The Maurya empire, ruled by the Mauryan dynasty, was the largest and most powerful political and military empire of ancient India. Krishen Khanna speaks of his love of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and his benign but not uncritical account of humanity, as encountered around 1400. In a similar way, the mural is not exactly contemporary life, but a fusion of the Mauryan past with the present of the 1980s, without any obvious parading of modern achievements such as skyscrapers and traffic jams. The dome of a leading hotel in New Delhi that houses the mural is really a complex vault arching high over the large space, and is covered with painted scenes at two or three levels. Krishen Khanna painted it in the early 1980s, and accomplished it in four years, the official date given for the completion being 1983. His great cast of humans and other beasts, and his ever-changing stage of buildings, streets, alleys, together with broader glimpses of nature frame scenes or individuals. It is a rich and complex kaleidoscopic encounter. He has used a range of colours: from browns, muted reds and pinks, yellow and white or near-whites, to an occasional display of dramatic black. The brilliant colours that seem to glow with a life of their own make for continuities, as much as highlighting events or characters. They entertain the eye but also encourage it on its way. Khanna’s relaxed art, still fresh and rich in cultural roots, is displayed in the mural. It stands testimony to his artistic intelligence and appetite for creative work.
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