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The 18th century Pahari miniatures illustrating the verses of ’Gita Govinda’ by the poet Jayadeva, are also loving and intimate portraits of the verdant landscape of the Kangra Valley. Nature becomes a primary actor and the director focuses on the alchemy of the ’transformation of nature in art.’ The Gita Govinda is a Sanskrit epic poem composed by Jayadeva in the 12th century in the region around present-day Bengal or Orissa. The landscape, flora and seasons of the region are intimately evoked in the poem, underlining and accentuating the emotional intensity of the lovers. It is an old ploy of Indian aesthetics where the setting, here nature, becomes the ’determinant’ of action. Transposing the drama from the forests of eastern India to the meadows and groves of Western Himalayas, the painters effortlessly play with the essence of love, even after the lapse of four centuries. The director directs the gaze onto the jewel-like surfaces of the paintings, where figure and ground are seamless and every line and colour embody the lucidity of emotion.
