Layout 3 - India Foundation for the Arts - IFA

It is difficult to summarise the nature
of the figuration but in essence it is
performative: crowd scenes are
choreographed or individual action
articulated and imbued with a
collective animation or with an actor’s
poise. The characterisation is derived
from the customary with a greater
emphasis on animation than on
individual features. Often the human
and animal bodies exchange physical
traits to form a collective body
language, which is characterised by the
actions of monkeys, bears, soldiers and
demons choreographed in the scenes
of war. In fact the combat of Rama’s
army of monkeys and bears with the
quasi-animal army of demons from
Ravana’s fleet emerges as an enormous
chorus of bestiary, deeply empathic of
the animal world. Hanuman is
visualised in a fully animal form
without reference to human
physiognomy or clothing (an
exception is made in the case of Vaali
who, dressed as a ruler and standing
like a human king, has the features of
a monkey; likewise his courtiers).
In an oblique way the actions of the
multi-limbed Ravana, too, provide
opportunities to formulate a unique
compendium of multiple bodies. The
portrayal of violence defines the
nature of the narrative. Compared to
Mughal depictions of demons torn to
pieces and rent asunder with splatters
Reading Visuals – Gulammohammed Sheikh
of blood (in the Hamza folios or in
the Narakasura folio referred to earlier)
the killing of Kumbhakarna in the
Mewar epic and even the severance of
his chopped limbs are handled with
performative acumen and stylisation,
creating a restraint of action. This is
very different from Mughal theatricality
which was expected to contain the
propensity for horror. The portrayal of
Ravana, who is viewed more as a
‘faulted hero’ than as a devil, invokes
pathos as he falls from his chariot and
is mourned by his wives as his body is
laid on the funeral pyre at a cremation
attended by his adversaries. In the war
scenes Sahibdin stages a total theatre
with dramatic action choreographed
in rhythmic crescendo rising and falling
as the viewer partakes of the
pervasive rasa of the tragic, partly
sublimated by the acuity of theatric
gesture and humanist considerations.
Should we say the nature of the
narrative refers to older archetypes or
that it internalises and incorporates the
effects of naturalism into a new
perspective?
The variation in figuration occurs
when different hands, Sahibdin and
Manohar or their associates, try out
individualised versions. Unusually,
they also choose to depict the passage
of time spent in banishment by
showing the protagonists with stubbly
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