Lord Krishna in gold!

God can be worshipped in many ways. Some do it through music, some by following rituals, and some through paintings, which was evident at the Kanhai Gold Painting Workshop in Kolkata. Just one look at the Kanhai paintings will make you feel there has been a reincarnation of Lord Krishna.

Kanhia Chitrakar, who has been considered the pioneer of Kanhai Gold Paintings, is conducting a month long workshop in Kolkata, where participants are made familiar with the art of making the distinctive gold paintings.

"With the blessing of God I realised that painting was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. First I started with portraits, and then, slowly added gold to the paintings. That's how the birth of Kanhai painting came into existence", said Kanhia Chitrakar.

Kanhai Chitrakar and his family live in Vrindavan and worship Lord Krishna through their paintings. Like their father, Kanhai's sons - Krishna and Govind - also like to offer their prayers to God in their own special way.

"These paintings have expressions and feelings. Theyare proportionate unlike the Tanjore paintings where they have thick face and stout figure. The gold used is 24 carot pure gold. When you look at these paintings you feel that this is how they would really look like,", said Govind, who is also a teacher at the workshop.

Unlike Rajasthani paintings, which use only gold ink, Kanhai Chitrakar's paintings use less ink and more of pure gold, semi precious stones and Swarovski crystals.

Participants in the workshop are very excited to learn the unique art.

"I am happy that I have joined this workshop. It is for the first time that the art of making Kanhai paintings is being taught and that too by its pioneers. I am honoured", said Sarita Kamani, a participant in the workshop.

'Krishna' is the favourite theme of Kanhai Chitrakar and his family, and with the course of time, they have also assimilated local folk, traditional and artistic influences in it. Most recently they started experimenting with oil paintings.

First Published: Sep 05, 2005 15:07 IST