Damayanti and the Painter

Damayanti and the Painter

 by Ranjha. From the Nala Damayanti series.
Kangra School. Late 18th century AD.


            Having fallen in love with Nala, Damayanti dreams about him (she is shown sleeping in the right side of the painting). In the morning, she calls a painter to paint her dream. The painter, with his bag, enters her palace from the left side of the painting.  In the center, we see the painter sitting on a low stool (chawki) painting a loving couple on the wall under Damayanti's instructions. 
           Ranjha ha caught the  liveliness of the palace with all its nuances.  The maid leading the artist into palace. The peacock on the roof; the ducks waddling into the courtyard for a drink at the fountain.  He even tells us that it is the summer month as the artist has his head covered with a cloth; the peacock hardly has his lush tail; the ducks are thirsty. 
           Ranjha, like Fattu, captures the different stratas of the society: the low paid, the low status of the artist;  the luxurious surroundings of the rich princess; the old but fat maid standing almost as a supervisor, keeping her eyes open as a man has come to the Zennanakhana (the Ladies Palace). Damayanti's friends and maids gossip while Damayanti describes her Prince Charming to the painter. Their giggles and the quacking of the ducks fills the air.
       Although the painting is stylised, it is full of realism. Ranjha was a minute observer.