than the
scene
of
a
simultaneous salute.
Many
of these details
were not
of much interest to a
Western
observer,
yet
the
atmosphere
of
a
Rajput
court was
thus
more
graphically
repre
sented.
The festival of
Gangore (Fig. 4)
in honor of the
goddess
Gouri
(whom
Tod identified with
Parvati)
was
the sort of
picturesque
scene
that would be attractive
to a
Westerner,
and several writers rather
fully
described it. Of course,
the festival took
place
in
a
glorious
set
ting,
on a terrace at the
margin
of Lake Pichola. It was a
woman's
festival,
for the
men of the
court,
even
the rana,
were
simply
specta
tors,
able
to
glimpse
the events
only
from
a
distance,
from boats
or
from the
palace
windows. The
women
of
Udaipur prepared
for the
festival well in
advance, and,
on
the sacred
day,
after the
rana
and his
court had
paraded
from the
palace
to the lake and embarked
on
boats,
the
women
proceeded
with their rites. Louis
Rousselet,
a
French visitor in
1865,
described the brilliant
events of the festival:
The site is
admirably
chosen for the
occasion;
from the foot of
a
gently rising
hill,
to the
terrace on which the
palaces
of the nobles
are
built,
the lake forms
a
lovely
bay.
From the
royal palace
to
the water's
edge
the terraces and towers are crowded
with
spectators;
and the
brilliantly
dressed women,
their hair adorned with
roses
and
jessamin, throng
the marble
steps
of the
Tripolia....
At
length
the
procession
descends the
steps
of the
quay.
In the center
appears
the
goddess,
seated
on a
throne
or
path,
clothed in
yellow drapery,
and
glittering
with
gold
and
precious
stones;
and
on
either side of her
two
lovely girls
wave
the silver chamra above her
head,
while in front
a
group
of favoured women,
armed with silver
wands,
and
chanting
hymns, perform
the office of Choubdars.
.. .
The
women
form
a
circle and dance
round the
goddess
with
graceful
and measured
steps, singing hymns
in honour of
the
goddess
of
abundance, love,
and devotion.... The ablutions of the
goddess
last
THE FESTIVALS OF MEWAR 135
some
time,
after which she is re-conducted to the
palace
with the same
pomp
as
before. The little
flotilla,
gaily
decked out,
and
gliding along
the shores of the
lake,
is
one of the
prettiest sights
of the whole
ceremony;
and the festivities wind
up
with
a
grand display
of fireworks.13
The
court artists of
Mewar,
of
course,
gave
considerable attention
to the rana,
who is
once
again prominent
in
a
festival in which he
played just
a
small role. And the activities of the
men
in
visiting
the
shrines of the lake
are
the most
striking
business of the miniature.
Both Rousselet and Tod
neglected
some of the details of the festival
that the artists
thought important.
The
goddess
is
depicted
seven
times surrounded
by
her
singing, dancing,
and
worshiping
women,
each time the
goddess being
in different raiment. It is almost
as
if,
by
a
series of
miracles,
the
goddess
assumed
new
attire in the midst of
a
ritual. The
artists, however,
did
not
depict
the ablutions of the
god
dess. Could
they
have dared
to
paint
what
they
were
forbidden
to
see,
on
pain
of death? The Indian artists also noticed the birds and fish
and lotus of the
lake,
and the
sea
serpent
frolicking
in the waters.
They
saw
the
richly
decorated horse
prow
of one
boat,
the drums be
ing
sounded
on
another,
and the
towering
craft
bearing
the
prince.
The artist
saw,
not
only
much
more
than Tod and
Rousselet,
but
quite
different
things.
For his
part
Tod made
a comment
which would
not have occurred to the artist
viewing
the scene:
"The
deformity
of
vice intrudes
not;
no
object
is
degraded by
inebriation: no
tumultuous
disorder
or
deafening
clamour
. . .
,"14
And,
from the Indian view
point,
what
a
strange
comment! It was as
if to
Tod and the
European
a
festival had
to
be drunken and
disorderly.
