Hero Image

Mysore painting- A combination of tradition and spirituality

BHOPAL: "Mysore painting is not just applying colours on canvas or paper, it is expression of the artist’s spirituality and love for the divine," said Chandrika, an artist of Mysore painting who came to teach the art to participants at Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya .


She added, "in Mysore style of painting the most popular themes are goddess Rajarajeshwari and Sri Rama Pattabhishekam, Kodandarama, Dashavathara, Chamundeshwari apart from Lakshmi and Saraswathi, the coronation of Sri Rama (Rama pattabhisheka), wedding of Shiva and Parvati (Girijakalyana), Sri Rama with bow and arrows (Kodanda-Rama), Sri Krishna with his foster mother (Yashoda-Krishna) and the goddess Chamundeshwari, the family deity of the Mysore royal house.

Occasionally portraits of the king and his family are also painted. 19th century Mysore artists created paintings of Hindu mythology along with Gods and epic heroes as well as scenes of court life and battle. Though the subjects were religious and mythological, the models were from real life."



The artists explained to the participants that the figures have features like fish shaped eye, round protruded chin, typical Mysore royal hairdo and draping style in sarees, depiction of royal jewellery, round face and maybe a Mysore turban for the men. They depict sugarcane as bow and arrow in the pictures of Raja - Rajeshwari. The foot of goddesses is placed on flower in order to show respect. And the architectural backgrounds of many paintings are faithful copies of the architectural features of the Mysore palace.



Co-artist, Dipti, gave details about colour-making and tool-making process before the actual painting starts.

She said, "in the traditional Mysore paintings, all the inputs were made by the artists like brushes, paints, board, gold foil, etc. The sketches were made with the help of charcoal, which was prepared by burning tamarind twigs in an iron tube. The brushes were made of different materials, like squirrel hair, camel hair, goat hair, etc. Even today the artists prefer squirrel haired brush instead of synthetic brushes because they are more durable and refined. Some artists use plucker to remove the excess of gold foil.

Throwing light on processes of colour making, the co-artist added, "variation exists in the procedure of mixing colors. Some artists use ceramic tiles for better mixing of colors. For the background colors they use small dishes and coconut shells. They get the color in granular form and use it by mixing water. In case of poster colors they remove the excess oil from the top to achieve matte finish. The process of making Arabic gum involves the artist gets it in granular form and then dip it in water overnight and then filter it using muslin cloth."

READ ON APP