शीतला सप्तमी

Resource Masterlist: Indian Art

Cheap/Free resources:

Wkipedia:

Wikipedia of Indian Art: I'll recommend reading the subtopics from bottom up; it seems more relevant that way!

Wikipedia of Indian Painting: once you go through this article you should further look into whichever style you like, and learn it in depth. It also has links to vernacular art.

Rasa: the classical theory of Indian aesthetics

From Archive.Org (maybe scholarly and/or illustrative. In case illustrations are not there, simply Google them for reference):

Stone Age Painting in India by Romert Brooks

The arts of India from prehistoric to modern times by Ajit Mookerji (If you have no idea about Indian arts, START HERE; it's a short book full of illustrations)

Rajput painting : romantic, divine and courtly art from India by Ahluwalia, Roda

Indian Painting by C Sivaramamurti

South Indian Paintings by C Sivaramamurti

Approach to nature in Indian art and thought by C Sivaramamurti

[There are many books on Indian art, architecture and sculpture by C Sivaramamurti on Archive.org. It's basically a goldmine.]

Kalighat : Indian popular painting, 1800-1930 by Balraj Khanna

Art of modern India by Balrak Khanna [Again, you can check out other titles by Khanna.]

Indian Textiles by John Gillow

Traditional Indian Textiles by John Gillow

South-Indian images of gods and goddesses by HK Sastri

Myths and symbols in Indian art and civilization by Heinrich Zimmer (no illustrations)

The art of Indian Asia, its mythology and transformations by Heinrich Zimmer (with illustrations)

History of Indian and Indonesian art by Ananda Coomaraswamy

A Concise History of Indian Art by Roy C Craven

Deccani Painting by Mark Zebrowski

Indian Folk Art by Heinz Mode; Subodh Chandra

Women of India by Otto Rothfeld (this isn't about art but has few informative illustrations on regional costumes of women)

Dress And Ornaments In Ancient India by Mohini Verma and Keya Bawa

Classical dances and costumes of India by Ambrose, Kay

Cultures and Costumes of India and Sri Lanka by Kilgallon, Conor (o course i had to see other books on costumes)

Studies In Indian Painting by DB Taraporevala

Five Thousand Years of Indian Art by Hermann Goetz

Indian Painiting by Philip Rawson

The Art of Tantra by Philip Rawson

MS Randhawa (different books on Punjabi paintings Basohli, Kangra, Guler and General Themes in Indian Painting)

The imperial image: paintings for the Mughal court by Beach, Milo Cleveland

Wonders of nature : Ustad Mansur at the Mughal court by Dāśa, Aśoka Kumāra

Imperial mughal painting by Welch, Stuart Cary

Painted delight : Indian paintings from Philadelphia collections

India : life, myth and art by Ram-Prasad, Chakravarthi

The heritage of Indian art by Agrawala, Vasudeva Sharana

The adventures of Rama : with illustrations from a sixteenth-century Mughal manuscript

Indian paintings from the Punjab Hills by WG Archer

Art in East and West by Rowland Benjamin

Stella Kramisch (An American art historian and curator who was a leading specialist on Indian art, including folk art, for most of the 20th century. Also a Padma Bhushan awardee.)

The transformation of nature in art by Coomaraswamy, Ananda K

Books available on Libgen:

Art Of Ancient India : Buddhist, Hindu, Jain by Huntington and Huntington

The New Cambridge History of India, Volume 1, Part 3: Mughal and Rajput Painting

Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization by Heinrich Zimmer

Four Centuries of Rajput Painting: Mewar, Marwar and Dhundhar Indian Miniatures from the Collection of Isabelle and Vicky Ducrot

Ajanta by Yazdani

The Aesthetic Experience Acording to Abhinavagupta

TheHeritageLab is a free website to connect you to cultural heritage through stories, public engagement programs, campaigns, and free-access content.

Also if you're in Delhi, do consider getting a membership of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) library.

Folk art:

Folk art is an entirely different area that deserve a post of its own. But i love them so here is a long list by Memeraki.com. You can Google each and then look more into what you like. This website also offers very cheap courses in traditional Indian arts by the hidden and disenfranchised masters themselves! It's doing a great work in giving them a platorm. I myself have taken the Mughal Miniature course here. You can consider it.

