Religious beliefs are interwoven with the fabric of Indian societies from ancient times.
Schools of art, visual, performing, and literary are all deeply influenced by the faith in different branches of spiritual philosophy in this subcontinent.
Scriptures, canons of faith and mythology provided inspiration and the subject matter for different forms of creative expressions and still do so in India.
Pahari schools of paintings developed at a time and also at a place where faith formed the accepted backbone of life in society.
From the simple and fatalistic acceptance of the illiterate day labouror, to the pundit immersed in pedanic analysis, the way of faith was universal.
Social cremoies, religious functions and individual joys and sorrows all centered around the accepted concepts of traditional beliefs that created the world of Pahari people for centuries, as in other parts of India.
This world included gods and demons from the mythologies.
These accepted concepts of gods and demons often became subject matter in Pahari art too.
Undoubtedly the presentation of mythological scenes were immensely popular as the viewers were all oriented with the themes.
Scenes from Ramayana, and Mahabharata, the great Epics, in Pahari schools of art must have delighted the viewers as the admirers were able to identify the figures easily.
Scenes from Shivpuran, Devipuran and Krishnalila were very popular themes too.
Art that appeal to the social psyche in a positive manner gain fast popularity and the subjective matter connected with religious beliefs gave Pahari schools of art great popularity amongst the people in olden times.
In a world unburdened by excessive materialistic obsessions and consumerist distractions, and close to nature that was largely unspoiled, the world of Gods and demons was felt and accepted as part of everyday life.
The artists of Pahari painting depicted the gods and demons with the passion for details they expressed in their art works.
The gods whether in regal attires or in the ascetic style were forceful and impart a strong impression of the artists creative skills of the artists who devised those compositions.
These pictures must have been venerated as icons had been in old Russia. People for centuries must have prayed to these paintings at times of sorrow or joy.
We must remember that traditionally, a picture or a sculpture of a deity becomes a center object for worship for the devotee, and surpasses the level of mere creative expression.
The modern day painter who copies pictures of old Pahari paintings for the purpose of selling them just to make money can never understand the way of faith that the artists of yore traversed.
In a world where even picture books were rare and magazines non existent much greater attention was given to the hand painted detailed illustrative pictures in traditional styles.
The pictures of gods and godesses were concrete images people in olden days wanted to see to anchor their faith on and the presentation in detailed oriental art forms of Pahari art were ideal for that purpose in this hill region.
It is interesting to note that the gods wore attire and ornaments that were often inkeeping with the styles prevalent in the hill states at the time when the artists worked there. Shiva with Nandi and Kalika with her awe inspiring form also were painted in ascetic forms.
Radha Krishna lila was a favourite theme and Radha and her Sakhis or companions are painted in Pahari attire.
Krishna too sometimes sports pahari chola, though he in seen in Dhoti too. The delicate lyrical beauty of woman, inspite of the stylization of facial expression, manifests itself in these paintings on miniature formats.
Holi, when Radha and her companions played with colours with Krishna and his companions, was depicted.
Many are the scenes of love, and sending of messengers for love in some paintings, in Radha Krishna lilas. The background is not Vrindavan but the areas of hills where these pictures were painted in a stylized manner.
Radha and her environment is also "Pahari" and Radha is likely to be a beauty from Chamba, Kangra or Guler.
It is surprising how delicately the artists of Pahari art schools depicted divinity through human figures in the perimeter of stylization.
The moods divine were expressed through eloquent gestures of the subjects and the settings of the compositions, yet Krishna, his gopa companions, Radha and her gopi sakhis have a very "earthly" aspect that undoubtedly allowed the local Pahari people and the patrons of this art to form an empathy with the subjects of the art works.
The dark complexioned god, with his love that surpassed the social dictums and the boundary of physical enjoyment and Radha, with her yearning of a devotee who aspires to reach the ultimate goal in existence through a spiritual union in this physical world, creates an eternal play of hide and seek in love through the appropriate art works in Pahari schools of miniature paintings.
Demons, shown in scenes of Devipurana, when Devi Durga battles with and kills demons, and also shown as Ravanas army in Ramayana paintings, are distinguished by demonic faces and often with horns.
Inspite of their demonic faces I find them rather humourous too. I don’t know whether the artists purposely put touches of humour when painting the demons or whether that was done inadvertently.
The demons depicted in battles between positive and negative forces naturally symbolized the negative forces and the mythological teachings emphasizing the victory of the good over evil have been focused on in these scenes showing the conflict between the gods and the demons in these miniature paintings.
I am often surprised to find so many figures aptly placed on so small formats, and each figure is minutely drawn and finished with great care, proving the skills of the painters of Pahari miniature paintings.
The compositional brilliance of the old masters, who innovated the compositions that were just copied by "copy masters" in later ages, makes the older and original iconographic pieces of Pahari art much more valuable and much more interesting than the later produced pieces that may just be repeatations.
Innovative minds in olden days wielding the brushes with a spontaneity that only original artists can command, should never be compared with copymasters whose only aim is to get career success in modern times, when evaluating iconographic aspects of Pahari schools of art.