Materials, Methods and Symbolism in the Pichhvai Painting Tradition of Rajasthan

This book is a most unusual one as far as subject matter is concerned. Written by someone who has spent 11 years as a actual craftsman in a traditional studio in Jaipur, it lovingly documents the entire process of learning the craft, the significance of various colours, positions adopted while preparing them, alchemical changes, myths with which the process is associated, and, not least, the link with Hindu philosophy and Tantric practice. It carefully documents a craft: the elaborate and marvelous nature of which may easily bypass the casual observer who gazes at pichhvais with little sense of its amazing attention to detail and combination of colours. After a perusal of this book it will be impossible not to be aware of the marvel that the picchvai actually is. Birds nesting in the foliage, monkeys jumping from one branch to another, clusters of mango and almond leaves, the burnished gold of skirt borders, and the jeweled quality of the entire painting is brought home through the author’s painstaking description of each step of the process.