Museum of Art & Photography (MAP) announces opening of Book of Gold: The Kanchana Chitra Ramayana of Banaras, an exhibition curated by Parul Singh and late Kavita Singh, on September 16 at the museum in Bangalore.
This exhibition of nearly 80 folios is a representation of the Ramayana, reconstructing Tulsidas’ Ramcharitmanas’ illustrated manuscript. It was commissioned by Maharaja Udit Narayan Singh of Banaras and stands in defiance of older art historical narratives that miniature painting traditions in northern India had died out by the nineteenth century.
The Kanchana Chitra Ramayana (the Golden Illustrated Ramayana), an enormous endeavour that stretched from 1796 to 1814, was a cooperation as legendary as the Ramayana itself. Several artists from various schools congregated in Banaras to work on this text, transforming the city into a cultural centre at the time. Another distinguishing feature of this effort was that the Bhakti poet’s manuscript was written in Awadhi, the region’s common vernacular, as opposed to Valmiki’s usage of Sanskrit, the language of the elite.
Explaining the Book of Gold, Parul Singh, co-curator observes, “The seven volumes of the magnificent Kanchana Chitra Ramayana, an illustrated Ramcharitmanas, have justifiably garnered great praise by the scribes of the text as one can see written in one of the colophons of the manuscript:
“Gem-like is this just-completed book, golden, uniquely illustrated
Shimmering and shining it gives glimpses of the holy Ramcharitra”
It scrutinises the folios to discover that the various hands that painted them were artists trained in stylistic idioms across North India – from the artistic centres of Awadh, Delhi, Datia, Jaipur, or Murshidabad. The manuscript paintings provoke us to rethink current art historical perception of the late 18th century as a period of artistic decline; a period when artists of various schools had to stylistically adapt themselves to find patronage from Company officials producing the so-called “Company School” painting. The Ramcharitmanas paintings challenge this view – not only were these stylistic idioms surviving but they flourished, patronised by small states like Banaras where workshops of migratory artists engendered creative innovations. The discovery of The Kanchana Chitra Ramayana fills a gap in our understanding of some crucial decades in painting history in north India.”
Painted with ornate gold, these pages of the Kanchana Chitra Ramayana will be on display for the first time to the public, taking spectators and art appreciators on a journey of discovery, revealing a variety of artistic styles and craftsmanship, now recognised as different schools of miniature art, to create one epic illustrated manuscript.
While the original manuscript was 1,100 pages long, the Kanchana Chitra Ramayana has since been deconstructed and sold to private collectors. However, before it was disassembled, Prof. Richard Schechner of New York University documented the book in its entirety in the 1970s, allowing MAP to construct a digital flipbook of the manuscript in its entirety.
Elated about bringing the collection to the public eye, Director MAP, Kamini Sawhney says, “We are delighted to be able to present an exhibition that for the first time brings together folios from an exquisitely painted manuscript, with a story that has held the country in its thrall for several centuries. A treasure that was once unavailable to the public is now on display for people to access and enjoy at least in part. The remaining folios will be made available digitally, both in the exhibition space and online so that students, scholars and anyone interested has the opportunity to see how different schools of artists and various styles of painting came together to create a resplendent work of art.”
The Book of Gold: The Kanchana Chitra Ramayana of Banaras allows visitors to see the vast imagination of the artisans of the time who arrived with one objective in mind: storytelling. An opportunity not only to wonder at the massive scale of this undertaking and the artists’ brilliance in all its splendour, but also to be inspired by its abundance of beauty.
A film based on the book will also be shown at the museum, developed by Amit Dutta, a contemporary practitioner of experimental cinema in India. In their Digital Experience Centre, MAP will also include a holographic experience of the Kanchana Chitra Ramayana.
The exhibition will conclude on March 8, 2024.
