Page 20 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

PAINTING 17

When Mughal rule was established in Murshidabad, the court life here was naturally
infiltrated by Delhi’s luxurious life style. The patronization of art was an inseparable
part of it. It should be mentioned here that when Delhi’s court art came to
Murshidabad the central Mughal art tradition had begun to degenerate.
Although Murshid Quli Khan was not an enthusiastic appreciator of the fine arts, he
indirectly patronized some special art forms for purely religious reasons. In some of the
paintings done during his era the eighteenth century central Mughal formal style is
apparent. Later during the rule of Alivardi in the various paintings of hunting scenes by
Dipchand, the distinguished artist of Murshidabad, the shadow of the final stages of the
central Mughal style found clear expression (fig.1.6). In the second half of the
eighteenth century a change of direction is to be noticed in the painting of Murshidabad.
After the death of Alivardi in 1756 a group of artists coming from Rajasthan settled
permanently in Murshidabad. It was mainly through them that the form of Murshidabad
painting suddenly leaned towards the Rajput style. 21 Later during the reign of
Sirajuddowla in the midst of the high class and fashionable rules and regulations of
court painting, an informal and human characteristic found expression.
The Ragini paintings executed in this period expressed not only the Rajasthani mood,
the rhythmic quality of the lines used in the drawing and the tonal richness rendering
the roundness of forms gave greater expression to the paintings. What deserves special
mention in the context of Murshidabad painting of this time is that there is a noticeable
blending between some formal elements of the ancient art of pata painting of Bengal
and the Rajasthani art of painting that had arrived in Bengal.

Translated by Kamaluddin Md. Kaiser, writer, Dhaka