The Artists of Nathadwara.

• Author: Johnson, Diane

The Artists of Nathadwara: The Practice of Painting in Rajasthan. By TRYNA LYONS. Bloomington: INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS, and Ahmedabad: MAPIN, 2004. Pp. vii + 360. plates, illus.

The city of Nathadwara has since the seventeenth century been a pilgrimage site of the Vaishnava sect known as Pushtimarg. The founder of the seet was Vallabhacharya (d. 1531). From his home in Benares Vallabhacharya went forth to spread or revive devotion to Krishna throughout eastern Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. In the course of his mission Vallabhacharya identified certain svayambhu or spontaneously generated icons of Krishna, the care of which he entrusted at his death to his sons. The sons, each with an icon, left their father's home and journeyed through India to establish the seven houses of the Pushtimarg sect.

Of the nine original icons the black stele known as Shri Nathji was enshrined in the main temple of Nathadwara in the state of Mewar. Protected by the Mughals and later fostered by the rulers of Mewar, the hereditary priests of Shri Nathji developed a form of worship especially conducive to the arts. Funded generously by the local royalty, Shri Nathji's darshan emphasized multimedia displays encouraging a variety of aesthetic responses from worshippers. These flamboyant rituals, involving colorful stagings to fit the season and festival, required the skills of a variety of artisans. Attracted by the prospect of steady employment, artisan families settled in Nathadwara and over the years produced art objects in a distinctive style.

In the autumn of 1991 Tryna Lyons undertook a year's stay at Nathadwara, living among the families who produce art for Shri Nathji's temple and examining the works the current generation of artists and their immediate predecessors have executed. This book is a record of what she found there, supplemented by insights gained during later visits to the city and adjoining region. Following a general introduction, in which she discusses the history of Pushtimarg worship and the artist's role in it, Lyons considers some royal commissions carried out by Nathadwaran artists, analyzing the role such secular patronage played in their lives. From the third chapter to the seventh the lives and the works of individual artists are discussed. The materials produced by women artists, the circumstances of their art education, and their attitudes toward production are dealt with in the eighth chapter. The book's ninth and longest chapter...