Kangra

Scope note: Refers to a regional school of Pahari miniature painting that flourished in the hill state of Kangra. This prolific school flourished from about 1770 to almost the end of the 19th century, with the finest work painted around 1775-1820. Paintings as early as 1690 are known, however, and regional painting traditions continued into the twentieth century. The work produced in Kangra is greatly varied and so it is difficult to discuss a general Kangra style. However, the influence of late Mughal art is evident in Kangra painting and it is often considered as a rejection of the Basohli school. Landscape and perspective are more naturalistic, colors are more subdued, line is more delicate and curvilinear, and the overall style is more lyrical than Basohli painting. Kangra painting reached its zenith during the reign of Raja Sansar Chand (reigned 1775-1823), an important patron. The school was not limited to the Kangra state but spread throughout the Himalayan foothill area, where many distinctive idioms developed. It is difficult to assign a definitive provenance to most of the painting since the hill states were small and often close to one another. Scenes of Krishna from the poetical works, the 'Bhagavata-Purana' and the 'Gitagovinda,' are the most common subject matter of Kangra painting, along with illustrations of other Hindu myths, ragamala series, and portraits of hill chiefs and their families.

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