Of Raja Daya Dhata and the Nurpur Master Golu

Recently, it came to my notice that Nurpur shaili of Pahari paintings too had a series of masters that have been feted well. Of course, most of them are confined to the Rasamanjari collection in terms of fame, what was interesting to note of this school was the presence of a family tradition.

Portrait of Golu - Courtesy Met Museum

In their catalogue of a selection of Indian paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, John Guy and Jorrit Britschgi have pointed out that unlike say Basohli, where no documentation of the existence of painter families, there are inventory lists (bahis) for the painter Devidasa from Nurpur. Despite the proximity of the schools, this claim of divergence seems an oddity. It is well known how the Jasrota clan who were the original patrons of the Basohli school had also patronized Pandit Seu and his son Nainsukh of Guler, who were rather famous master artisans of the Guler school of paintings. Such a claim does not make sense therefore and should be revisited. 

Be that as it may, the book certainly documents a small but rather interesting feature. Golu, the grandson of Devidasa, who also contributed to paintings for the Rasamanjari series in the period dated around 1715, had a princely figure assume the role of the hero or nayaka. Rasamanjari is essentially themed on the nayaka-nayika dalliances, with several backdrops that together converge to express the various stages and phases of love and romance. 

An interesting observation brought out in this book is the fact that the nayaka's features in Golu’s series closely resemble those of the ruler of Nurpur of that time, Raja Daya Dhata Pathania (r.1700–1735). This made me start searching across some paintings, and indeed, the resemblance is stark. For instance, a grab of a folio from Golu's Rasamanjari series, which shows the hero departing, leaving behind the heroine, who is anticipating the departure but has no expression.

If one were to carefully look at the nain-naksh of the nayaka and the styling of clothes, there is a clear royal air to them. The clothing as well suggests in fact, especially the motifs on the belt of the nayaka and the kalgi in the turban, that the person is certainly of certain order.

Now, here is a painting dated 1705 from the Victoria and Albert Museum's collection. In this painting, one can see Raja Bhupal Dev of Jasrota receiving Raja Dalip Singh (r. 1695-1741) of Guler and Raja Daya Dhata (ca. 1700-1735) of Nurpur. 

L -R - Raja Dhyan Data of Nurpur, Raja Dalip Singh of Guler, and Raja Bhupal Dev of Jasrota

The three men wear long, belted robes, and turbans. The interesting thing is that the painting also seems to suggest a mix of styles of Guler shaili in the way the characters have been painted and Nurpur shaili, given the red border choice taken up.

Now notice the features of Raja Dhyan Data. The eyes and the moustaches seem to have great similarities, clearly indicating the artist Golu was intimately aware of the features of Raja Dhyan Data. For that matter, even the earrings are a close match.

This is also seen in another painting in fact by Golu. In this painting called Virahanivedana, which I discovered on Twitter thanks to Anuraag Shukla, and which is the British Museum's collection, we see the nayaka again, looking very similar to Raja Dhyan Data, and even closer to the 1705 painting.

Virahanivedana: a lovesick heroine, from the British Museum collection, thanks to Anuraag Shukla

A closer examination again reveals the trend as mentioned.

This is honestly not surprising. It was known that artists would often draw their patrons as subjects. However, an entire series of paintings being done on the frame of the ruler of the time also seems to suggest that the artist was perhaps busy with other projects simultaneously, and to maintain consistency with the family line's style, he chose to adopt what was convenient for him.

An aside that I would like to highlight is that Dhyan Data has been put in the same league as Dalip Singh and Bhupal Dev. Both these kings were major patrons of art, even helping with the evolution of the shailis through patronage in major ways. This also seems to be a painting of the chief art patrons of the Pahari shailis, all of whom coincided in terms of their rule around the same time. Clearly, Golu's time coincided with the absolute golden age of Pahari shaili , and there seems to be more than an organic connect in the way the artists were being patronized.  Of course, like much else, this is another aspect that needs serious examination as an idea - the possibility of a coordinated approach towards patronizing the artists and using their skills to further the local arts.