July-August 2010

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With the lights dimmed and the walls dividing each section painted in soft warm hues, the ‘Gardens and Cosmos’ exhibition provides a tranquil, almost spiritual, haven from the bright and bustling British Museum. While the first part of the exhibition depicts the maharaja at leisure in his palace, the show transitions expertly into a visual exploration of the mysteries of the universe.

Each ‘hallway’ is separated from the others by dividers, creating small spaces intimate enough for the visitor to indulge in the pieces. The miniature size of most of the watercolour illustrations requires that the visitor come nose-to-glass in order to properly appreciate the images’ delicate details and lush hues. Even in larger works, the figures themselves are small and dainty, executed so that the finest hairs of the deer and nose rings of the king’s women are clearly visible.

Despite this attention to real detail and depiction of activities integral to Hindu tradition and daily life, the scenes portrayed in the illustrations are highly idealised and unrealistic. If not for the diversity of colours in their clothes, the women in Maharaja Bakhat Singh rejoices during Holi, could pass as clones of one another, with stoic facial expressions that contradict their lively poses. The luxurious gardens are impeccably organised in symmetrical, geometric sections, with exotic birds tamely posed in a manner that seems to be at odds with their wild instinct. The garden arrangement reflects the architecture of the palace, as the colours of the figures complement those of the foliage. This interaction and idealisation establish the maharaja’s palace as a haven in which nature and man coexist in harmony, removed from the rest of the world.

In many cases, these paintings were completed while battles or other destructive events ravaged the empire. Maharaja delights in outdoor musical performance was executed in 1737, the year in which Bakhat Singh quelled a major invasion. The court artists took great care to keep the images free of such chaos to depict the maharaja as so powerful as to be unaffected by such dealings. Even in illustrations directly depicting scenes of destruction, as in Maharaja Bakhat Singh watches elephants wreaking havoc, the maharaja appears to be removed, absorbed in his own thoughts. He does not face the hectic scene below his elevated balcony seat, and he remains dignified and expressionless while the fighting elephants that have gone out of control cause his servants to run amok and lose their turbans. And even then, the clean, delicate lines in the work render the scene a type of ballet performance. 

Daily scenes transition into illustrations of myths and stories of the gods. The Death of Vali; Rama and Lakshmara wait out the monsoon (pictured) narrates a myth set in a fantastical landscape with abstracted fuschia mountains and rolling, stylised clouds. Elephants, hyenas, hares, peacocks, and tigers roam freely yet in organized clusters as neat, white needles of rain fall from the ominous sky. The god Rama, painted in a rich blue, and the other participating characters appear several times throughout the panorama, as each stage of the epic story is illustrated chronologically.  

Such a series of mythical historias transitions seamlessly into the second part of the exhibition centring on spirituality. The illustrations in this series contemplate the formation of the universe through geometrical diagrams of the cosmos (yantras) and considerably abstracted illustrations of the creation of the elements. The last part of the exhibition no longer focuses on the maharaja himself, but his devotion to the divine.

The winding corridors and apparent shift in theme from the worldly to the heavenly create a meditative journey for the visitor. The brightly painted gardens and lively scenes of palace life make one forget that Jodhpur is actually located in an arid desert, and the yantras invite spiritual contemplation. The court artists’ deft use of opaque watercolours and touches of gold effectively create a world removed from reality, a soothing, mystical place in which the mortal and supernatural become one.

Exiting the gallery, I felt refreshed and peaceful, as if I had just undergone a session of yoga. ‘Gardens and Cosmos’ is an uncommon exhibition made accessible to the visitor unfamiliar with Indian iconography, and it is both thought-provoking and aesthetically exciting.

‘Gardens and Cosmos’ is at the British Museum, London, until 11 October.

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