Indian Dance Festival at Mamallapuram Set to Celebrate India’s Classical Art Forms

December 15, 2025

The Sacred Stage of Shore Temple

The ancient town of Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is ready to orchestrate the Indian Dance Festival, also known as the Mamallapuram Dance Festival. During the course of this festival, a spectacular cultural event is organized at the ancient 7th-century rock-cut Pallava-era Shore Temple, which is transmogrified into a theatre of celebrations, jubilantly celebrating India’s rich cultural heritage. Nestled on the Coromandel Coast of Tamil Nadu, the site of Mamallapuram is set to host the event from December 21, 2025, to January 19, 2026.

The Dance Fest is supported by the Department of Tourism, Government of Tamil Nadu. The festival was conceived in the early 1990s to promote and preserve the diverse classical and folk dance forms in India. Moreover, the historicity of the Shore temple amplifies the spectacularity of the festival. Hitherto, the festival used the open-air stage near the bas-relief of Arjuna’s Penance. But, in recent years, many performances have been executed in the expansive lawn in front of the Shore Temple. The ambience against which the festival is set is unparalleled. The ethos of the historical site creates a sense of intimacy as well as grandeur that an indoor auditorium can never replicate.

Both renowned dancers and emerging artists from across the nation congregate at that place to perform the major classical forms, including Bharatnatyam (From Tamil Nadu), Kathak (North India), Kathakali (Kerala), Kuchipudi (Andhra Pradesh), and Odissi (Odisha). Beyond these classical forms, many folk dances such as Karagam and Kavadi Attam will also be performed. To make these artforms accessible to all, the entry into the temple complex during the event is free.

Through this annual conclave, Mamallapuram emerges as a cultural hub, going beyond its traditional tourism label. The festival is renowned for drawing audiences from home and abroad. This accelerates the cultural tourism by promoting the nearby Pancha Rathas (Five Chariots) and other rock-cut monuments. This creates a symbiotic relationship between the festival and the local communities on economic lines.

The Historical Setting

The shore temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and Vishnu. The conscious attempt to house the festival within the temple campus elevates the classical performances by adjoining them with their historical roots. The vibe of the place is unmatched, as the classical performances will be executed under the open sky, complemented by the sound of crashing waves. The dancers will enact compositions grounded in bhakti, mythology, and classical aesthetics. This wholesome experience is not only immersive but a “layered heritage experience” in a true sense.

The involvement of the Tamil Nadu Tourism department is crucial. These government-backed events tend to reach more people, creating a greater impact. Like Mamallapuram, similar events are organized in other historical sites as well. For instance, the Khajuraho Dance Festival and the Konark Dance Festival aim to balance heritage conservation with cultural diplomacy. Syncretic models like these are working in favour of promoting India’s intangible cultural heritage on a global scale.

The Event At a Glance

Aspect	Details
Event Host	Department of Tourism, Government of Tamil Nadu
Dates	21 December 2025 – 19 January 2026
Theme	Celebration of Indian classical and folk dances, reflecting the nation’s rich cultural and artistic heritage.
Principal Venue	Open-air stage at the Shore Temple lawn (and occasionally Arjuna’s Penance), Mamallapuram.
Art Forms	Bharatanatyam, other classical and folk dances
Significance	A key cultural tourism driver and a platform for preserving traditional Indian classical dance forms.
Admission	Generally free, promoting wide accessibility to the classical arts.

Key Highlights

Performances set against the UNESCO-listed Shore Temple
Integration of classical and folk traditions
Features performances in Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Odissi, Kuchipudi, Kathakali, Mohiniyattam, etc.
Participation of leading classical dancers from across India
Provides a space for spirited folk dances like Karagam and Kavadi Attam, showcasing regional diversity.
Night-time performances enhance the site’s visual and acoustic ambience
Promotion of Tamil Nadu’s cultural heritage through tourism-led initiatives
Attracts renowned artists, dance gurus, and international attendees, fostering a global dialogue on Indian heritage.
The rhythmic movements of the dancers are complemented by live music and the natural sounds of the nearby Bay of Bengal.

A Living Tradition in a Timeless Setting

The Mamallapuram Dance Festival is arguably one of the most vital cultural events in South India today. Its vitality transcends its artistic merit and forms a unique bridge between the past and the present. It is both cultural and educational. It steps into the thread of the continuum of Indian performing arts and engages audiences from India and beyond.

Today, many classical and folk art forms grapple to exist amidst cultural homogenization and the rising popularity of pop culture among the younger generation, who assume that classical is not “cool.” But a government-backed initiative like this injects a refreshing aura into the celebration and validation of these classical forms.

