Shobana Udayasankar chats with Shana Maria Verghis about preserving and innovating with a painting tradition that reached heights under the Vijayanagara kingdom and was patronised by the Wodeyar dynasty
The distinction between Tanjore and Mysore paintings might appear significant to the casual observer, but Shobana Udayasankar did both and developed a bias for the latter over the former.
Udayasankar who won a lalithakala Akademi Millenium Award back in 2000, for a Mysore painting she made on goddess Devi Chamundeshwari, has an exhibition at the art gallery in Epicentre, Gurgaon. The Bengaluru-based artist explained, “Unlike Tanjore painting, which have thick gold relief, Mysore paintings have the low and intricate relief of ‘gesso’ work.” ‘Gesso’ refers to a mixture of Arabic gum, white lead powder and gambose (which gives the yellow colour), that is used for embossing and is covered in gold leaf or foil.
She also said that Mysore paintings “allow one to be innovative.” After a recent trip overseas, Shobana was inspired to paint figures from The Ramayana, with Balinese imagery and Mysore painting techniques. She also did this with a calender of Thai dancers.
Traditionally Tanjore and Mysore paintings are based on themes from Hindu myths and have devotional purposes. They are also used “by expectant mothers who ask for the Krishna paintings.”
Because she is dealing with divine imagery, Shobana usually chants the panchadashakshar (15 letter) mantra while painting.She explained, “I try to bring divinity to a painting, so it gives prosperity to its owner.”
Her daughter Krishna, who happens to be an author of the four-part Aryavarta Chronicles, explained that the tradition of Mysore art evolved after people from the North migrated South during the rule of the Maratha Sarfoji, after the Muslim invasion.
One stream migrated to Tanjore, the other would join the Wodeyars in Mysore. But we see other influences. One frames has four squares, with a yali (lion), hamsa and elephant, bearing a similarity to Javanese art designs, though Krishna mentioned that one “sees these on Indian temple pillars.”
The mysore style originally used vegetable or mineral colours. However, Shobana says these are “not easily available. So I have applied watercolour and poster colour.”
One wondered if this was why her awarded painting of Chamundeshwari had a slight faded look. However, other paintings in this collection are at least two decades old, and still appeared fresh.
In addition to Shiva-Parvati, Krishna-Radha and Ram, there was Chelluvaraya, an avatar of Vishnu that’s worshipped as a local deity in Melkottai district. And Kamadeva with his consort, Shakti with her consort, along with Bhairava, Vishnu and Rudra.
Shobana trained with a master called Dundaraja, and the late Ramanarasaiah, who used to be a painter at the Mysore royal palace. Patronage has died, and both Udayasankars, mother-daughter emphasised that practitioners as well as buyers are few these days. It seems Ramanarasaiah’s daughter-in-law continues to paint in this style, but not commercially.
The artist uses old texts like Samudrika-lakshana, as a reference for anatomical proportions and Puranas and various material for descriptions of deities and their positioning. For instance the winning picture of Chamundeshwari shows her after killing Mahishasura. Below that figure is a smaller one with a cooler demeanor, dissipating the rage. Sometimes Udayasankar takes the advice of her family acharya (priest) for directions on placing the figures, or other details.
We admired the serene figure of Dakshinamurthy, the God of learning sitting below a tree. According to beliefs he described as ‘mauna guru’, because he stays silent. Marriages of the Gods as per vedic rites, with other Gods, ganas and gandharvas watching are part of the panorama.
Shobana Udayasankar began to paint in Mysore style about 30 years ago. A Tamilian settled in Bengaluru, she is skilled with handicrafts and learnt these painting techniques, “as I saw them everywhere.” She said Mysore palace has a store of such paintings, “some restored, some damaged.”