Prince Enjoying Holi with His Sweetheart | Rajasthani Rajput Painting| Vintage Indian Folk Art Print | Wall Frame

This excellent miniature represents a prince enjoying Holi with his sweet-heart on his terrace adjacent to his marble chambers away from every eye and unattended save by a maid holding a tray full of the petals of ‘Palasha’ flowers, known in botanical terms ‘Butea frondosa’ yielding mild tint of red. A species of trees growing in the large part of Central India bursting with the arrival of summer, almost from around mid-February, with exceptionally beautiful flowers : red upper and black bottom revealing rare lustre and softness as composed of velvet ‘Palasha’ was in medieval days not merely one of the prime sources of red colour but was used for celebrating Holi almost with ritual sanctity.
Not a tray of ‘gulal’ – coloured powder with ground mica mixed, or a pot of coloured water and pipe, the usual paraphernalia of celebrating Holi, the maid attending upon the princess is carrying the tray filled with red petals of flowers, obviously the traditional ‘Palasha’ or ‘Dhaka’ flowers. Abounding in rare ethnicity and revealing medieval flavour the presence of ‘Palasha’ affords to the painting far greater medieval character than its miniature format does. ‘Palasha’ flowers are still used, at least in regions where the species grows, sometimes in the form of colour extracted from them and sometimes the flowers itself, the elite using it symbolically, and the poor tribes as their main source of colour, in celebrating Holi. The rural elite would use, almost as a rule, the ‘Palasha’ colours when playing Holi with persons they held in reverence, elders, teachers, priests, even former nobles or rulers among others.

As is the theme of this painting, while playing Holi with the loved one, not its colour but the lover would smear on her face the petals of ‘Palasha’ rubbing them on her cheeks adding to her gold-like lustre the red-tint of the flower. The miniature has romantically dramatized its theme – the celebration of Holi, and also the entire perspective: the celebrating couple’s solitude in contrast to the nature of the festival that mass-participation defines. As is obvious, along with a maid carrying ‘Palasha’ petals in a tray, the princess designs to silently slip into the chamber of the prince and before he could anticipate or know anything smear his face from behind with Palasha petals and greet him on the festival. However, knowing well that she would come the prince seems to have been fully alert and when she comes, frustrating her designs to smear his face holds her to his bosom and fully absorbed looks at her.

This professionally remastered  artwork comes in two variations:

1 .Matte: 12 x 18 inch high definition quality print -  300 gsm Matte Finish Art Card Rolled in a Shipping Tube.

2. Frame: 14 x 20 inch, finest quality photo frame -  Golden/Black Frame Finish Delivered in a Safe Corrugated Box.