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As Indians, we should be proud of the variety of classical performing arts that we have. These are our intangible national wealth. By making these performances accessible to a wider spectrum of people, the Tamil Nadu Tourism Department has successfully delineated the appreciation of classical dances and converted it into an art for the masses.

Moreover, the Shore temple does not merely host dance, it contextualises it. As India increasingly turns to cultural heritage as a soft-power resource, festivals like this must continue to emphasise depth over display. Such curated performances would elevate the festival from a cultural calendar event to a mandatory global pilgrimage for art lovers, ensuring that India’s “rhythms on the Coromandel Coast” resonate across continents for centuries to come.

Face to Face: A Portrait of a City – DAG Mumbai’s Landmark Exhibition

Kriti Sen

December 14, 2025

A Quick Glimpse Into The Exhibition

Portraiture as a genre has existed in history for a very long time. It grew in demand, especially within the urban centres where diverse social groups interacted. The human appearance has long served as the reflector of history. It apprehends the wavering ebb and flow of power, society, and identity. This persistent gesture is the central focus of DAG’s upcoming exhibition called “Face to Face: A Portrait of a City.” The exhibition will open in Mumbai at the DAG Gallery 1, The Taj Mahal Palace, Apollo Bunder, Mumbai, from January 8 to January 11, 2026. The thematic core of the exhibition revolves around tracing the portraiture of the city, its people, and history in the colonial and post-colonial era. The exhibition aims to trace the evolution of Bombay as a ‘heterogametic city,’ infiltrating through the narratives of social, cultural, and political spheres that have shaped the identity of the city.

The Colonial Canvas: Academic Realism and the Bombay School

The orbit of Portraiture in Western India is rudimentarily entangled with the establishment of British academic institutions. The establishment of the Sir J.J. School of Art in Bombay was a watershed moment in introducing the principles of European naturalism and academic realism to Indian artists. Hitherto, the visual representations drew inspiration from the Indian miniature or company school conventions. The proper academic conduct was instituted through the newly introduced curriculum that stressed anatomical precision and the Western technique of modelling (using light and shadow). This fundamentally changed how humans were drawn.

Early works at the beginning of colonial contexts were mostly commissioned under the patronage of local rulers and wealthy patrons. There were artists like Frank Brooks who produced the portraits of regional royals using European techniques. However, the prime chapter of development in the niche of paintings began with figures like M.V. Dhurandhar, M.F. Pithawalla, and D.C. Joglekar, who became instrumental in transforming portraiture into a tool used for chronicling indigenous life. These charismatic Indian painters absorbed the colonial art and percolated it into Bombay’s own identity.

Later, the genre expanded and entailed people from a more diverse social strata. This included lay communities, shifting the focus of art from the elite to the broader social bases, sometimes including the subalterns. The portraits, therefore, began to capture collective memory. Hitherto, DAG’s initiatives, such as Indian Portraits: The Face of a People, show similar commitments to understanding how visual culture mediates collective identity and memory.

M.V. Dhurandhar: The City’s Foremost Chronicler

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Among the most significant figures who will be featured in the exhibition, Rao Bahadur Mahadev Vishwanath Dhurandhar occupies a distinct spot. As a product of the J.J. School, he executed the fusion of Western techniques with Indian subjects. In his career, he also rose to the position of becoming the first Indian Director of the J.J. School. His core orientation lies in European realism, but the subjectivity of his paintings revolved around his immediate surroundings in Bombay.

Dhurandhar left thousands of paintings, illustrations, and popular lithographs that reached the masses through postcards and calendars. His work oscillated between Indian mythological themes, such as Radha and Krishna, to historical depictions, and representations of contemporary life. He also bagged the patronage from the affluent Parsi community in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Bombay. In 1928, Dhurandhar created illustrations for a Parsi Sanad (charter), depicting Parsi religious architectural features and community members in their daily life. He also received patronage from the Pathare Prabhu community to which he belonged.

Dhurandhar was contemporaneous with Raja Ravi Verma, but unlike him, Dhurandhar’s subjects, particularly his women, possessed a distinctive sense of tangible realism that felt closer to life.