The festival of Holi
(Fig. 5),
of
course,
provided
some
of the merri
ment
which
a
foreigner expected
of
a
festival. Holi
was
universally
celebrated in Northern
India,
and it
was a
time when all restraints
were
relaxed and when
people
could not venture on
the streets with
out
being deluged
with crimson
powder.
At
Udaipur,
this merriment
reached
a
special
kind of
climax,
as
both Tod and the court artists
recognized:
The most
brilliant
sight
is the
playing
of holi on
horseback,
on the terrace in front
of the
palace.
Each chief who chooses
to
join
had
a
plentiful supply
of
missiles,
formed
on
thin
plates
of mica
or
talc,
enclosing
this crimson
powder,
called
abire,
13-
Louis
Rousselet,
India and its Native Princes
(New York,
1876), pp. 178-179.
14. Tod, 1,
455.
136 GEORGE D. BEARCE
which with the most
graceful
and dextrous
horsemanship they
dart at each
other,
pursuing, caprioling, andjesting.15
In most
respects,
to Western
observers,
the miniatures of
Gangore
and Holi would
seem
the
most
successful and
interesting
of the
set.
Of
course,
in
style
and
technique,
the
nineteenth-century European
would have found the miniatures
unsatisfactory,
but he
was
entranced
with the
subject
matter?the
quaint
and colorful
customs and
cere
monies of the East. The
scene of
Holi,
dominated
by
crimson
stip
pled
with
apparent
abandon
over
the
cavorting
horsemen,
evokes the
European
sense
of the uninhibited
pleasures
of India. The festival of
Gangore
has the
beauty
of
being
centered
on a
lake,
and its
palaces
thus
suggest
all the West
traditionally
envisioned about Oriental lux
ury
and
delight.
To
Europeans,
to
the readers of Thomas Moore's
Lalla Rookh
(1817)
and Robert
Southey's
Curse
of
Kehama
(1810),
such
scenes
fulfilled their
quest
for the
picturesque
in India. On the
other hand the
Rajputs might prefer
the other miniatures in the
group.
The warlike
vigor
of their
race,
participation
in traditional
puja,
and the reinhabitation of their ancient homes
might
strike them
more
deeply.
Indeed,
in these miniatures from
Philadelphia,
it is fas
cinating
to see
the interest which both Indians and Westerners showed
in the
festivals,
and at
the
same
time,
to
discern the differences in their
views. The
paintings provide
considerable
insight
into the interaction
of India and the West
during
the
period,
an
interaction
important
not
merely
for the different Indian and Western
conceptions
but
es
pecially
for the
impact
of the West on
the
treatment of the
subject.
It cannot
be claimed that Western
painting
had much
impact
on
the
style
and
technique
of these
Rajasthani paintings.
For
panoramic
scenes of this
sort,
the
European
would have used
large
canvases
and
painted
in linear
perspective.
The Indian
way
of
handling
space
would
have been
unacceptable, perhaps incomprehensible
to
the Renais
sance-trained
European.
Some faint Western
influences, however,
may
be
suggested.
The
style
of the
seventeenth-century landscape
in
Mewar
painting
has
changed:
in the
nineteenth-century
miniatures,
the
trees,
flowering
bushes, fields,
and hills
are not
just
featured in
portions
of the
composition
but
are
depicted
as a
complete
back
ground.
Still,
these
are not Western
landscapes
in
style
and
technique.
The Western idea of
painting complete landscapes perhaps
reinforced
Indian tendencies. In the miniature of the
Teej (Fig. 1),
some
attempt
15. Tod, I, 452.
THE FESTIVALS OF MEWAR 137
has been made
to
handle the
rectangular shapes
of the houses in linear
fashion. These houses
are common in Mewar
painting,
but the
empha
sis in the
Teej
is
arresting
and
must have been the innovation of
a
skilled
artist,
who could
have,
as
Mildred Archer shows of
contempo
rary
Patna
artists,
experimented
with Western
perspective
and land
scape
on
his
own.
