Brijinder Nath Goswamy, the renowned Indian art historian, passed away at the age of 90 on November 17, 2023, in Chandigarh, due to ill health. Born on August 15, 1933 in Sargodha (now in Pakistan), he was a former IAS officer and Emeritus Professor of Art History at Panjab University, Chandigarh. A specialist in the Indian miniature painting tradition, he played a major role in the development of the Museum of Fine Arts at the Panjab University, which has a wide range of collection of many notable painters.
Best known for his work on the Pahari style of paintings, he was awarded the civilian honour of the Padma Shri in 1998 and the Padma Bhushan in 2008.
Miniature Painting Style
Miniature painting style refers to painting on a small scale with intricate details and bright colours. Such paintings were first found during the era of the Palas around 750 CE. They ruled the eastern parts of India and these paintings mostly depicted the teachings of the Buddha and his pictures on palm leaves. This style further flourished and developed during the Mughal rule combined with the Persian style of painting. With the disintegration of the Mughal Empire, this style of painting began to decline, especially from the period of Aurangzeb. Later in the 16th century, it flourished during the Bahmani period. In South India, this style of art was known as the Deccani paintings, having an influence of European, Iranian, and Turkish styles. Later on, a new tradition of miniature painting started again in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Rajasthan.
It was after his publication of the article Pahari Painting: The Family as the Basis of Style in 1968, that Dr Goswamy was first recognised. He wrote about the lineages of renowned artists who have contributed to miniature painting. During his research on the social background of Kangra for his Ph.D. thesis, he discovered that the style of miniature painting depended not on the place which they came from but on the family of the artists. Later, he extended his research to most parts of North India. He came to the conclusion that art should not be categorised based on the court/king that commissioned it, but on the family who has painted it. He also learnt the Pahari Script to be able to understand the artworks in a better way.
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The Pahari Script (also known as the Takri script or Tankri) is a writing style of the Brahmanic family of scripts. Derived from the Sharda script (Kashmir), it is the sister script of the Landa script. Its adapted version is Dogri, Dogra/Dogra Akkhar which was employed till the late 1940s in J&K. The local Takri variants got the status of official script in some of the Punjab Hill states and after 1948, Himachal Pradesh was established as an administrative unit.
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His Works
He authored around 27 books. Some of his prominent works include Pahari Paintings: The Horst Metzger Collection in the Museum Reitberg (2017), Manaku of Guler: The Life and Work of another great Indian Painter from a small Hill State (2017), and A Sacred Journey: The Kedara Kalpa Series of Pahari Paintings and the Painter Purkhu of Kangra (2021). He has organised various exhibitions on art and paintings and was a visiting professor at many universities in various countries including Germany, Switzerland, and the United States.
He dedicated the Fine Arts Museum in Chandigarh as a contribution to the next generation to cultivate their minds and make them sensitive to art forms as he opined that we generally do not archive and preserve much in India. Over his long career, he made several revelations in the style, culture, society, and tradition of the Indian art and its development.
Conclusion
Losing him is a great loss to the country. With his contributions and the spirit to study, research, and revive art, it is important that the country and the government take necessary steps to preserve the art forms and archive them. Art shows the socio-cultural aspects of our ancestors, and their civilisations and acts as a window to their thoughts and craft. It is important for the young generations to study and understand several forms of artwork of India to add value to their life and evolution.
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