The Exhibition At a Glance

Aspect	Details
Title	Face to Face: A Portrait of a City
Venue	DAG Gallery 1, The Taj Mahal Palace, Apollo Bunder, Mumbai
Dates	January 8–11, 2026
Curatorial Focus	Portraiture as a historical and cultural lens of Bombay
Artistic Range	Works from colonial academic realism to 20th-century Indian artists
Featured Artists	Frank Brooks, M.V. Dhurandhar, M.F. Pithawalla, Abalal Rahiman, and others
Organiser	DAG (formerly Delhi Art Gallery), a leading Indian art institution
Public Engagement	Exhibition supplemented by gallery programming and publication
Colonial Catalyst	The Sir J.J. School of Art introduced European naturalism, fundamentally changing Indian portrait style from miniature conventions to academic realism.
Shift in Patronage	Portraiture evolved from serving royal courts to chronicling Bombay’s middle classes, Parsi families, and diverse lay communities.

Key Highlights

The exhibition traces how portraiture in Bombay developed from European-influenced academic realism to nuanced representations by Indian artists trained in colonial institutions.
It highlights the mastery of academic realism by the Bombay School artists, a movement often sidelined by the narrative of early modern Indian art.
Portraits of local royalty, influential communities and everyday citizens are curated to reflect Bombay’s layered civic identity, shaped by empire, migration, commerce and cosmopolitan interactions.
The exhibition brings together works across a broad time span and diverse artistic voices, from early colonial painters like Frank Brooks to local artists whose styles engaged both indigenous and Western visual vocabularies.
Central artists include M.V. Dhurandhar, whose prolific output provided an unparalleled documentation of the city’s populace.
By positioning faces, both of elites and ordinary citizens, as visual archives, the show situates portraiture as a mode of historical documentation rather than mere artistic production.
The featured portraits act as a “collective memory” of the city, reflecting the layered identities of a restless, pluralistic metropolis.

Portraiture as a Socio-Political Document

The exhibition places these portraits in the utilitarian purview of socio-political documents. Each canvas denotes the social hierarchies through attire, posture, and background. The portrait of a Parsi businessman, for instance, speaks volumes about the community’s wealth and influence in commerce, just as a depiction of a daily life scene chronicles vanishing customs.

Today, urban spaces are reimagined in a plethora of ways, and amidst this, the classic portraits of these Indian masters offer a unique visual vocabulary through which the imagination of the cityscape broadens. The exhibition is an open invitation to people to reconsider how arts and visual histories shape the picturization of a particular thing, and in turn are shaped by civic memory.

Beneath the Turning Sky: MAP Bengaluru’s New Cosmic Art Exhibition

Kriti Sen

December 13, 2025

The Exhibition Overview

The Museum of Art & Photography (MAP) in Bengaluru is on the verge of unveiling its second major permanent exhibition titled “Beneath the Turning Sky.” It plunges right into the interiors of human existence and probes, How do we understand our place in the vast, indifferent, and yet deeply interconnected universe? Scheduled to open on January 17, 2026, and run through December 2, 2029, this exhibition attempts to understand the place of humans in the vast, indifferent, and interconnected universe. The exhibition is en route to the sketching of humanity’s search for meaning. This showcase of art is moving on the line of displaying MAP’s philosophy, i.e., situating art as a medium that connects the diverse historical threads and artistic mediums to coalesce time, space, and human existence.

The exhibition will showcase a vast collection encompassing everything from illustrated manuscripts to modern abstracts and prints on popular culture. The exhibition’s premise is highly ambitious, aiming to trace the evolution of human thought on cosmic subjects. It is a well-researched presentation of “cultural history” that depicts how humans have navigated the world and ultimately shaped their surroundings with conscious choices. The exhibition houses over 60 works, including paintings, photography, textiles, sculpture, and elements of living tradition.

A Cosmic Dialogue: Tracing Humanity’s Place

“Beneath the Turning Sky” is a pensively structured showcase that revolves around three thematic segments. The first segment is “wonder.” It encapsulates the initial, intuitive relationship between humans and the cosmos. It is represented by the primal awe and spiritual inquiry that can be considered as the beginning point of mythology, astrology, and early scientific attempts to understand the “heavens.” This portion distinctively showcases the divergent views of distinctive Indian cultures on how they have historically envisioned the celestial and how “art” served as the foundational language for humans to express themselves.

The second section is “Exploration and Conquest.” It delves into the period of dramatic changes indicated by increasing human intervention in the natural world. This frame is explored through the lens of colonialism, industrialization, and the rise of modern sciences. This segment envisions the transition of humans from being the recipients of the fruits of nature (incurring a sense of reverence) to the desire for mastery and extraction. This transition is labelled in detail through colonial-era photographs, maps, etc. The main agenda for this section is to unfold the human psyche of visualising the Earth as a repository of resources that is to be extracted.

