WALL PAINTINGS ON THE TEMPLES OF HIMACHAL

Compositionally speaking, the mural has been divided into horizontal and vertical sub-divisions, their backgrounds being painted in a variety of colors, namely, dark grey, slate grey, royal blue, navy blue, almond color, pate green, bottle green, maroon, orange and red. The coloured backgrounds also act as smooth bases for the compositions painted on them. For example, when the background is green, the dress of the Devi in the foreground is in red; when the background is in blue, yellow and orange predominate in the foreground. When small self-contained cameos are painted on the background, the effect is one of total harmony as seen in a painting of a woman sitting in her house. The strips of different backgrounds blend harmoniously with each other. The colors used in the Devi mural do not, however, have the translucent finish of the Shogi or the Narmadesvara temple murals at Sujanpur Tira; nevertheless the colors used have been given in their rendering a quality of vigor and vitality."*

In Chamba the temple of Devi-ri-Kothi appears to have been built in 1754 but the paintings are of later origin, possibly, in the first quarter of the 19th century. The temple is dedicated to Devi and has the themes of legends of the Devi or Durga painted. But there are also some paintings about Lord Krishna and the Gopis. Incidentally the Rangmahal palace of the Raja has the largest number of paintings in the bills some of which are about the legends of Krishna, Rama and Siva. There is distinct Rajasthani influence in the paintings.

We are not much concerned here regarding the technique, form and style of the wall-paintings and would not discuss "if the paintings were part of a harmonious creation of art or were primarily intended to be decorative" which has been dealt with by the critics including Dr. Mira Seth.

*wall painting of the Western Himalayas by Dr.Mira Seth,(1976),(page,77-78)

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