Pichwai Paintings

Why is in news? The rescuer of Pichwais

Contemporary artist and collector Amit Ambalal on the charm of Nathdwara paintings and a commerce-led revival of the art form

Pichwai is a tradional style of painting from Rajasthan and usually depicts Lord Krishna and related stories.

The paintings are made on the cloth and are used as a backdrop to the idol in the temple.

They show various moods of Krishna and are executed in the miniature style.

Other themes are also portrayed, such as the map of the Nathdwara, temple, cows (as symbols of Lord Krishna) among others and not very often, are also created on paper.

The stunning art form is a 400-year-old art, one which was created depicting the beautiful life of Lord Krishna.

This unique word Pichwai comes from the Sanskrit words, ‘pitch’ meaning back and ‘wais’ meaning hanging. It therefore means traditional paintings are hanging behind the idol of Shrinathji.

The contemporary paintings are used to embellish the walls of the temples located in Nathdwara district, specialising as a backdrop for the temples of Shrinathji.

The making of a traditional painting takes a considerable amount of time, ranging from a couple of weeks to months.

Great artists first sketch this conventional art on hand-spun starched cloth, and then the beautiful image is created, painted and printed in brilliant colours or woven with hand blocks.

The classic styles are generally made with natural colours and even natural brushes. The base is mostly red woven with yellow or any bright coloured embroidery.

The focus is mainly on using intense and bright colours such as red, yellow, green, black along with a border beautified with a goat, dabka work or Swaro executed in the miniature stylevski. The most beautiful ones are mainly filled with pure gold.