The final section is called “Future, Present.” This segment revolves around contemporary moments. This section aims to address the consequences of the era of exploitation that preceded the present. This resulted in the climate crisis, rapid technical advancements, and a replenishment in the look out for sustainable ways of living. This is the introspective part of the whole exhibition that compels people to realize the wrongs that have been done to harm the planet, and the judicious approach that can be adopted to move towards a better tomorrow. The injustices that have been carried out can not be undone, but they can be diminished or practiced in a less harmful way to save the resources for future generations.

The Artworks

The artworks that are showcased include the seminal works of Indian masters. Visitors will encounter the art of V. S. Gaitonde, whose art invigorates people with a sense of inner consciousness. The ‘Bindu’ philosophy and ‘cosmic gaze’ of S. H. Raza are also phenomenal. Raza is an artist who spent a major part of his existence translating the ancient Indian philosophies of space and form onto his canvas. Artist Arpita Singh is noted for her representations of zodiacal visions on her canvases.

The artworks of these renowned artists will be complemented by the showcasing of manuscript folios from medieval India, alongside traditional textiles, etc. This orientation of representation displays the depth of multidisciplinary research involved in framing this exhibition. The show, curated by Arnika Ahldag, Khushi Bansal, and Priya Chauhan, emphasizes accessibility. They wish to make sure that the MAP becomes a site of interaction and intellectual engagement.

“Beneath The Turning Sky” At a Glance

Aspects	Details
Exhibition Venue & Status	Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), Bengaluru. It is the museum’s second permanent exhibition.
Duration	January 17, 2026, to December 2, 2029.
Curators	Arnika Ahldag, Khushi Bansal, Priya Chauhan
The Three Segments	Wonder; Exploration & Conquest; Future & Present
Artistic Scope	Over 60 artworks across paintings, photographs, textiles, sculptures, and manuscripts, all sourced from the MAP Collection.
Accessibility	Tactile artworks, audio guides, wheelchair access, and guide dogs allowed
Accompanying Publication	Features essays and reflections from noted scholars like Dr. G. N. Devy, Dr. Harini Nagendra, Ira Mukhoty, and Ranjit Hoskote.
Interactive Elements	Engagement hub for participatory reflection

Key Highlights

The exhibition aggregates artworks from medieval illustrated manuscripts to modern Indian abstractions, demonstrating how different cultures conceptualize the cosmos and human agency.
Three Thematic Sections:

1. Wonder evokes the initial human impulse to question existence.
2. Exploration & Conquest reflects encounters with the unknown—both physical and intellectual.
3. Future & Present draws connections to contemporary technological and societal transformations.

Works by seminal Indian modernists such as V. S. Gaitonde and S. H. Raza are positioned alongside folk and popular culture artifacts, interweaving visual vocabularies across elite and vernacular modes.
Unique to this exhibition is an intentional focus on multisensory experiences. Tactile works, audio descriptions, and interactive installations are designed to expand accessibility beyond visual spectatorship.
Accompanying the exhibition are two publications: a comprehensive catalogue of essays by scholars and cultural thinkers and a children’s edition aimed at fostering early engagement with art.
The collection spans over a thousand years, incorporating medieval illustrated manuscripts alongside 20th and 21st-century art.

Takeaway

Beneath the Turning Sky is a judiciously crafted exposition that symbolizes a paradigm shift in housing art. This exhibition takes art as a ladder to move up and down the historical timeframe and engages the audience with a methodological framework for intellectual inquiry. Today, the world is dominated by anxieties over issues related to climate change, AI, and global instabilities. This exhibition offers a prelude to the rise of these problems through a systematic arrangement of human quotient and its evolution into an exploitative force throughout the civilizational framework.

What began as an enigma and wonder for humans is now costing lives in the present world. Moreover, the decision to place it as a long-term exhibition is a very critical choice that can play a critical role in sensitizing people towards becoming more accountable for their actions.

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The exhibition advocates the cause of humans becoming compassionate partners of nature rather than trying to become masters of its resources. The balance of nature needs to be restored, and that is possible only through collective attempts of humanity. Each minute step taken on an individual level will amalgamate as “greater good” for tomorrow.

By making the exhibition accessible to all, MAP has democratized the concept of building consciousness for people and let them absorb the knowledge to get inspired to be more gentle towards Mother Earth. The museum thus turns into a civic space for critical exchange. This exhibition thus does more than display art; it provokes thought, invites introspection, and challenges audiences to consider art as an enduring instrument of human inquiry. Beneath the Turning Sky models an ambitious and necessary vision for how cultural institutions can contribute meaningfully to public discourse.

