WALL PAINTINGS ON THE TEMPLES OF HIMACHAL

Raga Bhairava stands for the god Shiva attended by some maidens. Bhairavi describes the unmarried heroine longing for love. In this situation Parvati is seen worshipping the Shivalinga and praying for union with the Lord. The painting, which exhibits dark clouds and rain showers, stands for Raga Megha-Malhar. Raga Kedara shows a band of musicians playing on their instruments. The illustration to the Asawari Ragini portrayed a female snake-charmer and that to the Ragini Todi a woman playing on a Vina and attracting a wild deer. The Ragini Soratha shows a woman stringing a garland and attended by a woman with a fan in her hand, the trees in the background are laden with flowers.'"* The Pahari Painters did not make much distinction between a temple and a palace for the thematic expression of their art. On temples we find very earthy passions minutely expressed where probably the Rajas' bed-room walls in the palace would have been the better venue for it. This shows a definite social trend of the times when the painting was done.

We have also to mention the paintings on cloth and particularly the Thankas, which decorate the Buddhist shrines. On Thankas (flags) usually Buddhist legends or Buddha in some Mudra is painted. The wall hanging carrying a wedding scene, called Kanhra usually serves as the background decoration for the Ganpati image the chief deity of worship in the wedding ceremonies.The Pahari artists, some families of whom were refugees and some were locally trained and some migratory, did a good job and particularly in the portrayal of feminine beauty and richly deserve the observations of A.K.Coomara swamy:-

"The great work of the Kangra School was to create a feminine type peculiar to itself and of infinite charm; not robust, like the Rajasthani type, but slender and moving with an irresistible grace, intentionally accentuated by the long lines of the drapery." **

*The cultural Heritage of the Himalayas by K.L.Vaidya, (National, 1977), page (108 - 109.)

**Quoted from K.L.Vaidya's"The Cultural Heritage of the  Himalayas".

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