Contents: Foreword. Preface. Revival of a Museum in Decay. Selected works of Dr. Vishwa Chander Ohri. 1. The "Vredenburg Manuscript" and its book covers/Claudine Bautze-Picron. 2. Minting of coins in paintings/Rita Devi Sharma. 3. Books and pictures from the Zenana Mahal: the collection of manuscripts of Hamida Banu Begam/Asok Kumar Das. 4. Hierarchy and models -- some notes on Shaikhs in Mughal painting/Ludwig Habighorst. 5. A seventeenth century Deccani "Talking Tree" and other composite images in the "Parallel Universes" of a collector and Visvamitra/Kenneth X. Robbins. 6. Portraits from Jaipur collection/Chandramani Singh. 7. Mercury springs in Indian miniatures/Ludwig Habighorst and Vijay Sharma. 8. North-West Indian art and literature during later medieval period: a socio-cultural background/Maithili Prasad Bhardwaj. 9. Some Malwa paintings: a study/B.L. Nagarch. 10. A study of rare series of Maratha Rasamanjari or glimpses of Maratha miniatures of Rasamanjari/Satya Vrata Tripathy. 11. The wall paintings of Kerala: Mattancherry, Padmanabhapuram and Krishnapuram Palaces/Usha Bhatia. 12. Some Mewar paintings of Rasikapriya/Amar Nath Khanna. 13. Drops of honey: a story from the Mahabharata/O.P. Sharma. 14. Early portrait drawings from Chamba (c. 1630-1760)/Jagdish Mittal. 15. Variations on a theme: Siva performs the Samdhya rite in a pahari painting/Pratapaditya Pal. 16. A controversial set of Pahari School paintings based on Ramacharitamanas from Baroda Museum/Ratan Parimoo. 17. The journey from Kavya to Kalam in Kangra painting/Harsha V. Dehejia. 18. Visions of Sringara: the love-poetry in Pahari painting/Vijay Sharma. 19. Pahari Rumal: the picturesque narratives/Anamika Pathak. 20. Wedding scenes in Chamba Rumal and the unusual subject of Til-Chauli/Kamal Prashad Sharma. 21. Wooden Panels of the Radha-Krishna Temple, Chamba/S.M. Sethi. 22. Restoration of Havelis in Rajasthan taking experience from Chamba and Kulu Projects/A.S. Bisht. 23. From within and without--Udaipur painting revisited/Gauri Parimoo Krishnan and Carol Cains. 24. The painter Siba of Nurpur at Raja Sansar Chand's Atelier/Rajesh Sehgal.
"The Diverse World of Indian Painting is a stimulative and perceptive survey of different aspects of Indian painting. Authorities of Indian painting in India and abroad have contributed essays to this volume in hounour of Dr. V.C. Ohri, the first curator of Bhuri Singh Museum, Chamba who was also the founding curator of the Himachal State Museum, Shimla. The publication covers a range of subjects and their various aspects relating to the tradition of Indian painting both chronologically and school-wise. Mughal, Rajasthani, Pahari, Deccani, Malwa -- the famed school of Central India and Buddhist Manuscript Painting have been included. There are also essays on murals of Mattancherry Palace, Chamba rumal embroidery, the craft of wood carving and preservation. These articles which reflect the diverse world of Indian painting are a befitting tribute to Dr. Ohri whose contribution to the cause of documenting and preserving Indian painting is second to none.
Perceptive, insightful and selective, the book is an indispensable reference tool. The unusual variety of the subject and notable richness of illustrations combine to make this a work of endless fascination. The strikingly illustrated book is a significant contribution to the field of Indian painting and is valuable for students and scholars alike." (jacket)
