Colour lithographs of Gayatri Japam

Colour lithographs of Gayatri Japam
V Sundaram | Tue, 28 Aug, 2007 , 04:55 PM . The above colour drawings (lithographs), graphically depicting the different facets/ aspects of 'Gayatri Japam' were done by a British Lady Painter called MrsS C Belnos for a book printed in England in 1851 titled 'THE SUNDHYA OR THE DAILY PRAYERS OF THE BRAHMINS', ILLUSTRATED IN A SERIES OF ORIGINAL DRAWINGS FROM NATURE, DEMONSTRATING THEIR ATTITUDES AND DIFFERENT SIGNS AND FIGURES PERFORMED BY THEM DURING THE CEREMONIES OF THEIR MORNING DEVOTIONS AND LIKEWISE THEIR POOJAS TOGETHER WITH A DESCRIPTIVE TEXT ANNEXED TO EACH PLATE AND THE PRAYERS FROM THE SANSKRIT TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH'. These drawings (lithographs) were done during the period from 1845 to 1850.The frontispiece on the cover page of this antiquarian book relates to a religious scene on a boat berthed on Triveni at Allahabad. Printmaking as an art form emerged in India in the last decade of the 19th century. However, printing, in which lie the origins of contemporary printmaking, came to India in 1556, about a hundred years after Gutenberg's Bible. Calcutta, the capital of British India, was the hub of printing and publishing in colonial times. The printed picture, in the form of the book illustration, developed in early 19th century British India. European printmakers in 18th century India remained entirely disconnected from mainstream, indigenous printing activity since they had little or nothing in common with Indian culture and tradition. Their prints depicted exotic Indian landscapes that tended to appeal mainly to the colonial European sensibility. After 1820, the English East India Company invited several British painters and artists to visit India and do colour drawings of different aspects of British India �its religion, its literature, its culture and above all its people in all parts of India. It is thrilling, fascinating and educative to see the cultural panorama of the Indian sub-continent unfolding under the scrutiny of intelligent foreign observers in British India in the 19th century�the wealth of information on every aspect of Indian life, the memorable East-West encounter and above all the extraordinary nature of the adventures and confrontations of this historic association.