The Museum of Art & Photography (MAP) in Bengaluru recently unveiled an exhibition called "Book of Gold: The Kanchana Chitra Ramayana of Banaras," a one-of-a-kind rendition of the Ramayana, reconstructing the illustrated manuscript Tulsidas' Ramcharitmanas, which was commissioned by Maharaja Udit Narayan Singh of Banaras.

This exhibition, curated by the late Kavita Singh and Parul Singh, demonstrates how vibrant the Indian painting tradition was well into the nineteenth century. Locally, the book was known as the Kanchana Chitra Ramayana, or the Golden Illustrated Ramayana.

About The Works

This exhibition brings together roughly eighty pages from the text for the first time. Its name highlights two important features. The first, "kanchana" or "golden," alludes not just to the extensive use of gold paint, but also to the scope of the undertaking, for which no expenditure appears to have been spared. The suffix "chitra" emphasises the importance of paintings in this book: each text page had a facing painting, for a total of 548 paintings.

The exhibition has been curated by the late Kavita Singh, a professor and Dean at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, at Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Parul Singh, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the interdisciplinary programme 4A Laboratory: Art Histories, Archaeologies, Anthropologies, Aesthetics of the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz-Max-Planck-Institut.

An Ambitious Project

The exhibition allows visitors to delve into Tulidas’ Ramcharitmanas, the various styles of miniature painting traditions in the early 19th century, Commissioned by Maharaja Udit Narayan Singh of Banaras, it stands as a testament against older art historical narratives that miniature painting traditions in northern India had faded by the 19th century. An ambitious project that spanned from 1796 to 1814, "The Kanchana Chitra Ramayana" (the Golden Illustrated Ramayana), was a collaboration as legendary as the story of the Ramayana itself.

The project saw several artists belonging to different schools converging in Banaras to work on this manuscript; making Banaras a cultural hub during that time period. Another distinctive element of this project was that the Bhakti poet’s manuscript was written in Awadhi, the common language of the region, as compared to Valmiki’s use of Sanskrit - the language of the elite.and the historical context within which the manuscript was commissioned.

Kamini Sawhney (Director, MAP) says, “We are delighted to be able to present an exhibition that for the first time brings together folios from an exquisitely painted manuscript, with a story that has held the country in its thrall for several centuries. The remaining folios will be made available digitally, both in the exhibition space and online so that students, scholars and any one interested has the opportunity to see how different schools of artists and various styles of painting came together to create a resplendent work of art.”

“It scrutinises the folios to discover that the various hands that painted them were artists trained in stylistic idioms across North India - from the artistic centres of Awadh, Delhi, Datia, Jaipur, or Murshidabad,” says Parul Singh, co-curator. “The manuscript paintings provoke us to rethink current art historical perception of the late 18th century as a period of artistic decline; a period when artists of various schools had to stylistically adapt themselves to find patronage from Company officials producing the so-called “Company School” painting. The Ramcharitmanas paintings challenge this view - not only were these stylistic idioms surviving but they flourished, patronised by small states like Banaras where workshops of migratory artists engendered creative innovations. The discovery of The Kanchana Chitra Ramayana fills a gap in our understanding of some crucial decades in painting history in north India.”

The Information

Venue: MAP Bengaluru, Axis Bank Gallery and Citi Gallery, Third Floor

When: Ongoing until March 8, 2024.

Accessibility: Audio guide, wheelchair access, guide dogs allowed, lift on every floor

More info here.