Ghika: A Journey to India – A Landmark Indo-Greek Art Exhibition

Kriti Sen

December 13, 2025

A Cultural Retrospective

The ancient ties between Greece and India date back to around the 6th century BCE. This relationship has got a new makeover at the Jaipur House in the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in New Delhi. An exhibition titled “Ghika: A Journey to India” is celebrating the artistic impressions of the celebrated Greek modernist painter Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika from his month-long visit to India in 1958. This presentation goes beyond the showcase of historical artwork and is a tangible marker of cultural diplomacy spanning several decades.

The showcase of his paintings is happening 67 years after the original journey, and it showcases the corpus of sketches, writings, and paintings that serve as a travelogue of the artist’s encounters with Indian life, rituals, architecture, people, and everyday scenes. The exhibition is scheduled to run through February 12, 2026. This exhibition is a celebration of the Indo-Greek relationship, marking 75 years of diplomatic relations between the two. The formal diplomatic ties with Greece were established in May 1950. This exhibition plays a crucial role in re-viewing the nascent years of Post-Independent India from a foreign gaze.

A Cubist’s Vision of the Subcontinent

Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika was a decisive figure in the “Generation of the 1930s,” a Greek artistic movement acknowledged for synthesizing Cubist and Constructivist formulations with traditional Hellenic aesthetics. Ghika was sponsored by the American Government in 1958 for an international educational exchange, which led him from the West to the East. Ghika initially halted at New York and Hawaii, but his long-term fascination lay in the oriental world. This curiosity led him to circumnavigate the globe. He chose to return to Greece via Asia. This allowed him to visit Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Cambodia, and finally, spend a month in India. Ghika was not venturing alone; he was accompanied by his future partner, Barbara Warner.

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The Benaki Museum and the Embassy of Greece preserved the Indian part of his global travelogue. The paintings disclose an overwhelming intensity of hues and diversity of landscapes. Ghika’s Indian itinerary included Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay, and Jaipur. He captured the diversities of Indian life and its minutiae. His 39 India-inspired artworks, primarily black-and-white drawings in pen, ink, charcoal, and pencil, focus on the energetic chaos of the bustling streets, the spiritual serenity of the ghats of Banaras (Varanasi), and the delicate beauty of the local population.

The Themes of Ghika’s Indian Paintings

Ghika’s artworks on India particularly highlight the apothesis of the aesthetics of Indian women. He captured their flowing drapes, jewellery, etc, in an intricate manner. To him, the plurality of India’s religious festivals became a huge source of inspiration. The central themes of his paintings revolved around temple architecture, animal motifs, and the figures of the Indian woman. These motifs were perceived as an embodiment of the divine. His distinct technique of applying cubist sensibilities, meaning moving away from traditional realism, to depict multiple perspectives simultaneously, produced unique prints that were seldom produced by other Western artists. In his eyes, the Indian culture stood not only as a continuum of ancient roots, but a constant explosion of modern syncretism.

The present exhibition is the result of the collaborative effort of the NGMA, the Benaki Museum in Athens, and the Greek Embassy in New Delhi. The symbolic weightage of this collaboration is huge, as stated by the Ambassador of Greece to India, who remarked that the exhibition beautifully reflects the “enduring artistic and philosophical bonds” between the two nations. The return of these masterpieces to their land of origin, 67 years after they were crafted, is a rare opportunity to take a glimpse at them.

The curator Lonna Moraiti of the Ghika Gallery Archive noted that the artist was particularly intrigued and invigorated by India’s religious diversity and feminine aesthetics. Therefore, this exhibition not only celebrates the Indo-Greek ties but also bridges the personal artistic expression of the painter with a common cultural recollection.

The Exhibition At A Glance

Aspect	Details
Exhibition Title	Ghika: A Journey to India
Artist	Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika
Venue	National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
Duration	Open until February 12, 2026
Collaboration	NGMA, Benaki Museum, Athens, Embassy of Greece
Diplomatic Significance	Commemorates 75 years of India-Greece relations
Artistic Focus	Indian rituals, architecture, daily life, and feminine form
Historical Context	1958 visit across India, including New Delhi, Calcutta, Jaipur

Key Highlights

The exhibition revives Hadjikyriakos-Ghika’s artistic impressions of India, portrayed through delicate sketches and vibrant paintings that capture both the simplicity and grandeur of Indian life.
Works include silhouettes of daily life, detailed portrayals of religious ceremonies, architectural studies of temples, and nuanced depictions of Indian women, interpreted with a modernist sensibility.
The original journey occurred in 1958, during which Ghika visited various cities such as New Delhi, then Calcutta (now Kolkata), and Jaipur, compiling his first-hand experiences in art and writing.
The exhibition underscores the enduring artistic and philosophical bonds between India and Greece, set against the backdrop of historical intercultural exchange.
Senior Indian cultural officials, the Greek ambassador, and art experts attended the inauguration, emphasizing the importance of cultural diplomacy.

