Chamba Paintings

Like most hill capitals, Chamba has a large ground. The most outstanding buildings are the palaces of the Raja. Of these the Rang Mahal (Painted Palace), which looks like a feudal castle is the most interesting. It was built by Raja Umed Singh in the mid 18th century. There is one room whose walls are painted with murals depicting episodes from the Ramayana and the Bhagavata Purana in bright red and blue. Raj Singh (1714-1794) was one of the most renowned rulers of Chamba, and the rise of painting in the Guler-Chamba style was due to his patronage.
Chamba paintings are quite similar in appearance to Mughal style of paintings, with strong influences of Deccan and Gujarat style also. The Chamba paintings are very authentic and informative social documents of the history of those times. The Chamba paintings also derived inspiration from natural surroundings and are remarkable in their composition. The Chamba style is similar to that of Guler paintings as numerous artists of this school came from Guler.
The paintings of Chamba encompass both miniatures and murals. Chamba is famous for the miniature Pahari paintings. Raja Udai Singh and Raja Jai Singh patronized this school of painting. During the reign of Raja Charhat Singh, this school of art got a further boost from folk art as the common people adopted the form.
Mughal influence is also discerned in these paintings. The themes used in this style of paintings were religious, such as legends of Radha Krishna, lord Shiva-Parvati, Rama Darbar, Yashoda and Krishna etc. Romantic ambiences of the rainy season in Chamba have also been painted in various moods and styles, in Basholi colors by the artists of Pahari miniature art.All paintings are courtesy of Art of Legend India.