I thought I would move away from the broader Mithila tradition in this post and take a look at paintings by one particular group, the Dusadhs, and particularly at their representations of Salhesh.
In the state of Bihar of which Mithila forms the northern part, the Dalit (untouchable) castes have their own heroes and stories outside of the classical Brahmin tradition. Among the Dusadh caste, the watchman caste, which numbered over four million in the Bihar 2001 census, Lord Salhesh is revered as a hero and demigod.
The earliest printed Salhesh story seems to be that of the British colonial official and scholar George Grierson. In his collection of popular stories and poems in the Maithili language published in 1882 there is that of ’King Salhes’. Grierson says the story is known throughout the region and that in the villages one can see Salhesh shrines under pipaltrees with clay figures representing the characters in the story.
The story, as told to Grierson, is both a love story and an adventure tale. Salhesh is the appointed watchman of a king’s realm and his reputation is so fierce that no one dares commit any thefts. When the queen’s golden bed is stolen in the middle of the night by a bold thief, Salhesh is blamed and in danger of losing his life. His lover Dauna Malin uses her magic and her beauty to rescue Salhesh and help him return the golden bed to the king.
Today there are other stories told about Salhesh. He is remembered as one who possessed magical powers in his own right and he is remembered as a Dalit who had to endure insults and discrimination on his way to becoming a powerful king. There are festivals in his honor and the Dusadh as well as other Dalit castes come to workship and pray at his shrines.
Here are two small paintings I purchased in Delhi in 2010. They are a matched pair of Salhesh and his brother Moti Ram. Below is the Moti Ram piece.
Moti Ram sits confidently astride his horse. Both horse and rider are at a slight angle leaning back which gives the impression that the horse is rearing or about to charge forward. The image of a warrior going into battle. The medallion is heavily ornamented with Moti Ram tightly framed by flowers and bushes. In the full painting two pairs of love birds decorate the top of the painting with two Malin girls at the bottom. Frequently in drawings of Salhesh and Moti Ram, as in both of these pieces, the faces are simply two straight lines forming an angle with a dot for the eye – just a notation to indicate the head in profile – there is no signature Mithila almond shaped eye.
The Salhesh painting is similar in style to that of Moti Ram but the scene in the medallion is quite different.
This is not the image of a warrior about to charge but rather that of a commander firmly mounted on an elephant at the head of his army. The pace is slow, steady and purposeful as befits the leader of a people. Dauna Malin walks behind Salhes. In the background, a third figure seems to be carrying a weapon. I would suggest this might be Kari Kant who is specifically mentioned in Grierson account as coming along with Moti Ram to help Salhesh. The full painting has the same dense jungle foliage look as that of the Moti Ram piece but peacock tails frame the painting instead of tree trunks and the central medallion is dramatically outlined with a wide black circle within which there are small white dots where the area has deliberately not been painted black.
Here are three more black and white paintings for this post on Salhesh. These are tattoopaintings by Dalit artists, so called because when the Dalits first began to paint they used the repetitive decorative tattoos on their bodies for inspiration.
The first is a simple but quite beautiful piece from 1988. It takes the style of a Krishna rasa lila piece but no flute and the elephants tell us we are dealing with Salhesh and not Krishna, so the dancing figures in the circle are Salhesh’s Malin maidens and not Krishna’s milkmaid Gopis. Note again the simple notation for the head in profile. Also the birds and butterflies, a common motif in Salhesh paintings.
Next is a close up of Urmila Devi’s painting, Salhesh and Moti Ram. She also uses the circular form but instead of Krishna and Radha dancing in the center we have Salhesh and Moti Ram around a tree of life. Elephants and horses, their respective mounts, fan out in alternate circles to occupy the rest of the painting. This is a very well drawn piece. Note the elephants marching solemnly along while the horses have quite a lively look with flying manes and hoofs.
The last painting is a striking tattoo piece, Ghosts of Salhesh, by the late Chano Devi who died in the spring of 2010. The repetition of the single black figure and the wavy uneven line adds to the other worldly effect.