Historical Background of Indo-Greek Relationship

Preceding the invasion of Alexander, the Indo-Greek relations were limited and largely concentrated around the Achaemenid Empire. After the invasion of Alexander in the 4th century BCE, Greek presence and exchange took hold in the subcontinent. Since then, India has been influenced by Greek art, philosophy, and commerce. Historical accounts such as Indica by Megasthenes play a very crucial role in uncovering ancient Indian history.

The cultural interactions continued with art and iconographical influences, such as Gnadhara art. In philosophy, early Greek and Indian thought processes resonated with each other in the fields of metaphysics and existential properties.

In the modern era, scholars like Greek Indologist Dimitrios Galanos spent decades in India translating Sanskrit texts into Greek. These instances support the view of long-lasting and deeply entrenched ties between the two civilizations.

Takeaway

The artworks of Ghika are undeniably valuable given their immense artistic merit. The revival of Nikos Ghika’s journey in India and showcasing it in the national capital is a high point in the cross-cultural engagement. “Ghika: A Journey to India” reflects the potential of art to create shared spaces of understanding. Ghika’s choice to travel in India was highly driven by his desire to establish a connection between Western modernism and Eastern traditions. It is a marker of successful cultural merger.

While NGMA is hosting this exhibition, it is establishing itself as an agency that represents India as an eternal source of inspiration for the world. This exhibition re-establishes the strong hold of culture as the most effluent ambassador of any identity and its role in strengthening the bilateral ties between the two nations. Thus, cultural exchange continues as an essential pillar of Internal Relations.

HYD ART 2025: Hyderabad’s Biggest Art Festival Returns with 200+ Artists at EON

Kriti Sen

December 12, 2025

Hyderabad is one of the most dynamic cities of India and is known for its historic grandeur and an augmenting technological prowess. Amidst this collage, the city is preparing itself for a 3-day art event called HYD ART 2025. Interestingly, this event is propagated as “Hyderabad’s Own & Hyderabad’s Biggest.” This event is about to transform EON Hyderabad into a sanctuary for art enthusiasts. The event promises to be a celebration of the creative pulse that runs through the Deccan region. This is a mega-scale event that pins a different cultural landmark on the city’s annual calendar. The HYD ART 2025 is going to be a high-impact gathering aimed at both commercial success and critical appreciation.

Decoding HYD’s Creative Pulse

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The event will bring together over 200 artists across India. Over three days, visitors can expect museum-style displays, lounge-like viewing spaces, and thoughtfully planned zones that encourage not just seeing art, but conversing with it, investing in it, and understanding the stories behind it. Presently, Hyderabad has a fast-growing base of high-net-worth individuals, design-conscious professionals, and a population increasingly drawn to cultural experiences. HYD ART correctly taps that enthusiasm and presents it as a mega public festival.

The festival is designed to bridge the gap between regional artistic talent and national/international collectors. It will ensure that local artists and indigenous art forms receive prime attention alongside modern and contemporary work from across India and the globe. This focus is crucial, as Hyderabad possesses a rich, yet often underrepresented, artistic heritage.

A Confluence of Art and Commerce

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HYD ART 2025 emerges as a space where aesthetic value is integrated with market reality. It provides a unique opportunity to engage directly with artists and discover the next wave of significant Indian art. The event aims to offer high-quality choices to not only consumers but the public in general. It coves everything from paintings and sculptures to photography, digital art, and even performance. This holistic approach ensures a multifaceted experience for every visitor, regardless of their preferred medium.

The venue, EON Hyderabad, is strategically important in inviting a sophisticated urban crowd, including corporate collectors, interior designers, and high-net-worth individuals, which is vital for the commercial viability and expansion of the art scene.

