![]() These are all metaphors, and as one settles into Harleen Singh's book, they take recognizable form. And on her head is a crown which could be sitting on Queen Victoria's head. She raises a slim whip in her braceleted right arm, and her typically drawn Bengali countenance doesn't hide a half smile. She dominates her horse which, rather than being rampant as usually seen, is submissive it prances, content to be carrying her forward. The Rani's body is well rounded and powerful, and her sari is a deep scarlet. However, I find it unique for other reasons. In contrast, history never seemed a part of their searching looks at Hindu ethnicity, so this painting is a first timer of a kind. We know how the Kalighat patuas drew on the morals, mores and unmentionables of our social order to depict scenes of domestic bliss and violence, the gender displacements and the mythologies, the wrestlers and musicians, the self-indulgent babus, the beady-eyed fish and so on. At first glance it appears as another instance of this cherished art form, but as you look closer, the uniqueness of this pat in the context of its subject becomes quite pronounced. The cover of Professor Harleen Singh's book is a Kalighat pat depicting the Rani of Jhansi on a horse. THE RANI OF JHANSI: GENDER, HISTORY, AND FABLE IN INDIA By Harleen Singh, Cambridge, Rs 645 ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |