Women
and Painting: History and Representation
Indian
Painting has rather a long history in the world of art commencing from the
pre-historic times not to cite certain petroglyphs such as the Bhimbhetka.
Paintings have survived for many centuries such as the Ajanta cave paintings
and the medieval Mughal period saw the fusion of Persian miniature with the old
Indian traditions and with the onset of the 17th century its style
was diffused across Indian Princely courts of all religions, each developing a
local style. Company paintings were made for British clients under the British
Raj, which from the 19th century also introduced art schools along
western lines, leading to modern Indian painting.
Indian
paintings can be broadly classified into murals and miniatures; Murals which
the Oxford Dictionary describes as painting directly executed on a wall and
small-scale minutely finished portrait for Miniatures. The Ajanta cave painting
may be taken as one for mural painting while the Palas of Bengal were the
pioneers of miniature painting. Miniature painting reached its zenith during
the Mughal period which was later carried on by Rajasthani painters of
different schools not to mention the schools of Bundi, Kishangarh, Jaipur,
Marwar, Mewar. The Ragamala painting also belong to this school as does the
Company painting produced for British clients under the British Raj.
To
look at Colonial perception of Indian art, James Mill in his “The History of British India” first
published in 1817 has “heaped a
particularly virulent diatribe”. To Mill, “the indigenous artistic production was instrumental in exposing
contemporary social and religious practices”. Works of art were deemed
successes or failures based on their utility in advancing bourgeois notions of
civilization, democracy and industry. In Mills history, art is never evaluated
on its own terms or given agency; it is always representative. Mill like other
thinkers believed that the state of the art reflected the state of
civilization. He found Indian art being in a primitive mode for three reasons:
“Hindus lacked ‘true’ arch, built
distastefully gargantuan structures and failed to develop one-point perspective
in painting”. Alexander Cunningham has drawn attention to Indian art
through the nomenclature he employed to periodize its art history –
Indo-Grecian, Indo-Scythian, Indo-Sassanian. However, such nomenclature was not
used to describe a joint endeavour. Rather India was seen as a womb
occasionally impregnated “with foreign
genius, resulting in artistic innovation”. This was the notion of many
scholars and within the history of Indian art Hindu art was particularly
considered fanciful. Muslim and Buddhist art were conceptualize as more “rational” partly due to their monotheism
and partly due to Buddhism’s contact with Greco-Roman culture in the
North-Western provinces of Gandhara. An analysis of Cunningham revealed a
gendered and racialized discourse on the history of Indian art. To quote
Annapurna Garimella “…Hindu art became
racially inferior through its feminine nature, while its producers became
feminized due to their racial inferiority. Premised on the notion that art
manifests the essential spirit of a race, and that a particular race can only
produce a certain kind of art, India, Hinduism and Hindu art signified the lack
characteristic of all entities gendered feminine”.
Now
to look into women painters P.K. Gode in his “The Role of Courtezan in the Early History of Indian Painting” has
given the history of women painters as early as 750 A.D. The Kamasutra of
Vatsayana was supposed to have been composed according to Dr. A.B Keith around
500 A.D. It contained 64 arts (kalas) which were ancillary to the Kamasutra. Painting
was included among these arts. Prostitutes well versed in these arts are said
to be respected in the society and the royal court. The Dasakumaracarita
ascribed to Dandin of the 6th century according to P.V. Kane shows
the art of painting as being associated with the courtezans “in the manner prescribed by the Kamasutra of
Vatsayana”.
The
drama of Mrcchakatika has given a description of a ganikagrha or the house of
courtezan in which ganikas are described as moving about with picture boards in
their hands which are described to be smeared with various colours. This
clearly proves the association of painting with the ganikas at least at the
time of the composition of the drama. The question P.K. Gode posed is as to why
painting became disassociated with the ganikas in the later period of history.
Possible reasons could be that those paintings did not survive or were either
painted and credited with a male name. The Natyasastra of Bharata according to
P.K. Gode has made reference to suggest that alekhya or the art of painting was
a regular part of the accomplishments of the high born ladies as also of the
courtezans of the time of the Natyasastra. In fact, Kautilya in his Arthasastra
attached great importance to the art-education of prostitutes even at the
expense of the state. To quote Kautilya “ Those
who teach prostitutes, female slaves, and actresses arts such as singing,
playing musical instruments…painting…and the art of attracting and captivating
the mind of others shall be endowed with maintenance from the state”. Kautilya’s
object is only political for he states in
the same context “the wives of
actors and others of similar profession, who have been taught various languages
and the use of signals, shall along with their relatives he made use of in
detecting the wicked and murdering or deluding foreign spies”. Whatever may
have been the object of Kautilya with the prostitutes the fact remains
according to P.K. Gode that “…painting
was taught to the prostitutes at the time of the composition of the
Arthasastra, if not some centuries earlier as Kautilya records not only
contemporary practices but settled practices of previous centuries, which may
have been current in his days”.
The
Medieval Deccan period of the Qutub Sahi Dynasty has produced a good miniature
art with different themes. The miniatures of Golconda covers the region
including work, dresses, jewellery highlighting their status and role. The
paintings depict women or royalty and court scenes which were male bastions of
power but there is the depiction of common women as well.
Miniatures
of medieval Deccan shows the predilections and personality of the Queens and
Princesses which represented a male gaze of women as idealized symbol of
royalty splendour and their power and participation in political endeavours.
The Kulliyat of Mohammad Quli Qutub Shah depicts the King and Queen watching
the court scene with great curiosity. Although other women are depicted along as
attendees, serving wine and some are dancing it is for the king to enjoy and
with the Queen being depicted with a bent face and eyes cast downwards for she
does not belong in the public space. Such painting depicts that few women
enjoyed political power in Medieval India and appeared along the side of the
King including their costumes, jewellery and which are rich in style and royal
in outlook.
