Decorating a compound in a rural area outside of Madhubani.
This post is the last of three on mural painting. We began in the town of Madhubai with the city murals of Dulari Devi and Abha Das and here we’ll take a look at some rural murals.
We left Madhubani and were driving quickly, late for a meeting with a village artist, when we passed the scene in the photograph above. Late or not, we had to stop.
Local women artists were decorating a former art cooperative in Jitwarpur village in honor of the Chief Minister of Bihar who was visiting the area for a few days. These rural murals painted on the walls of homes and buildings are simpler in design than the highly complex line work of Dulari Devi and Abha Das but no less attractive. The figures are well drawn, broadly outlined with little detail, and the empty areas filled in with bold, bright colors.
Below is another mural in the compound. The clean outline and large areas of color quickly define the subject and render it intelligible at a glance even from afar.
This horse and rider is a very lovely piece with its tall, blue rider upright in the saddle, his right hand raised in an authoritative gesture. The fine red cloak and headdress serve as a backdrop to his blue form and indicate he is someone of importance. His regal horse, richly caparisoned, decoratively painted and well groomed with braided tail and combed forelock also signals this is no ordinary rider. I wondered who this might be but we were in such a hurry that I had no time to ask. Normally, blue is Krishna’s color but this did not appear to be the god. There are no symbols here to tie this image to Krishna.
But, when further on I saw this unfinished painting, I guessed the blue rider was Moti Ram, the companion of the Dusadh (a laborer caste) hero Salhesh.
This is a beautiful, well designed and evenly balanced drawing of Salhesh mounted on an elephant with his elephant driver. Note the bird resting on his left hand. At first, the work appeared to depict a hunting party, Salhesh with a hawk on his wrist, an appropriation of royalty by the low caste champion. But looking closer it was clear that the bird was not a hawk but a parrot and so the reference was to Salhesh’s empathy with nature, the forest and its flowers, birds and animals. The painting however is reminiscent of a royal hunting party and perhaps this was the artist’s intention since it provides an aristocratic association for Salhesh. Click here to enlarge.
Along the bottom of the wall is a charming procession of the Salhesh party.
Salhesh in the lead on his elephant is followed by the rest on horseback. They are approaching what might be Salhesh’s Garden, a magical place in the forest, with the Tree of Life and parrots in its branches.
Finally, here is a work in progress.
This is Krishna and a gopi (milkmaid), he with his flute and she with her milkpot. There is a little more detail here than in the previous paintings but the decoration is still minimal. The piece seems a bit bland but once the areas are painted in with color the work will become as attractive and pleasing as all the others.
