Wall Painting Stories of India

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...

Site name :  Rajmahal Bhindar, Bhindar, Udaipur, Rajasthan Survey date : 13 th Sep 2019 Surveyor name : Neha Ajmera, Laxmi Kanta Saini Article by: Ms Laxmi Kanta Saini (Wall Painting Directory Jaipur) Detail image from a wall painting panel depicting Mohd Ghori with an arrow in his head shot by Prithviraj Chauhan with Chandrabadai standing next to him. "चार बांस चौबीस गज, अंगुल अष्ट प्रमाण ता उपर सुल्तान है,मत चूको चौहान।।" The above lines are extracted from the famous medieval epic, “Prithviraj Raso”. This epic is about the life of the 12th century Indian King Prithvi Raj Chauhan (1166-1192 CE) The epic is written by Chandarbardai, who was the court poet of the king. The stanza and the painting above refers to an episode in which the 12th century Chauhan dynasty ruler Prithviraj Chauhan shoots an arrow in the direction of Muhammad Ghori killing him.   The above-presented painting panel is made in tempera style...