Indeed,
about
1800,
Mewar artists were
doing
ex
perimental drawings
of
palaces
in linear
perspective.16
The Western elements in the
technique
and
style
of the Mewar
festivals, however,
remain rather
slight. Technically,
the
paintings
are
overwhelmingly
traditional. A much
greater
adoption
of West
ern
techniques
and
style
can
be
seen in
paintings
from other
areas
than Mewar. The
painting
at
Patna,
the botanical
drawings
done
un
der the British in
Calcutta,
and the
paintings
of castes and costume
done
at
Tanjore
for
European purchasers?all
these show much
greater
Western influence.17
In the choice of
subject,
however,
the
impact
of the West was
de
cidedly important. European patrons
and artists in India were re
sponsible
for
directing
Indian artists to the task of
depicting
the color
ful
religious
scenes of
India,
such
as
the
festivals,
the
caste
and
pro
fessions of
India,
and other
strange
and
striking religious
customs.
Wishing
to
show their friends and relatives
at
home
some
pictures
of
this unbelievable Indian
world,
Europeans
commissioned Indian
ar
tists to
paint
such
scenes,
or
drew and
painted
the scenes
themselves.
An
early
and characteristic
example
of this
tendency
is
a
book
com
missioned
by
a
Frenchman about
1740
depicting
the trades and
pro
fessions of Malabar. It was
done
on
European paper
with
watercolors,
but in Indian
style;
in
it,
besides the various castes of
Malabar,
are
drawings
of festivals.18 The
professional
British artists who arrived in
India in the last
part
of the
eighteenth century
(to
make their
fortunes)
also
eagerly
sketched these
picturesque
Indian
religious
scenes. In the
1780s
John Zoffany painted
several versions of
a
sati;
William
Hodges
16. Such a
drawing
from Mewar is in the collection of R. E. Lewis of San
Francisco,
and similar
things
from Mewar
appeared
both before and after 1800. For the corre
sponding developments
in
Patna,
see
Mildred
Archer,
Patna
Painting (New
York,
1949), PP-
8-11.
17.
Mildred and W. G.
Archer,
Indian
Painting for
the British
1770-1880 (London,
I955)? PP- 74? 76-77-
Mildred
Archer,
Natural
History Drawings
in the India
Office
Li
brary (London, 1962), pp. 57-58.
18. The New York Public
Library,
the
Spencer
Collection,
Trades and Professions
of
Malabar,
a
collection of
129
full-page
watercolors of
priests, tradesmen,
and reli
gious
activities in
Malabar,
with French
captions.
138 GEORGE D. BEARCE
did the
ghats
of Banaras
during
his
stay,
1780-84;
George Farrington
died in
1788
as a
result of
night
exposure
from
viewing
a
Muslim fes
tival in Murshidabad for
a
prospective
set of
drawings;
about
1800,
Charles
Gold,
like
a
number of his
associates,
produced
an
important
series of hand-colored
engravings depicting
scenes
of South Indian
castes and
religious practices.19 English
amateur artists of that
period
and of the
early
nineteenth
century
continued the interests of the
pro
fessionals,
perhaps
with
even more
enthusiasm.
Fanny
Parks
spent
her life in India from 1822 on in
a
perpetual quest
for the
picturesque,
and she visited
(and sketched)
the
hook-swinging
festivities
at
Kali
ghat,
the
car
festival
atna
Jaganth,
the devotions of
pilgrims
at Bana
ras,
and the
marriage
ceremonies of the Indian
aristocracy.20
Mrs.
Monkland,
on
viewing
the
ghats
at
Banaras,
tried
to
capture
the
sense
of the
picturesque
in
prose:
"Simply
considered
as a
spectacle,
it is
impossible
to conceive
anything
more
splendid
than
an
Asiatic
ghaut,
crowded with multitudes
arrayed
in all colours of the rain
bow.
. .
."21
This interest in colorful festivals and
religious
customs
did not
merely
come
from artists and tourists.