Illustrated Books:

Note: These are coffee table books with beautiful illustrations that you'd love to looks at.

The Night Life of Trees: In the belief of the Gond tribe, the lives of humans and trees are closely entwined. A visual ode to trees rendered by tribal artists from India, this handcrafted edition showcases three of the finest living Gond masters. THIS YOUTUBE LINK shows the making of the book. The channel also features other works of Gond art.

An Unknown Treasure in Rajasthan: The Bundi Wall-Paintings:  This book celebrates the surviving wall-paintings at Bundi by presenting a stunning photographic survey

Painting In the Kangra Valley: Painting in the Kangra Valley is an attempt to survey the painting styles of Guler and Kangra, which flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries. The painting activity began with Kashmiri painters (...)

Indian Painting: The Lesser Known Traditions: India has an astonishingly rich variety of painting traditions. While miniature painting schools became virtually extinct with the decline of aristocratic patronage, a number of local vernacular idioms still survive and continue to develop.

Madhubani Art: Indian Art Series: Madhubani art's origin is believed to go back to the ancient era of the Ramayana, when the town was decorated by inhabitants of the region for the wedding of Lord Rama and Sita with elaborate wall paintings and murals (...) Primarily a significant socio-cultural engagement for the womenfolk of Bihar, this art was a welcome break from their daily drudgery.

Reflections on Mughal Art and Culture: Enter the splendid world of Mughal India and explore its rich aesthetic and cultural legacy through fresh insights offered by 13 eminent scholars.

Monsoon Feelings: A History of Emotions in the Rain: Through a series of evocative essays exploring rain-drenched worlds of poetry, songs, paintings, architecture, films, gardens, festivals, music and medicine, this lavishly illustrated collection examines the history of monsoon feelings in South Asia from the twelfth century to the present

Sita's Ramayana shifts the point of view of the Ramayana - the saga of a heroic war - to bring a woman's perspective to this timeless epic. Illustrated with Patua painting.

Adi Parva: Churning of the Ocean: a graphic novel that is a revisionist retelling of some of our oldest tales which have inspired and guided generations of people.

Ajit Mookerji, Sivaramamurti and Craven Roy's books are concise from where one can begin and then delve deeper into the subject of interest. Reading history and myths behind the work for context and listening to music from the given time/region alongside will make the exploration even more enjoyable!

Today is Makar Sankranti, Sun enters the sign of Capricorn(Makar) today. And Sun begins its northward journey called Uttarayan, indicating warmer days are ahead.

In Awadh and Uttar Pradesh, we celebrate Makar Sankranti as Khichdi Parv. We prepare it with freshly harvested rice, adding some urad daal and sesame seeds, along with some seasonal veggies like cauliflower, peas, carrots and pepper.

Join me as I explore more about Awadhi culture, language, and traditions through Awadh ke Maati.

How did you celebrate Makar Sankranti today? Share your stories and let's celebrate together.

Yes, so astronomically/astrologically(it's the same in our religion anyway), whenever the Sun passes through the same house as Rahu, there's a Solar eclipse, given the moon is positioned right opposite this conjunction, which means it is a new moon.

Similarly, a lunar eclipse is when Moon is in conjunction with Ketu, given that Sun is right opposite this conjunction. Which means it is a full moon.

And this year in March, we have both Solar and Lunar eclipse happening. Rahu is in Pisces, and Ketu is in Virgo. On March 13, it was a full moon, the Moon is in conjunction with Ketu. And so that's when a Lunar eclipse happened. On March 29, Sun is in conjunction with Rahu. So that's when the solar eclipse will happen.

Hope that helps.

So no one ever told me about Ram ji roasting the moon and listing it faults because it's just not as beautiful as Maa Sita after looking at her once in the gardens? No one?

And then he just returned to his Guru like nothing happened? As if he didn't just talk to the moon and insult it?

I generally prefer Valmiki Ramayan but the Balkand in Ramcharitmanas is pure gold.