Ragamala Paintings are a
series of illustrative paintings from medieval India based on Ragamala or the
'Garland of Ragas', depicting various Indian musical modes, Ragas.
They stand as a classical example of the amalgamation of art, poetry and
classical music in medieval India. Ragamala paintings were created
in most schools of Indian painting, starting in the 16th and 17th centuries and
are today named accordingly, as Pahari Ragamala, Rajasthan or Rajput Ragamala,
Deccan Ragamala, and Mughal Ragamala. The nuances in music used in art
incorporated the tradition of classical poetry, Nayaki-Nayaka lore that examine
the moods of men and women in all mutability of love, agony of waiting, ranging
grief in separation and joy in union. This tradition of Nayaki-Nayaka theme
became much popular among Deccani miniature painters which “… could depict the female form in all its beauty
which would appeal to the male gaze”. In simple terms Ragamala paintings is
about women who are lovesick and their intense feelings of love, hope and
distress with sensitive expressions.
Khawar
Nama (1645-49 A.D) of Abdullah Qutub Shah’s period consists of Gurjari ragini
and Sarangini ragini painting. One painting shows a ragini seated outside a
house and playing ektara while another listens to her. Another painting shows a
ragini relaxing on a cushion while posing like a dancer. These raginis shows
Hindu attire such as bangles, necklaces and bindi on the forehead. The costumes
have certain Rajasthani influence.
Yogini
miniatures of Deccan reflected and illustrated women under royal patronage most
of which belong to the Bijapur and Golconda period. Yoginis are being depicted
with beautiful facial features presenting a look of nobility. They are depicted
with a monarchal or a trident even with ektara or holding a fan made of peacock
feathers. Their garments consisted of pajamas, khesa, zari dupatta etc.
including shoes and wore necklaces made of pearls and ear rings made of rubies
and wristlets studded with gems etc. Such an attire suggests high status and
aristocratic dignity of the Yoginis. They however also smear their bodies with
ashes to give them a look of an ascetic. Mathanavi Sahrulbayan by Mir Hasan
Dehlabi states that women of princely families went out of their home in guise
of certain Saivaite sect to search for their beloveds. This could probably
provide a space for women that was not possible in the court. Deccani Yogini
miniatures generally depicts Muslim background as represented by their dresses
which were mostly worn by Muslim women. A Yogini painting of Golconda dated
1630 A.D showed a yogini richly dressed and decorated moving in the forest
playing ektara. A lion is depicted as enjoying the music with a fantastic
foliage in the dark background and birds perching on a tree. The costumes and
jewellery are peculiar to Golconda and the palette consisting of white, green,
brown colours particularly belong to Golconda style of illustrating miniature
paintings.
The
paintings of Golconda not only showed women of high status but also common
women who performed their daily activities like praying, smoking, distributing
hukka and playing music which were also being painted. Miniatures of maidens
signified their role and importance in the aristocratic and royal
establishments. They are depicted individually as well as along with the
royalty. Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah’s period saw painting where the Queen was
surrounded by maidens who were richly decorated which is an indicator of the
status enjoyed by the maidens in the Deccani court. There are also paintings
which depicted maidens as part of royal court and palace life.
Miniatures
in the form of manuscripts which portrayed women as artists and dancers was
another important component of the Golconda School. Such miniatures tell about
who women were as dancers and musicians which otherwise cannot be known from
the elitist royal customs and culture of Golconda. Beauty was also an important
part of these paintings. The paintings of Golconda also depicted the fusion
with foreign European, Persian and indigenous elements. Portraits of courtezans
who were a good source of income for the state were mainly for sale to European
travelers and merchants. Apart from this portraits of local women were also
depicted substantially.
Apart
from the indigenous themes, European influence can also be seen from the
paintings of Golconda. There were paintings which were either painted by
Europeans or indigenous painter with an influence based on European models.
There are several paintings such as Madonna and child and the Virgin Mary which
may have a European character but the background landscape, ornaments etc. are
of Golconda origin.
The
Golconda paintings helped us to draw and understand how women were represented
using various themes and designs. Deccani miniatures were not religious nor
secular. The artists of then period were accelerated to explore compatible
indigenous elements. Foreign elements were seen in combination with indigenous
works which one could easily perceive their roles and expressions. As can be
seen from the miniatures women in the society served in different categories as
Queens, Princesses, maidens etc. who had their part due to their utilitarian
value for enjoyment and other women as merely representing local history and
culture. The paintings show cultural construction of women in different shapes
only for the delight of men both in terms of sexual and visual pleasure. The
main goal of such painting was not for the improvement or benefit of women of
then society but only for the royalty and nobility and to entertain and please
their European friends and merchants. However, one should also be cautious
while attributing such tendencies and emotions as they could have been the
patron’s personal predilection towards depicting women. However, this cannot
diminish the importance of the miniatures as a source of history since every “…source is embedded within its own
historical frame and (has) a certain way of representing reality”. The
representation of female forms by the artist(s) depicts the different spheres
of women. Therefore, such miniatures open the world of women’s work and
activities which rather helped in the reconstruction and representation of
women’s history.
REFERENCES:
·
Miniature Paintings of Golconda and the
representation of Women (16th – 17th centuries A.D) – Rekha Pande and B. Lavanya
·
Engendering India Art – Annapurna Garimella (Representing
the Body: Gender Issues in Indian Art-
Edited by Vidya Dehejia)
·
The Role of Courtezan In The History of Indian
Painting – P.K. Gode
·
Indian Painting – Wikipedia (General reading)