Long
before Tod collected his
information about the Mewar
festivals,
other
high
British officials in
India
were
sending
similar information
as
part
of their
diplomatic
and
political reports.
In the
1790s,
Colonel Alexander
Read,
who directed
the settlement of the Baramahal districts in South
India,
spent
consid
erable
space
in his
reports describing
the
religious
customs
and festiv
ities of Indians. In one
instance,
he touched
on
the "art" done
during
a
marriage ceremony:
In the
evening,
the
parents
of the
bridegroom, accompanied by
a
few relations and
preceded by bajantris
or
musicians,
go
in
procession
to the house of the bride with
two women's
cloths,
five
jackets,
five
cocoanuts,
some
dried
cocoanuts,
five small
boxes of
saffron,
five hair
combs,
jaggery,
arecanut and betel
leaf,
where
they
sit
down and make
an
image
of the Goddess Gauridevi of
tumeric,
which the bride
groom's
father
worships
in the usual manner_22
19.
Sir William
Foster,
"British Artists in India
1760-1820,"
The
Walpole Society
(Oxford, 1931),
xrx, 5-7, 31-32, 40-42,
80-82.
20.
Parks, 1,26-28.
See also Charles
D'Oyly,
The
European
in India
(London, 1813),
pis.
xrv, xv;
Captain Mundy,
Pen and Pencil Sketches
(London, 1832), pp.
237-252;
Prince Alexis
SoltykofF, Voyages
dans VInde
3d
ed.
(Paris, n.d.), pp.
149, 165-167.
21. Mrs.
Monkland,
Life
in India
(London, 1828),
n, 213-214.
22. Government of
Madras,
The Baramahal
Records,
Section
m,
"Inhabitants"
(Ma
dras, 1907), p.
10.
THE FESTIVALS OF MEWAR 139
About
1800,
Colonel Colin Mackenzie of
Madras,
a
patron
of Indian
learning
and lore and
a
collector of
rare
Indian
manuscripts,
sent his
Indian scholars around to
gather complete descriptions
of the
major
Indian festivals
at
Conjeeveram,
Madura,
Tirupati,
and
Jagannath.
In art and
learning
alike,
this Western interest in Indian festivals and
religious
customs was a
powerful
one.23
The festivals of
Mewar,
as
described
by James
Tod and
depicted by
the Indian court artists of
Udaipur,
are
understandable within the
perspective
of this
general
Western interest. There
is, however,
a re
vealing
difference in the outlook of India and the West. As Mrs. Monk
land
revealed,
the festivals and
religious
scenes were
"spectacles''
to
the
European,
to
be viewed from the outside
by
the
spectator.
On
the other
hand,
as
Colonel Read
indicates,
the Indian made
an
image
and
worshiped
it. The Indian need and
conception
was
quite
different
from the Western
one,
and,
up
to
the
impact
of the Western
concept
of the
religious spectacle,
Indian artists followed traditional
goals
and
practices
in
satisfying
the Indian outlook.
They depicted
the events of
the
Ramayana,
or
the
sports
of
Krishna,
or
the
ten incarnations of
Vishnu,
as
these
might
be
patronized
in
courtly
circles. For the
popu
lar Indian
need,
artists illustrated
folklore, ritual,
and
astrology,
as
well
as
traditional
religious
stories. The artists at
the
temple
of Nath
dwara
(Krishna)
in Mewar
produced
a
formalized
image
of the
deity,
surrounded
by priests
in the midst of ritual. This
was
for
pil
grims
as a
reminder of
temple
ceremonies
or as a
devotional
image
away
from the shrine. The New York Public
Library
possesses
an
al
bum of such characteristic
religious paintings showing
the
feeding,
entertainment,
and
daily worship
of the sacred
image.24
These
tra
ditionally inspired
miniatures
were not
"spectacles." They responded
to
the
feelings
of
a
religious
devotee
or
participant.
Even the
depic
tion of the
Spring
hunt,
a
religious
festival of the
great Rajput princes,
was
done in an
intimate
style, emphasizing
the
princely participation.