This is what their religion teaches them? War, looting and slavery. I mean, what was I expecting anyway.

= "Indian girls aren't even pretty, at least we should've been at war with some better (better looking girls) country."

They're never beating the allegations that they've fantasies of taking our girls as their war booty (maal-e-ghanimat). Also, note the racist undertones.

From the below, I just want to draw a parallel

A woman, somewhere in India, gets assaulted. The news channels picks it up. The internet erupts. People are angry, grieving, and demanding justice.

Feminists across the nation say: it's happened again, we know the criminals are clearly men, it's always men, we need stronger laws to protect us, punishment needs to be harsh for assaults, men are the danger, let's not trust them, ever again.

Parents across the nation sit down with their sons and daughters and tell them - be careful around men, be cautious, be alert.

They don't ask them to stop talking to their male coworkers, their male friends at school or college, in the neighbourhood, they don't ask them to not board a cab if the driver is male. Or ask them to never share the same space as a man.

Because fear is exhausting.

And now a hate crime against Hindus is committed in Kashmir. The news covers it, it's all over the internet, everyone is grieving, fuming over it, talking about it. And we know why the victims were shot.

The only motive terrorists have is spread fear. And they've clearly sent across that message. But it's on us to fix it. Let's not ask others to not trust their Muslim friends, neighbours, coworkers, don't let this break those bonds. Just be alert, be careful, be cautious.

Don’t let this fear turn into hate. Don’t let one crime make you burn every bridge. Don’t carry the weight of suspicion everywhere you go.

I have always been a Liberal. Even with the India-Pakistan war, I have always scoffed at the people that tried to say that Islam is the problem and not just the extremist, terror cells in Pakistan. I wasn't excited about the idea of a war, but I saw it as the result of literally nothing else working out. I heard about Kashmiri Pandits, but I thought what happened to them was because of the militant groups coming in. I was sure that they'll be helped to go back home in time.

Now the Hindus in West Bengal are being slaughtered.

West Bengal has been one of the leading forces of the freedom struggle in our country. We have had brilliant philosophers, artists, dancers, poets, singers, screen play writers, writers everything from West Bengal. It is a state that produces brilliant intellectuals every year. Liberals and socialists. I don't know if you've ever talked to a Bengali, but they're the most capable, well spoken, talented people you will ever come across. It's the stronghold of the Shaktism sect in India. Ma Durga is revered the most in that land.

And now our people are being slaughtered. Hindus are being driven out of their land by the illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and certain extremist Muslims. It's like watching the Kashmiri Pandit exodus in real time. For centuries they've coexisted together with no issues, enriching the culture of Bengal, and suddenly brother has turned to foe. Houses and businesses are being burnt. They're looting people and issuing rape threats to women. People are being killed. They're throwing around bombs. They're attacking the police forces.

This is a land that has embraced refugees and shared everything with them. There was no reason to attack these people.

People had to cross rivers in boats to escape. 500 people had to leave their homes overnight because of the sudden extremists. Only Muslims were spared.

Locals say this has been going on since 2020.

Please, I'm begging with folded hands, keep the Bengali Hindus in your mind. Look at what they're facing. This is scary. If even the Liberal and safe Bengal can be turned overnight, no place is safe. What tf are people supposed to do?

India did it again. Their cowardice is out of this world. Targeting a mosque? That too in the dead of night? Going the Israel route I see. Like master like pet ig.

These are the real monsters. We don't need stories to scare kids anymore, give them nightmares. Because living side by side these monsters is enough of a nightmare.

While India bombed terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and damaged their airbases these Pakistani men are discussing on X (twitter) spaces how they will accept Indian women after they convert to Islam. These low lives can only think about sęx sląvery.

✨️ Saraswati devotional moodboard ✨️

|| जय सिया राम ||

Sita Ram idol at a temple in Prayagraj.

~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~

I've been to other places in Prayagraj before. But this time I decided to explore temples around the place where we were staying at. This place was close to Bade Hanuman temple, where a lying idol of Hanuman ji is placed. And the experience was still pretty amazing.