THE ACHARYA JAIJAIRAM JI AND DEVOTEES LISTENING TO DEVOTIONAL CHANTS
INDIA, RAJASTHAN, UDAIPUR, CIRCA 1745
Estimate: £18,000 - £20,000
Auction: 11 June 2025 from 10:00 BST
Description
gouache heightened with gold on paper, inscribed to the top of the red border in devanagari identifying the impressive figure of Jaijaram, who is seated cross-legged on a white mat in front of white tripolya and holding a long string of prayer beads or rudrakshamala, placed on the mat are adjuncts to meditation including a bowl of cut flowers, a pandan open to reveal fresh betel quids, a chowrie, a back scratcher, lotas and shorter strings of beads, a standing attendant waves a morchal behind him, whilst two priests in front of him are kneeling, one of whom holding strings of beads, below in the foreground three musicians are holding cymbals, and two below right are playing the drums, verso with Mewar royal inventory inscriptions, mounted, glazed and framed
Dimensions
50.5cm x 34.5cm
Provenance
Sotheby's, London, 8th April 1975, lot 116.
Private English Collection.
Footnote
The name of the acharya Jaijairam and the tilak marks on all their foreheads, consisting of a vertical yellow U with a red stripe, suggest that the devotees are nandis or worshippers of Rama, one of the largest and most egalitarian sects in India. It was founded in the fourteenth or fifteenth century by the saint Ramanada, who preached in simple Hindi and believed that all were equal before God (see A. Dallapiccola, Dictionary of Hindu Love and Legend, 2002, p. 162). He opposed the caste system, admitting women and people of humble origin into his sect. Although not criticising the Hindu pantheon, he made Rama the centre of his devotional movement as he taught that Rama alone could liberate mankind from the cycle of rebirths. Ramanandi ascetics rely upon meditation and strict ascetic practices but also believe that the grace of God is required for them to achieve liberation. Distinguished members of the sect include the mystic poetess Mirabai and Tulsidas, the Awadhi poet regarded as an incarnation of Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana, and celebrated for his Hindi dialect version of the Ramayana, the Ramcharitamanas (see op. cit, Dallapicolla, p. 162).
According to Jerry Losty, while artistic activity in the reign of Maharana Jagat Singh (1734–1751) is characterised by large scale paintings of hunts and festivities, there is also a strain of introspective works involving more intimate portrait studies in the last decade of his reign, for example the double portrait of Baba Bharath Singh clothed and half-clothed in the Alvin O. Bellak Collection in Philadelphia. This is published in Andrew Topsfield, Court Painting at Udaipur: Art under the patronage of the Maharanas of Mewar, 2002, p. 144, figs. 165-166. The intention may have been to mock this vastly overweight and rebellious thakur, but the artist manages to imbue him with a certain dignity. As in our portrait of Jaijairam, Baba Bharath Singh is painted with more careful attention to the modelling of flesh than was normally the case in Udaipur at this period.
Andrew Topsfield has charted the careers of various Mewar court musicians, through their representations on inscribed paintings, in his article “The Kalavants on their Durrie: Portraits of Udaipur Court Musicians, 1680-1730”, in R. Crill, S. Stronge and A. Topsfield (eds.), Arts of Mughal India: Studies in Honour of Robert Skelton, 2004, pp. 248-263. While these famous named musicians sit decorously in the presence of the Rana, our anonymous priestly musicians vigorously sing and play with an unbridled energy that matches the intense meditation of the devotees.