Page 128 - September 20th 2021, Indian and Himalayan Art Christie's NYC

AN ILLUSTRATION TO

THE HAMIR HATH

The completion of the twenty-one-page Hamir Hath series from which the
present illustration derives is widely recognized as a landmark moment in Mandi
painting, as the master artistry of Sajnu and the direction of Raja Isvari Sen
(1788-1826) shifted the school from the bold, primitive style of the eighteenth
century to the refined and complex styles most associated with the nearby
courts of Kangra and Guler.
The series is said to have been inscribed, identifying the works as presented
to Raja Isvari Sen (1788-1826) of Mandi by the painter Sajnu, on the sixteenth
day of Magha (Janurary-February) samvat 1867 (1810), yet there are no known
whereabouts or copies of the inscription, which has only been conveyed by H.
Shastri in his 1915 article on the subject in the Journal of Indian Art and Industry.
Evidence, however, strongly supports the purported inscription’s claims. The
refined and complex painting style of the series could have only produced by
an artist such as Sajnu, with roots in the more established schools of Guler or
Kangra. The series also abounds with stylistic components closely associated
with Sajnu himself: carpets ornamented with rich arabesque floral sprays, a
meandering architectural composition, and up-tilted and diamond shaped roofs
and turrets. Most significantly, several inscribed portraits of Raja Isvari Sen,
dated to 1808 and attributed to Sajnu in similar fashion, firmly establish his
relationship with the Mandi ruler by 1810, see A.G. Archer, Indian Painting from
the Punjab Hills, Delhi, 1973, p. 360, cat. 46 for an example from the Bharat Kala
Bhavan collection.

The Rajasthani ballad, Hamir Hath (‘Obstinacy of Hamir’), composed by the
fourteenth-century bard Sarangdhar, relates the story of Raja Hamir Dev, the
heroic but arrogant Chauhan ruler of Ranthambore, who battled with Alauddin
Khilji, the Sultan of Delhi. Although it was a widely-known tale for centuries,
there are no known illustrated series of the subject before the nineteenth
century. By no act of coincidence, five series on the tale were produced around
the year 1810 alone, all at the courts of Guler and Mandi. Notably, the tale of
Hamir is strikingly similar to that of Sansar Chand (r. 1775-1823), the despotic
ruler of Kangra and former patron of Sajnu. It involves the siege of an obdurate
ruler in a vast fortress surrounded by dizzy precipices, quite like the Kangra fort,
with a disastrous end. Isvari Sen himself was held captive by Sansar Chand, and
as a likely intentional transgression, he commissioned Sansar Chand’s former
prized artist to produce the series as an allegory to the Kangra ruler’s demise.
Isvari Sen’s likeness is even said to be incorporated into the series as the
dashing Mongol soldier Mahima, who is depicted here consulting with courtiers
within the walls of Ranthambore Fort. Hamir is shown twice, taking council from
his minister Jaja and in discussion with his daughter Deval, who begs that he let
her be given to the Sultan, in order to save their ancestral home. Alauddin, in his
tented encampment, is surrounded by his men and soldiers, a group of whom
don European-style brimmed hats.