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Fresco Wall Paintings :

The princely state of Rajasthan has a long history of Rajputs, acquiring land, winning and fighting battles, sprawling palaces, and rich mansions. An onlooker has often described the state as a dream carved out of marble. The arid topography of the desert contrasts sharply with the colorful life predominating here. Every Rajasthan region specializes in one thing or another. Shekhawati’s fresco wall paintings are unique in themselves, though it was the Mughal kings who made wall paintings fashionable, their religious accusations forbade them to have man or animal as a motif; only floral and abstract designs were permitted. That posed as an obstacle to an extent. Wall painting in Shekhawati only boomed after the decline of Mughal power. The artists reliant heavily on traditional Indian subjects for the early corpus. This consisted of mythological scenes, particularly of Lord Krishna, local legends, animals and plants, men and women’s daily lives, towns, and the Shekhawat Rajas. Most towns are good enough to see classic wall paintings of frescoes, few are Mandawa, Ramgarh, Fatehpur. Fresco Wall Paintings Rajasthan

Nawalgarh, Bissau, Dundlod, Alsisar etc. There are beautifully painted havelis in the Shekhawati region, and frescoes abound here. With the most intricate of frescoes, the interiors, pillars, rooms, halls all have been designed. These craftsmen used vegetable dyes for colouration. The regular themes included floral motifs and arabesque poses. The artists of fresco painting have been called chiteras which belongs to the caste of kumhars (potters). They ‘re also called chejaras (masons) because they work as painters as well as builders. The paintings were depicted in two-dimensional, bright paintings. The chejaras used only natural colors for their art, like kajal (lamp black) for black, safeda (lime) for white, neel (indigo) for blue, geru (red stone powder) for red, kesar (saffron) for orange, pevri (yellow clay) for yellow ochre and so on. Mixed in limewater and beaten into plaster, they remained vibrant for almost as long as the building lasted.

The stories –

Through backbreaking effort the havelis earned their splendour. Wall painting was an elaborate process that involved various materials, layers and techniques. Scenes depicted cover 10 broad themes — decorative designs, everyday life, religion, raga mala, folk mythology, historical events or personalities, flora and fauna, erotica, maps or places and the British and their contraptions. Most chhatris or domes in the ceiling include a rasamandala — a dancing circle in which Krishna miraculously replicates himself so that every Gopi finds him dancing next to her.

Besides popular love stories such as Laila–Majnu and Heer–Ranjha, Shekhawati’s murals have a recurrent theme of a couple astride a camel portraying Rajasthan’s most popular romantic tale—Dhola–Maru. Married off as kids, Dhola returns as an adolescent to fetch his wife. En route, they encounter bandits Umra–Sumra, and like a true Rajput wife, Maru repels the attackers while Dhola urges his camel onwards. Paintings also represent lesser-known folk tales of Binjo–Sorath. Binjo mesmerises his young aunt Sorath with his veena as she dances to his tunes. Sassi–Punu recounts the legend of Punu, a prince who weds Sassi, an abandoned princess raised among washermen. Tragically, Punu is kidnapped and Sassi dies in search of him in the desert.

The colours –

Before the 19th century, artists used natural colours such as lampblack, and red, green and yellow ochres. Lime was a substitute for white and was used for lightening other hues, while indigo, ultramarine, vermilion, verdigris, gold and silver were reserved for prayer rooms and bedrooms. The Indian Yellow, made from gomutra or urine collected from cows fed on mango leaves, was used, albeit rarely. In 1860, German chemical pigments such as ultramarine, chrome red and emerald green reached India and remained popular till World War I, until supplies were hit. (Inspired by ‘Made in Germany’ paint tins, many painters randomly emblazoned the word ‘Germany’ to depict anything English!) Maroon was popular from 1820 to 1865, red and blue held sway between 1860 and 1910, and multi-coloured paintings using cheap European paints dominated the years from 1900 to 1950.

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