EMOTIONAL STUDY OF CLOUDS IN PAHARI STYLE

• Kiran Sharma

  Author

The theme of "clouds" in Indian painting begins with the story of the peacock, the poem "Megadoot," and the allegory of love. Kalidasa's "Megadoot" depicts clouds as "messengers" or symbols of emotion. In the history of painting, the visual depiction of clouds began with Gupta sculpture and art in the 5th-6th centuries. The "Chitrasutra" chapter of the Vishnudharmottara Purana also specifically instructs the depiction of heavy dark clouds, flashes of lightning, bright skies, and birds flying as characteristics of the rainy season. Furthermore, we find depictions of clouds in Cave No. 1 and Cave No. 17 of the Ajanta Caves. Clouds are also depicted in the Ellora and Badami caves, where figures of gods and apsaras are depicted flying through clouds. Medieval miniatures, especially the Barahmasa and Ragamala paintings, have a more emotional depiction of clouds. The 12th-century Geeta Govinda, composed by Jayadeva, describes the union and separation of Krishna and Radha through the rainy season and clouds. The image of dark, foaming clouds has become extremely popular. The Pahari style, which developed in the royal courts of Himachal and Punjab in the 17th and 18th centuries, not only adopted clouds as narrative motifs in Radha-Krishna poetic scenes and the Barahmahasa series of paintings, but also depicted them as emotional symbols of love, separation, and union. Particularly in the Kangra style, which developed from Guler, the cloud form is visually and emotionally captured through white lightning, fine lines, and subtle color. The aim of this research paper is to understand clouds not just as a weather backdrop, but as an emotionally charged language within the Pahari style of painting. This aims to elevate clouds from mere visualization to presenting them as a significant means of emotional communication and narrative visualization.

1. Kiran Sharma

   a Research Scholar, Mangalayatan University Beswan Aligarh

• पहाड़ी शैली में बादलों का भावनात्मक अध्ययन (Hindi)

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