It was
the Westerner who made
a
spectacle
out
of the festivals and
ceremonies which
were a matter
of devotion and
participation
to
the
traditional Indian.
23. London,
India Office
Library, European Manuscripts,
Mackenzie
Collection,
General, xvi,
pp. 73-88, 277-278; vn,
pp. 404-405.
24.
The New York Public
Library,
the
Spencer
Collection,
Decorations for Hindu
Festivals. See also two
traditional
representations
of Nathdwara done in the late
eight
eenth
century
in New
Delhi,
National
Museum,
49.19/210
and
51
/72 /72.
140 GEORGE D. BEARCE
The five festival
paintings
from the Free
Library
of
Philadelphia
and the smaller miniature of Rana Bhim
Singh installing
the
image
of Sri Nath
(from
the Tod Collection in
London)
all reveal the char
acter of the Western
impact
on
the
content of traditional Mewar
painting.
These
scenes
represent
the
European quest
for the
picturesque
festival,
and
Tod,
who showed his love of the
picturesque
festival
both in his Annals and in his
patronage
of Indian
painting,
was one
of those who doubtless carried this
concept
of the Mewar court. It
was to
satisfy
this
European quest
and to fulfill other aims that the
ar
tists of Mewar
produced paintings
which had
a
quite
different
general
character than the traditional
religious painting
of the
area.
Western
inspired conceptions
were
absorbed into the
paintings.
The festivals
were
depicted
as
spectacles designed
to entrance
Europeans
at a
very
picturesque Rajput
court.
The
rana
doubtless flattered and
enter
tained his
European
masters with such
things.
But the festivals had
another
new
conception
apparent
from the
paintings
and the
spirit
of
the times.
They
were a
kind of
political ideology, revealing
the
great
ness
of Mewar and the
glory
of its
prince,
at a
time when
Rajput
prestige
had declined and needed affirmation. Outsiders
were in
formed of the
Rajput reputation
in
war
and
religious
devotion;
the
rana was
sanctified
as
the leader of this devoted
society;
the culture of
the
country,
exemplified by
its festivals and
painters,
was
thus suita
bly displayed.
But for the British
impact
on
Mewar in the
early
nine
teenth
century,
the
paintings
would have been
unnecessary.
Of
course,
in
making
their
paintings,
the Indian artists did not
solely
serve
the
purposes just
mentioned. The
painter
introduced ele
ments which could
not interest
Europeans,
and
neglected
other facets
which
Europeans
desired in their illustrations. As one sees
from Tod's
comments,
these festivals
were
idealized
(both
in
actuality
and in the
painting),
without the deformities of
India,
without the
scenes
of sati
or
Jagannath
so
shocking
to
European
visitors.25 If
a
Western
patron
had dictated the
subject,
he would
not
have exalted Bhim
Singh,
for
at most
Westerners tolerated Indian
princes,
and often
despised
them.
Moreover,
the Indian artist
freely
introduced into the
paintings things
which he
enjoyed?the sportive
and the fish and birds of Lake Pich
ola;
the
sports
of Krishna in the miniature of the
Teej;
the traditional
25.
For this
general
outlook,
see
George
D.
Bearce,
British Attitudes Towards India
1784-1858 (London, 1961), pp.
103-104;
William
Carey, Serampore
Letters
(New
York,
1892), pp.
60-62;
William
Hodges,
Travels in India
(London, 1794), pp. 81-83.
THE FESTIVALS OF MEWAR 141
scene
of the Indian
man
and
woman in devotion before
a
shrine;
and
the brilliant decorations of
horses, bullocks,
and
elephants through
out. As
a
result there is
a
combination of
conceptions?a
combina
tion of what Indians
traditionally
considered
important
to
depict
and
what
they
found
pleasing,
imbedded in
an
overall
composition
which
was a
response
to
the Western
impact.
Indian
patrons
and
painters
had made concessions to the alien culture which
was
beginning
to
surround them.
