Fourteen Basohli Paintings
The Churning of the Ocean of Milk, Basohli, c. 1730
I found these images in the book Basohli Painting. (Remember, the library is your friend.)
Vinayak Razdan described the story behind them better than I could:
Basohli Paintings evolved in the 17th and 18th centuries as a distinctive style of painting fusing Hindu mythology, Mughal miniature techniques, and the folk art of the local hills. The painting style derives its name from the place of its origin—the hill town of Basohli. . . in the state of Jammu & Kashmir.
...Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, who was first to publish them, in Rajput Paintings in 1916, wrote about this style of painting believing it to be Jammu style. Discussing these Jammu paintings, Coomaraswamy observed:
The Jammu are well and vigorously designed often with a decorative simplicity very suggestive of large scale mural art. In several examples there reappears that savage vitality which has been already remarked in the early Rajasthani raginis, but it is here associated with more exaggeration and with a strange physical type, the peculiar sloping forehead and very large eyes are especially characteristics of some of the portraits..the coloring is hot. Silver is used as well as gold. A remarkable feature is the occasional use of fragments of beetle's wings to represent jewelery, and by the peculiar character of the architecture, with turrets, paneled doors, latticed windows and plinths ending in grotesque heads...Krsna and Radha or Mahadeva and Uma play the parts of hero and heroine.
The most popular themes of Basohli Paintings come from Shringara literature like Rasamanjari or Bouquet of Delight ( a long love poem written in 15th century by Bhanudatta of Tirhut Bihar ), Gita Govinda and Ragamala. These paintings are marked by striking blazing colors, red borders, bold lines and rich symbols. The faces of the figures painted are characterized by the receding foreheads and large expressive eyes, shaped like lotus petals. The painting themselves are mostly painted in the primary colors of Red, Blue and Yellow.
Once again that was Vinayak Razdan talking, not me. Click on his link for other images in this style.
The South Wind Cools Itself in the Snow of the Himalayas,
illustration to the Gita Govinda, Basohli, 1730
Krishna Bringing the Parijata from Indra's Heaven,
illustration to the Bhagavata Purana, Tira-Sujanpur, c. 1780
The Vigil of the Expectant Heroine, Chamba, c. 1760–80
Krishna Stealing the Clothes of Cowherdesses,
illustration to the Bhagavata Purana, Tira-Sujanpur, early 18th century
Nat Raga, Basohli, c. 1700–20
Radha Giving Butter-Milk to Krishna, illustration to Bihari's Sat Saiya, Basohli, c. 1690
The Birth of Evil, illustration to the Bhagavata Purana, Basohli, c. 1730–40
The Birth of Krishna, illustration to the Bhagavata Purana, Mankot, early 18th century
Portrait of Raja Dhiraj Pal, Basohli, c. 1720–25
The Love-Lorn Lady, Basohli, c. 1690–93
"Hail, Keshava, Hail! Ruler of Wave and Wood!" Illustration to the Gita Govinda, Basohli, 1730
something about this detail reminds me of (of all things) Wolfgang Hutter
On the Threshold of Youth, illustration to the Rasamanjari, Basohli, c. 1695
