In The Doon Valley, A Ramayana Painting Waits…
Site name : Kelaghat Temple, Dehradun (Uttarakhand) Survey date : 10 th May 2017 Surveyor name : Udit N, Omanshu S, Parth Joshi, Sargam M Article by: Mr Lokesh Ohri (INTACH Co-Convenor, Uttarakhand) In Dehradun’s Rispana Valley, at Rajpur, next to the headworks of the British built Rispana Canal, stands the ancient temple of Kelaghat which has now been abandoned. Dehradun, the valley, has always been at the crossroads between the plains and the Himalayas with ancient caravan routes carved out along its river courses, in days when roads were not the norm and people either walked or rode over mules and horses into the mountains. Like many temples around the valley, the Kelaghat temple is, or was, profusely painted in the rare Ala-Gila technique. In Ala-Gila one paints on fresh lime plaster with pigments mixed with an organic binder or binding medium. An extra luster is added to the painting by means of burnishing. The technique gained popularity in the Doon...