HYD ART 2025 at a Glance

Aspects	Details
Dates & Duration	3-day festival from 19–21 December 2025
Discourse	200+ artists, 3 days, thousands of expected footfalls, workshops, and talks
Venue	EON Hyderabad, a new landmark commercial tower in Nanakramguda’s Financial District, designed as a premium corporate and event space
Curatorial Choice	Focus on clarity, context, strong practices, and regional representation over spectacle
Artists	Emerging and established artists from across India, plus 30 artists from Hyderabad
Regional Tribute	“Keerthanam – A Tribute to Telugu Art”, honouring 20th-century Telugu masters and cultural memory
Traditional Arts	Dedicated Mithila/Madhubani Art Show with master practitioners and contemporary inheritors
Workshops	Hands-on sessions in Mithila painting, mythological caricature, gouache cityscapes, woodcut printmaking, and more
Engagement	Curatorial walks, panel discussions on collecting, legacy, and regional legends; invite-only preview night for collectors
Access	Tickets and workshop registrations managed online via the hyd.art platform; hybrid gallery + festival model

Key Highlights of the Festival

Featuring a broad spectrum of art forms, including fine art, sculpture, photography, print, digital, and perhaps contemporary installations, ensuring a rich visual feast.
Offering a dedicated platform for established masters and emerging artists to network directly with serious collectors and art patrons.
Highlighting the unique cultural narratives and traditional techniques specific to the Telangana and Deccan regions.
While unconfirmed, similar festivals often include live demonstrations, artist talks, and guided tours to enhance the visitor experience and demystify the creative process.
The event seeks to be the premier art exhibition in Hyderabad, setting a new standard for quality, curation, and scale within South India.

Surprisingly, hyd.art is not merely an event organiser; it is already a hybrid gallery platform that maintains a running roster of artists, both from Hyderabad and beyond, and sells works online with authenticity certification. The festival can thus be read as an offline expansion of an already active digital ecosystem.

Why HYD ART 2025 Matters

Instead of throwing together stalls and calling it an “art mela,” HYD ART 2025 fixated itself in regional memory (through Keerthanam), national heritage (through the Masters zone), and future-looking experimentation (through emerging artists and contemporary practices). The inclusion of folk arts like Mithila/Madhubani within the same niche also erases the divide between “high” and “vernacular” art. For too long, the immense talent pool of the Telugu-speaking states has had to rely on external platforms. This festival is an overdue declaration of self-sufficiency. It has also developed itself as a sustainable annual event in India.

Festivals of Goa Exhibition at MOG Showcases a Decade of Culture, Art & Heritage

Kriti Sen

December 12, 2025

A Living Archive of Culture, Community, and Celebration

The smallest state of India, Goa, is popularly pictured with sun-kissed beaches and a relaxed way of life. Beneath these popular pictures lies an intricate culture that is manifested through vibrant festivals. This throbbing quintessence is brought forward by the Museum of Goa (MOG) in celebrating its 10th anniversary, through a landmark exhibition christened as “Festivals of Goa.” This festival will pay tribute to the expansive culture of Goa. The festival is running from November 9, 2025, to January 18, 2026, bringing together over 90 artists and over 100 artworks, distributed across four curated showcases. It serves as a live documentation of Goa’s living traditions that is augmenting in the continuum of evolution while holding its roots. This festival is a proud celebration of the Goan identity.

The scale of the festival is monumental. MOG ensures that the diversity of Goan culture finds a just place in the eyes of the viewers and lets them channelize a different way of perceiving the place beyond a holiday destination. There are photographs, paintings, sculptures, etc, that are spearheading the conceptualization of what it means to participate in a Goan festival. Beyond these perceptible artistic endeavours, there are religious fests and jatras in the form of carnivals, and the colourful Shigmo.

A Decade of the Museum of Goa

Marking its tenth anniversary, MOG chose to celebrate the people of Goa and their distinctive culture. MOG has long acted as the viaduct between contemporary artistic expressions and lived heritage. And the celebration of the Festivals of Goa is an extension of this spirit. Each segment showcased in the festival reveals a different dimension of Goan festivals, ranging from Catholic feast days, tribal rituals, Hindu temple festivals, Kunbi and Gauda traditions, & performance arts such as ghumot drumming, fugdi dance, and zomnivhelle processions. These festivals aim to promote social cohesion and historical continuity.

The curators have punctiliously gathered works that recce the emotional altitude behind the rituals, which include the preparation, the anticipation, the bond created through inter-generational participation, and much more. Here, people will have a rendezvous with the masked folk dancers, the sinuous artistry of the makhar, and the processions of the Church feast. Each artwork acts as a janela into a specific pocket of the state. This also reflects the syncretism that is woven by the voluntary efforts of Hindu, Catholics, Muslims, and others, truly embodying Goa’s “Sarva Dharma, Sarva Bhava” (Equal Respect for All Religions) spirit. It also reminds everyone that beneath the coat of tourism, Goa has the “other” side that is rooted in traditions and a colourful and joyous culture.

