Hello friends,
We all know that Studying any arts subject helps us to develop our critical thinking and it gives us the ability to interpret the world around us. This art also has its own meaning. This art can be a painting, poem, story, dance, song, advertisement, film etc.
One of these art forms we had seen at the Khodidas Parmar Art Gallery held by Shree Khodidas Parmar Art Foundation, in Bhavnagar. This foundation organized an art exhibition about paintings of Ajanta Caves. On 26th September, 2021 we visited this art gallery. So let's discuss it.
Before discussing about these paintings let's have look on Ajanta Caves.
The Buddhist Caves in Ajanta are approximately 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments dating from the 2nd century BCE to about 480 CE in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra state in India. The caves include paintings and rock-cut sculptures described as among the finest surviving examples of ancient Indian art, particularly expressive paintings that present emotions through gesture, pose and form.
They are universally regarded as masterpieces of Buddhist religious art. The caves were built in two phases, the first starting around the 2nd century BCE and the second occurring from 400 to 650 CE, according to older accounts, or in a brief period of 460–480 CE according to later scholarship. The site is a protected monument in the care of the Archaeological Survey of India, and since 1983, the Ajanta Caves have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. To read further click here.
This art gallery has paintings of Ajanta Caves. When Chinese sant Hu-en-tsang visited Ajanta Caves he saw these paintings. This cave have U shape so sunlight can't stay long time in the cave. So paintings are not seen by people easily. These paintings are almost 1000 year old. Let's have virtual visit through this blog.
These all paintings are painted by the students of Khodidas Parmar. And this all students are belongs to Bhavnagar.
Khodidas Parmar is well known Indian painter. Though hailing from a poor family, his parents were determined for him to get a good education. He did his M.A. with Gujarati and Sanskrit, learnt painting even as he studied and went on to become a guide to students doing doctoral research on folk literature for their Ph. D. He was trained in art by Guru Somalal Shah from 1948 – 1951 whom he met at the Alfred High school.
Fascinated with traditional art, particularly the folk style of Gujarat, Parmar, spent his last years documenting and collecting motifs for a book on the arts of the region of Kutch and Saurashtra. He also wrote and published several award winning books on the region like the Folk Embroidery of Saurashtra, Gujarati Folk Tales Collection and Krishna: Legend, in Gujarati. A recipient of several awards, he has participated in several group shows and his works are a part of several permanent collections like the Museum of Modern Art and National Art Gallery, New Delhi. Parmar passed away in March 2004 in Bhavnagar.
Here is one informative Gujarati article about Khodidas Parmar, click here
The other interesting thing about these paintings is the use of colour. Most of the colours are natural colours. છાણ અને ઠીકરું વગેરે ઘસીને બનાવેલ કલરનો ઉપયોગ આ પેઇન્ટિંગમાં કરેલ છે. All these paintings are very interesting to study also.
Here are some glimpses of that visit.
