Kamangari Pictures of Kutch

The Kutch location has a rich cultural history. One symbol of this was the Kamangari school of painting peculiar to the location. In old days the wealthy and the ruling class patronized these artistes to paint the walls of their houses, workplaces and worship.The speciality of Kamangari art was that the paintings were done on on a damp applied background so that they survived longer. The artistes applied brushes manufactured from the bark of palm trees, using shades taken from pebbles, leaves and clay blended with gypsum.The topics of the painting were scenes from the Indian epics as also from the day-to-day life of the people of days past. But, some such paintings included scenes of activities and objects that have been perhaps not existent in the Kutch area in excess of one hundred years back. The reason why given for this is that numerous people from this area moved to other areas of India along with overseas for seeking income. There they came into contact with railways, aeroplanes, cricket fits which was something novel for them. When they came ultimately back to their native areas, they got the Kamangar artistes to paint these scenes on their walls.When the English appeared in Kutch they offered yet more subjects to the Kamangari artistes have been now depicting the Burra Sahibs (the big companies), uniformed cops, group events within their sketches. The initial English political agent of the place Capt. McMurdo got his dwelling surfaces decorated with the moments from the Indian epics by Kamangari artistes. His bungalow is one of the several areas where this art has been preserved till now.A unique point worth writing about this art was that many of the Kamangari artistes were Muslims nevertheless they had no problem painting the Hindu epics or human figures within their work. Many of the Kamangari paintings were done walls, some artistes used paper for this art Asian Women�s University.After enjoying the popularity for an extremely long time, the art began dying out in with the coming of the nineteenth century and now it's as effective as vanished with no effective Kamangari artistes engaged in this work. The fall of the art is credited by students to the socio-economic changes of the spot as well as arrival of other methods of expression and entertainment.But since the paintings were finished with very long-lasting colors, there are certainly a few places in Kutch where they may be seen. And the Kutch Museum has some types of the art which bears testimony to the unparalleled, superb skill of the completed artistes. The notable examples will be the Muhharam search in the Kutch Museum and the Royal Procession throw in the Aina Mahal, still another museum in Bhuj.