In one
special respect,
in
providing
historical and
sociological
in
formation,
the festival miniatures shed
light
on
another undercurrent
in the interaction of India and the West. As the achievements of Colin
Mackenzie and
James
Tod
illustrate,
India stimulated the
develop
ment of
important
Western historians and
sociologists.
There
were,
however,
no
equivalent examples
of
indigenous
historians from Ra
jasthan during
the
period.
The Indian historians of the time
were
still
chroniclers;26
a
few of
them,
such
as
the
eighteenth-century
autobi
ographer
Ananda
Ranga
Pillai
(an
associate of
Dupleix
at
Pondi
cherry),
were
interested in the
learning
and literature of the
West;27
but the Western
approach
of
history
was
generally undeveloped.28
The miniatures thus have
a
special
function.
They
are a
substitute for
historical
writing; they
serve to
provide
a
conscious Indian
interpre
tation of its own
culture,
and
give
an
alternative
to
the Western inter
pretation
of the Indian festivals. In this
regard,
the miniatures fulfill
a
purpose,
a
description
of
society
and
manners,
which
was
derivative
of
European
rather than Indian
conceptions.
The
miniatures,
in this
additional
way,
reveal the
inescapable operation
of the Western im
pact
on
India. A traditional form of art was
serving
a new
and alien
purpose.
All in
all,
the miniatures
give
a
striking glimpse
into the
Rajput
26.
Among
the traditional Indian histories are useful chronicles with bits of cultural
information such as
Burhan Ibn
Hasan,
Tuzak-I-Walajahr,
trans. S. Muhammad
Husayn
Neiner
(Madras, 1939), pp. 271-272.
A
manuscript
source of
contemporary
historical accounts for South India is the India Office
Library,
Mackenzie
Collection,
General,
where
may
be found
typical
accounts, xiv,
pp.
90-111,
"Description
of El
lola," xxvn,
pp. 117-149,
"Life of
Tippoo
Sultan from the Mahrattas."
27.
See his
sensitivity
to news from
Europe
in The Private
Diary of
Ananda
Ranga
Pillaifrom 1736
to
1761 (Madras, 1904-28),
n, 37-40.
28. For an
example
of this
eighteenth-century
historical
approach developed during
the
generation
of
Montesquieu
and
Voltaire,
one
may
turn to
Jonas Hanway,
An His
torical Account
of
the British Trade over
the
Caspian
Sea with a
fournal of
Travels
(London,
1753), pp. 324-344.
142 GEORGE D. BEARCE
mind
during
this transitional
period.
The
Rajputs
were
still exalted
in their brilliant
costume,
their lavish
palaces,
their
picturesque
reli
gious
ceremonies,
their traditional valor.
They
had
not
made
conces
sions to
the West
openly,
for,
in all their
religious
and social
arrange
ments,
in their cultural
interests,
their
art, music, dance, architecture,
and
literature,
they
were
wedded
to their
own
traditions,
and
con
tinued
to
produce
what their traditional culture
required
of them in
apparently
the traditional fashion.
They
had
not
submitted
to
the
West
culturally,
nor
acknowledged
any European superiority
in art
or
life. Yet the
beginning
of that submission is
apparent
in the
un
avoidable resort to Western
conceptions
in an art
that
was
otherwise
traditional.
Doubtless neither the
princes
nor
the
painters
were conscious of
any
momentous results from this
absorption
of elements from the
West.
Perhaps,
with their defensive historical
perspective,
the
Rajput
princes thought they
could outlast the British
as
they
had the Mu
ghals. They hardly anticipated
the end of their
courtly
culture. But
one
thing
would lead
to
another,
in art and life. The British had
not
come
just
for the cult of the
picturesque; they brought
new
concepts
of the
economic, social,
and
political
condition of India. The
adop
tion of
these,
which would
gradually
follow,
meant
the end of the
world which the
Rajput aristocracy
had loved and had
so
brilliantly
dominated.
BOWDOIN COLLEGE