Bhiwani’s havelis have a fan

His daily walk from his home to a local school in Bhiwani Haryana was long and hot The town he lived in wasnrsquot called Chhoti Kanshi only because it was blessed with unique art and architecture It also had numerous temples and havelis and making his way through them was timeconsuming Ram Pratap Verma was lucky to have enjoyed this walk In fact he didnrsquot just walk past the structures he sauntered in ldquoAll you are left with today is a dusty street and a few havelis that have seen better daysPortraits of human figures made on the ceiling of a haveliEach haveli once had a massive gate an airy courtyard and walls on the inside and out covered with fascinating frescosecco paintings dating back to the 18th century They were made with such intricate detail that it was overwhelming to take it all in at once Kabhi kabhi mein school tak pohochta hi nahin tha many a time I did not end up at school at allrdquo confesses Verma now 64 about the mythologicalthemed artA painting of Krishna killing demons Putna Kauvalyapitam and Keshi in the form of a horseArchaeological excavations revealed that the chalcolithic agricultural communities had first inhabited this region as early as c2400 BC Since then the region saw many changes during the Harappan civilisation the rule of the Mughals and later the colonial period ldquoWhich is why you see a variety of influences from different time periods and cultures in the paintings and architecture My research tells me that the owners of these havelis were entrepreneurs who ran businesses away from their homesRam Pratap Verma says that it is the sahukaas baniyas who owned most of these havelis in Bhiwani townThey were rich and wanted to proclaim their status through carvings and paintings Trained artists and local artisans worked on the structures so all credit goes to themrdquo says the alumnus of Chandigarh Art CollegeVerma returned from Chandigarh where he was studying art to Bhiwani in 2006 to document the frescosecco paintings on film and via textWall Paintings The Vanishing Treasure is a multipronged project helmed by Verma which pays tribute to the havelis of Bhiwani town via a documentary and an illustrated book recently released by Chandigarh Lalit Kala Academy Several of the structures have ceased to exist since he first started work on the project and more lie in ruins The painters he says depicted on the walls and ceilings what they had heard and witnessed ldquoThe more we decipher the visual language and vocabulary the more questions arise about the remarkable skills of the paintersRam Pratap Verma artist and authorWere they trained Did they paint of their own will Or were they commissioned by the owners of the havelisrdquo says Verma adding that surprisingly there is no historical evidence of an art school that thrived in the region in the 19th century While some of the work is mature and portrays fine skill other paintings are amateurish and humourous with disproportionate bodies and strange postures The compositions are random but broadly inspired by mythology scenes of court and war Most painters though seem to have an unfailing sense of colour Their primary palette included ochre indigo and Indian red and green was secondary Usually at the centre of the haveli sat a dome made on an octagonal base This carried ornamental patterns and scenes from the Ramayana ldquoSome domes are also painted with scenes from KrishnaRadharsquos rasa lilardquo he saysVermarsquos fascination for art comes from his mother who was an artist She painted the walls of their home and even made monkey rattles and cloth toys for her child ldquoWhen we were in Shimla and Chandigarh was a stop on our way back to Bhiwani someone said that we should check out the art college I visited the Chandigarh Art College campus and suddenly wanted to learn art professionallyrdquo Vermarsquos works today sit in a variety of public and private collectionsIn 2006 Verma made the journey from Chandigarh back to Bhiwani to capture the vanishing haveli frescosecco He says itrsquos a thanksgiving of sorts gratitude that he wishes to show to the place that inspired him to pursue art ldquoWhen I returned to Bhiwanirdquo Verma remembers ldquoI could afford only a basic camera with which I began documenting the paintings The entry gates were so grand and large that it used to take me an hour just to study them and make notes on designrdquoVerma has little hope that the government will take note of the havelisrsquo cultural significance The book however he feels will goad art enthusiasts into action ldquoThe colours used in these paintings are natural pigments which are still intact Even though the sites are now derelict forgotten and locked up I can still see the warm colours clearly I wished the government took this up seriously But I didnrsquot do this document for that My tryst with the streets lined with the havelis was destined Mera raasta wahin tha I was chosen to take that roadrdquo he concludes