Book of Gold: The Kanchana Chitra Ramayana of Banaras (exhibition catalogue)

Book release of Book of Gold: The Kanchana Chitra Ramayana of Banaras, catalogue of the eponymous exhibition, on show at the Museum of Art and Photography in Bengaluru from 16 September 2023 to 8 March 2024, curated and edited by late Prof. Kavita Singh, former Professor at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, and Parul Singh, 4A_Lab Postdoctoral Fellow, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut and Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin.     

Parul Singh the co-editor of the book, introduces the publication, highlighting its most important aspects and moderates a discussion between contributors, Prof. Philip Lutgendorf, Professor of Hindi and Modern Indian Studies at the University of Iowa, and Prof. Richard Schechner, University Professor Emeritus at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, and editor of TDR: The Drama Review. 

They will focus on the socio-political context of the making of the Kanchana Chitra Ramayana, a monumental illustrated manuscript of the 16^th century Ramcharitmanas by Tulsidas, produced for Udit Narayan Singh, the Raja of Banaras, a small princely state in North India.

Colloquially named the Kanchana Chitra Ramayana, or the “Golden Illustrated Ramayana” due to its folios lavishly embellished with gold, the manuscript remained intact but inaccessible, hidden in the Banaras palace. A decade ago, its pages were torn apart and sold one by one on the art market.

For the first time, the exhibition has displayed nearly eighty pages from this rediscovered illustrated manuscript borrowed from various collections. The accompanying co-edited volume recontextualizes the complex socio-political milieu and historical context of its production, revealing the religious and cultural aspirations and political anxieties of its patron, as well as the vibrant artistic landscape in North India. In the publication, scholars of Art and Architectural History, Literature and Religion, and Performance Studies bring their multidisciplinary expertise to bear upon this significant manuscript.