The monsoon in Delhi paints a scene of waterlogged streets, overflowing drains, power cuts, waterfalls cascading from flyovers, breezy winds, and lush greenery. It evokes a mix of pure joy and pleasure, often tempered by the frustrations of failing infrastructure. In contrast, the mediaeval period in Udaipur presents a distinct perspective on the monsoon, moving beyond the popular themes of love and longing that have come to define the season in Indian aesthetics.
In the book The Place of Many Moods by art historian Dipti Khera, a verse by the Jain monk Jaichand Saiki from A History of Hundred Years, spanning from 1658 to 1723, captures this beautifully, offering an ecological history and a detailed account of rainfall and its impact on the economy and politics. It goes as,“In 1761, extensive rains began in the months of Jyestha (May–June). Lakes filled up in Sravana (July–August), rivers and streams swelled in Bhadon (August–September).
In the months of Asad (June–July), hopes bloomed further, and grains were abundant. Corn, bajra, udad — all the crops thrived. There was abundance throughout the land; inexpensive crops brought happiness to all.
Jaichand says, ‘Do enjoy, for even the thieves and thugs have withdrawn!’” Khera, a seasoned art historian and Associate Professor of Art History at New York University— who has been in the city for a series of lectures on Indian paintings — has made incisive contributions to understanding how Udaipur’s artworks — monumental court paintings, Jain scrolls, manuscripts, cartographic artefacts, and architectural drawings — came to define aesthetic, intellectual, and political shifts in the region around the 1700s. Rain is a prominent feature in these immersive artworks. In Passionate Monsoons and Monumental Paintings, a chapter in The Place of Many Moods, Khera explores what it means to depict such grand gestures of rain in the dry landscape of Rajasthan, where water is precious.
A six-foot-long panoramic painting from 1705, ‘Maharana Amar Singh II in Udaipur during a Monsoon Downpour’, portrays a city nestled in the Aravalli hills, swept over by rains and dark, heavy clouds from the northwest, where the monsoon winds typically arrive. A bird’s-eye view of the courtyard reveals a recurring motif of an elephant running excitedly in the rain. The scene captures a specific moment in history and geography: “It is not about the monsoon of any year, anywhere or everywhere; it is about very specifically the monsoons creating the riverine and lake landscape of their place and what the aesthetic exigencies, the ecological advantages, and the poetic attachment of pleasure and plentitude that complete the love of longing,” explains Khera.
Her research suggests this was a year of drought and dark times (bhayanak dukal). A painting like this, she adds, may commemorate a very important and good monsoon from the past, to be consumed, seen, and appreciated during a time of constraint. “It reveals how painters and patrons thematised rain to create powerful images of Udaipur as a prosperous place, emphasising the city’s lake environs as opposed to the region’s desert lands.
The kings relied on the availability of water not just for governance but also for maintaining political alliances and asserting their authority with goodwill.” ‘Maharana Fateh Singh Crossing A River During Monsoon’ by the painter Shivalal is often interpreted as a painting of a flood. Khera, however, remarks that it is about “celebrating a man-made control of technology over the rain, where the canals are working, the wells are operating, they are crossing a bridge, and everything is under control.
A mood of inspection and control is being evoked through the subject of rain.” She regards these artworks as comparable to literary sources in depicting the spirit of the time and the moods (bhavas) of the place. In the rain-soaked mainland of India, particularly in the arid terrains of Rajasthan, these topographical paintings, rich with fervent monsoon imagery, allow for “a beauty to hold a community together.
In fact, the establishment of Rajsamand Lake in Udaipur was an important project, not only for its ambition but also to provide work to Mewar citizens, relieving them from the miseries of a severe drought that year,” says Khera. The heightened emotions of ‘monsoon feelings’ in Indian art have precedents in various forms, such as the ragmala genre, where musical notes associated with the monsoon, particularly from the Malhar family of ragas like the ‘Megh Raag’ (cloud melody), could summon rain. Similarly, the poetic genre of Barahmasa, a lament structured around the 12 months, evokes the intense pining and longing of the Nayika.
For example, a verse from Keshavdas’ Barahmasa, depicting the rainy months of Sravan and Bhadon, features a woman pleading with her lover to stay—“In Bhadon, staying home with your beloved is nectar— being abroad is poison. It’s not time to leave home.” Khera’s work encompasses these emotions as well, writing the history of 18th-century Udaipur and uncovering diverse moods infused with a fresh perspective on monsoon aesthetics, imagining a material history of rain beyond the Shringara Rasa.
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