Damayanti Listening to Praises of Nala

Damayanti Listening to Praises of Nala

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


              Storytellers have come to the court of Raja Bhima, Damayanti's father. They sing praises about Raja Nala. From the window of her palace Damayanti listens to the storytellers praising Nala. She falls in love with him. In the background,  she tells her Sakhis " I have captured and kept Nala in my heart like the deer is kept in the palace."
             Compositionally,  this is one of the most complex painting of Kangra School. Ranjha cleverly divides the painting into three parts. In the central part, we see Raja Bhima sitting with three courtiers, listening to a group of bards. The bards stand in the courtyard and sing. They have brought a humble tribute for the Raja: coconut and the Kush grass. On the right, having lifted the curtain of her window, we see Damayanti listening to the storytellers from her balcony.  In the background, she sits in the inner courtyard, listening to music and carrying on a conversation with her friend while a deer drinks from the water fountain. 
              The narrative technique is quite complex.  Three different episodes,  in three different time frame, in different settings are contained in one painting.  Different perspectives are used to present the continuous narration of the story. This narrative technique is quite common in Indian art.
              The individualization of the faces, the costumes of the men, the architecture of the buildings reveal the influence of the Mughal art on the Pahari region. Though the story is Hindu, the setting is Mughal. After all, the story is of love. Love where difference between people disappears; where one learns from the other and enriches oneself; where one accommodates the differences and lives in harmony with each other. It is this love which is reflected in the works of Ranjha