Page 186 - Eye of the beholder

In addition the artist used a contrast of primary colours as blue and yellow and red and yellow along with a liberal use of gold and silver. The rendering of jewellery as pearls and necklaces were delineated by raised white paint. The landscape was treated in a decorative manner with a high horizon and this was typical of Basohli miniatures. Elements of nature as clouds, lightening and rain received distinctive treatment, with clouds shown as thin wisps and curls on the horizon. Light rain was depicted by pearl like strands, and heavy rain by straight white lines linked with the clouds, while water was represented with spiral conventions. Basohli style resulted from the fusion of a deeply religious art rooted in folk tradition with the basic elements of the Mughal technique. During Sangram Pal’s reign [1653-73] the ruling family of Basohli adopted Vaishnavism. Though Basohli paintings exhibit the use of strong colours, its treatment of trees and profusion of jewellery had resonance to Mewar paintings, though no historical evidence supports the contact between the two states.
The early paintings produced around 1660-70 reflected the conflicts involved in the change over from Shaivism. While some works depict Devi and Parvati, a major series illustrates Rasamanjari, which apparently was a secular work written by Bhanudatta - a Sanskrit love lyrics and popular among the elite, having the classification of Ashta Nayikas or eight heroines and heroes, in which the hero is identified as Krishna, marking a shift towards Vaishnavism, which was not yet firmly entrenched to warrant a forthright illustration of a regular religious work belonging to the sect.
A beautiful painting derived from Vishnu Purana titled “Matsya Avatar has the representation of eddying swirls of water with blue toned Vishnu wearing a crown with peacock feathers and having four arms carrying sankh, gada, lotus and chakra. Vishnu is represented in conflict with the demon Hayagriva who was the Danav Raja or the King of all the demons. According to the Vishnu Purana Vishnu had vowed that he would visit the earth whenever Adharma or injustice manifested itself. Therefore, when humanity was at stake and when Adharma emerged in the form of a demon named Hayagriva, Vishnu incarnated as a fish. Matsya in Sanskrit means “Fish” and was the first of the ten avatars or incarnations of Vishnu. In this incarnation Vishnu saved the world from a great flood. Matsya is generally depicted as a giant fish or also anthropomorphically with a human torso connected to the rear half of a fish.
According to one of the legends associated with the Matsya Avatar, there lived a demon by name Hayagriva. He was the son of Sage Kashyapa and his wife, Danu. Kashyapa was hailed for being a boon to humanity, but Hayagriva was the exact opposite. The demon was chosen as the Danav Raj (king of the demons) and his sole motive was to stop the humans from becoming more powerful than the Danavs. He wanted to establish the Danav clan as the most superior one and hence made several attempts to disrupt the progress of the human class. Realizing that Vishnu had handed the four Vedas to Brahma, he decided to steal them to stop the sacred texts from reaching the humans.
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