Jujurana_MDI

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Western Tragopan  or Jujurana
Mandi 1810 c. ;  (Punjab Hills States, India, Himalayan Art)
Size : 180* 205 mm
Artist : Sajnu
At Met Museum, New York
Inscription : “Shri samvat 1867 sastra 86 re jyestha 11 phulgar likhya Sajnu-e” (On 11th of Jyestha (May) 1867 Samvat (1810), Sajnu wrote Phulgar)

     

As one looks at this marvelous image of Jujurana (juju means bird and rana means king) made by that great artist Sajnu about two centuries ago, one can but revere the beauty of the bird and the artistic skills of the master. The beauty is boundless and constant albeit the bird is called by different names like Pyara in Kinnaur, Jayazzi in Bushar, Phulgar in Chamba, Budal in Mandi and Kullu. Paintings of birds or animals were never common in the Pahari school unlike in the Mughal court where masters like Ustad Mansur, Nadir-al Asr, created extraordinary art work of flora and fauna for that great patron and connoisseur, Jahangir. The Mughal paintings were magnificent adventures of scented gardens and zoology therein and it was a dodo, a Siberian crane, falcon and hawks, partridges, pheasants, a turkey cock, a zebra and the likes which adorned their chronicles. The pahari painters, however, showcased objects from the animal kingdom as part of a wider scene where a chakor playing with a Nayika or Devi Sarswati riding a hans or a crane, or a dancing peacock participating in the raas-leela of Krishna and the Gopis were seen. This near isolated painting of Jujurana is unique in the realm of pahari school albeit the bird was widely portrayed elsewhere including by the likes of  Mansur in 1625 c. and DG Elliot in 1872c.. Why Sajnu painted this? Speculation only leads us to his vision on the extraordinary beauty and rarity of the bird living in his immediate vicinity. It may have been a separate study by him to incorporate the bird as a supporting element into his more complex figural compositions. This painting infact combines beauty of a real object and sublimity in art which leads to the highest praise that language can bestow on any artistic utterance.    

The bird is painted as it is – large, short tailed displaying dark grey and black feather cloak with white spots, each spot bordered with black patches. The throat is bare with a blue skin patch while the bare facial skin is bright orange with a small black occipital crest. The bird displays blue horns with a fancied resemblance to the Greek mythological God Pan, whence the name in English – Tragopan (tragos ‘goat’ and pan – half goat deity of Greek mythology). The feeling of feathery texture and colour articulation is exceptional. As the bird appears flexing its wings, one feels a seductive charm melting the eyes into bliss.

Jujurana is found in the beautiful Himalayas in a narrow altitude range of 2600 mtrs to 3600 mtrs. The bird which is globally threatened with now a depleting world population of about 3500 is highly sensitive to habitat disturbances and is found mostly in UNESCO’s world heritage site at The Great Himalayan National Park in Kullu, Himachal Pradesh where nature lovers track up the Himalayas and wait for weeks or months to get a glimpse of this shy and elusive creature. Sajnu might have been much luckier in those old days  

Jujurana is a crown jewel on account of its’ socio-cultural linkages with traditional people in the hills and with all its hallmark it has graduated to be declared as the state bird of  Himachal Pradesh. Special captive breeding is also being done in a protected environment to save it from extinction. As the birds mate and which is only after much persuasion of the male, chances of survival of the species increase. And when they mate, it is a dance. “The male slides up to the female. He deploys his finery, his head sprouts blue horns, his tail feathers fan, his rainbow wattle unfurls. As passions peak, he ducks out of view, bursts forth again, rushes to the female, mounts and they mate for 10 seconds.”¹ They may lay eggs and hatch.

 

“Fly up again, O’ Tragopan you King of Bird,
Your two note singing sound, you’ve just played,
Array your colour, sublime just frame,
So chary and rare, please live again”²

  

1.National Geographic, September 2019
^{2. By the Author}

This image belongs to the third phase of the Mandi Court paintings which started with Sajnu migrating to Mandi in about 1808 from Ustehar,  Kangra and finding his patron in Raja Ishwari Sen of Mandi. The Sajnu School made a dramatic change from the coarse or primitive style of painting prevalent in Mandi in the 18^th century by naturalising the Guler and Kangra style of ideal charm. Sajnu was a genius and the Mandi court gave him the heart to create a series of one of the finest miniature paintings one can find in the realm of Pahari Style. He had the blessings of Nainsukh-Manaku-Purkhu style, yet he was different and created his own geometric drama with jagged angular rhythm  full of elegance.     

 

 

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