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William Dalrymple Profile picture
@DalrympleWill
May 21, 2021 • 14 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X
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This is so tragic! I have twice made the trek to Devi Kothi to admire the Pahari frescoes and this is devastating news
@Yashaswini_Ch
Devi Kothi is home to some of the greatest Pahari frescoes in existence. How could this be allowed to happen? Image
There is arguably no finer collection of wall paintings in all Himachal ImageImage
The fresco cycles on the Goddess are beyond compare ImageImage
On my first visit to Devi Kothi in 2012 I wrote this piece about the temple in the FT:

"This remote village is home to one of the finest sets of 18th-century frescoes in north India, and certainly the greatest cycle of Pahari painting still in situ."

ft.com/content/5c6993…
"Here in the middle of these remote hills, on the walls of a small wooden shrine, are paintings that would do honour to the most sophisticated urban centre..."

ft.com/content/5c6993…
"Straddled on her tiger, the Goddess swoops down on an army of horned devils, cutting heads with a sweep of her divine blade. In one hand she holds a shield, in others tridents, bells & an assortment of spears &javelins. They are astonishingly strong& confident compositions." Image
I am just appalled by the recent destruction at Devi Kothi- probably the greatest surviving masterpiece of Pahadi art still in situ and the Sistine Chapel of Himachal Pradesh. Does anyone know how much of the temple was demolished before it was stopped? ImageImageImage
Devi Kothi was also remarkable for its gorgeous wood work ImageImageImageImage
Devi Kothi is one of the supreme artistic expression of Hindu spirituality, and one of the greatest Pahari frescoes cycles still surviving. Why was nothing done to safeguard it? ImageImageImage
Here is an excellent Sahapedia paper on the Devi Kothi temple: sahapedia.org/murals-devi-ko…
Update from Sarang Sharma in Chamba: "In my understanding, the RCC work which had started around the temple premise has made the foundation weak & vulnerable to damage. The region is prone to earthquakes and falls under the High Damage Risk Zone in terms of Seismic activity." 1/2
"There is noticeable damage on the walls & pillars of the temple and deep cracks have developed on the surface. Even a minute jolt would wreak the structure and it might not be able to stay intact. There is a dire need to conserve and restore the temple before it is too late" 2/2
Deeply depressing article on the destruction of Devi Kothi and its spectacular 18thC murals Image

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More from @DalrympleWill

William Dalrymple Profile picture
Dec 24
@EmpirePodUK Christmas 🎄 Special:

THE EMPIRE OF FRANKINCENSE & MYRRH Image
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By the time of Jesus’ birth, a mysterious empire had built its wealth through trading two of the gifts present at the Nativity: frankincense and myrrh.

Aromatic crystals harvested from the sap of gnarled trees, frankincense and myrrh were highly desirable commodities known as the tears or the breath of the gods.Image
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Dec 17
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Featured in every Nativity scene in school plays, churches, and art around the world, the Three Wise Men are key characters in the Christmas story. But they are actually only mentioned once in the Bible, appearing in Matthew’s gospel. He describes them not as Kings, not as generalised Wise Men, but specifically as Magi.

So what exactly did he mean by that?Image
The word ‘magi’, derives from the Old Persian ‘magus’, and specifically refers to the Zoroastrian Persian high priesthood, who were renowned throughout the Middle East for their knowledge of the stars and for their expertise in astrology.

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William Dalrymple Profile picture
Dec 13
New from @EmpirePodUK

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"Early in his reign, Akbar had made it clear that he had no time for ultra-Orthodox Muslim opinion which objected the depiction of the human form: “There are many that hate painting,” he wrote, but such men I dislike. It appears to me as if a painter had a quite peculiar means of recognising God; for a painter in sketching anything that has life, and in devising its limbs, one after the other, must come to feel that he cannot bestow individuality upon his work, and is thus forced to think of God, the giver of life."Image
As a child, Akbar was dislexic: no one was able to teach him how to read. But he still loved literature - the Indian and Persian epics and Ferdowsi poetry and were read to him by travelling picture showmen and discussed in detail. This seems to have inspired his love of visual arts: ‘one of the biggest paradoxes of art history: the prolific production of illustrated manuscripts was initiated by a man who could not read them himself’.Image
Akbar began the tradition by which the Mughals, perhaps more than any other Islamic dynasty, made their love of the arts and their aesthetic principles a central part of their identity as rulers.

They consciously used jewellery and jewelled objects as they used their architecture, art, poetry, historiography and the dazzling brilliance of their court ceremonial – to make visible and manifest their imperial ideal, to give it a properly imperial splendour, and even a sheen of divine legitimacy. As Abu’l Fazl put it, ‘Kings are fond of external splendour, because they consider it an image of the Divine glory.’Image
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William Dalrymple Profile picture
Nov 21
New from @EmpirePodUK
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Panipat 1526
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In 1506, Babur decided to pay a visit to his relatives in Herat. For the first time in his life, he found himself feeling like an unsophisticated, mud-booted provincial. His cousins paid little attention to the unfashionable new arrival and seemed unimpressed by his new conquests.Image
Babur was thoroughly dazzled by the court of Husayn Baqara and the brilliant Persianate cultural world he had created around him “His was a wonderful age,” he wrote in his diary, looking back. “In it, Khurasan and Herat was full of learned and matchless men… In Herat a man can’t stretch his leg without touching a poet’s backside.” Babur toured the sights, visiting the shrine of the Gaza Gah and relished the beauty of a pavilion decorated with murals.Image
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William Dalrymple Profile picture
Nov 19
New from @EmpirePodUK

To coincide with the acclaimed Mughal Exhibition: Art, Architecture and Opulence @V_and_A we are today embarking on a major new series on The Great Mughals, telling the story of the lives, courts, writings, battles, art and architecture of the first six Mughal EmperorsImage
Our first episode, out today, is on:
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‘It passed through my mind that to wander from mountain to mountain, homeless and helpless, has little to recommend it.’ Image
Babur was born in Ferghana, in what is now Uzbekistan. He ascended the throne in 1494 at the age of twelve, and by 14 had captured Samarkand; but by 16 he had lost the entire kingdom he inherited to the Uzbeks of the fierce Shaybani Khan. By his late teens he had become a wandering refugee...Image
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William Dalrymple Profile picture
Oct 11
New from @EmpirePodUK:
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Often called Arabic numerals, the modern number system we use today actually originates in India. Whilst in the west they were using Roman numerals, in India they were using numbers 1-9. Image
Then the great Brahmagupta in the 7th century made one of the most monumental developments in human history. He invented zero in its modern form, allowing any number up to infinity to be expressed with just ten distinct symbols: the nine Indian numbers plus zero. Rules that are still taught in classrooms around the world today. This step was a major advance that had never previously been attempted elsewhere and it was this Indian reincarnation of zero as a number, rather than just as an absence, that transformed it and gave it its power.Image
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