Community Narratives Through Art

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The exhibition leans heavily on collaboration. A composite portrait of Goa is produced by the local artists, photographers, craftspeople, and performers. Together, installations, paintings, video essays, sculptures, and old photos illustrate how festivals serve as archives of memory. It ignites a desire to take part in the festivals and stop being a spectator. Instead of portraying festival culture as static imagery, the exhibition places these customs within a constantly changing ecological and socioeconomic framework.

MOG has positioned itself not just as a repository of art, but as an active cultural hub. It is committed to cultivating local talent and providing a platform for critical engagement with Goan and Indian art. This year’s celebration is the result of a decade-long effort. It is more like a “return gift” to the Goans for their continuous support for the museum’s vision.

Housed in Pilerne, the exhibition offers ample room for the 100+ artworks to get aptly showcased. The timings of the exhibition will expand during the high-tourist season and throughout the new year corridor, ensuring both the locals and tourists get a chance to experience this unique cultural immersion. For any cultural institution, stepping into a ten-year milestone truly matters, especially in the artworld. And this opportunity is taken up by MOG, not for self-celebration, but to reaffirm its core mission, that is to preserve and honour the essence of Goan life.

The Festival At a Glance

Aspects	Details
Exhibition Title	FESTIVALS OF GOA
Organizing Institution	Museum of Goa (MOG), Pilerne
Exhibition Type	Art Exhibition (10th Anniversary Show)
Duration	09 November 2025 – 18 January 2026
Scope of Work	4 Showcases, 90+ Artists, 100+ Artworks
Theme	Honouring Goa’s Culture, Community & Heritage
Curatorial Focus	Goan culture, community, heritage, festival traditions
Poster Photography Credit	Vaibhav Rastaad

Key Highlights

Celebrates the Museum of Goa’s 10-year milestone.
Features over 90 artists and 100 artworks.
Represents diverse cultural traditions across Goan communities.
Uses multi-format art: installations, photography, video, sculpture.
A sensory and thematic journey across four major exhibition sections.
Poster features a masked folk performer captured by Vaibhav Rastaad.
Exhibition celebrates communal memory and cultural continuity.
Open for viewing until 18 January 2026.

Takeaway

MOG’s creativity lies in presenting festivals not as decorative or nostalgic motifs but as living ecosystems shaped by real people and real histories. The ‘Festivals of Goa’ exhibition, ultimately, is a plea for preservation. It has opened its doors to showcase the irreplaceable customs and community spirit that distinguish Goa from other coastal destinations. The curatorial approach resists romanticization and foregrounds authenticity, diversity, and the everyday labor that sustains cultural practices.

Just like any other place, Goa too is rapidly changing. Here, tourism is the prime determinant of life, and it often commodifies festivals and cultures. This exhibition put forth a conscious attempt to undo that and restore dignity in Goa’s community narratives. Ultimately, Goa’s heritage side is underrated, and this festival seeks to present it in the most animated way possible, stating that meaningful art is often that which holds a mirror up to our own collective identity.

Anubandha at NGMA Bengaluru: A Festival Bridging Art, Nature & Ecology

Kriti Sen

December 12, 2025

Celebrating the Bond between Art and Nature

The creative spirit of Bengaluru is buzzing with the spirit of creativity and nature as the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA Bengaluru) is set to host the “Anubandha: Celebrate Art in Nature.” This is a multisensory festival designed to amplify the bond between nature, self, and art. The festival is scheduled to run from December 12th to 21st, 2025. The festival is orchestrated in collaboration with The Naturalist School and Lila, an Artist Research Studio that wholeheartedly invites all to rediscover the enigma of the world through nature. The festival is hosting an immersive event that seeks to chip in ecology, collective learning, and a multimodal endeavour.

The event is slated to continue for 10 days in the NGMA campus, and it aims to transform the environment of the venue into a psychedelic panorama entailing a plethora of notions, dialogues, workshops, performances, and walks. These animated themes promise a simple yet profound impact of the artworks on the spectators. People can expect to get awestruck by the vibrancy of nature presented through art.

A Portal To Nature

The credo of Anubandha is that there are countless ways to know nature and every one of them matters.” The festival espouses heterogeneous formats, such as guided story walks through galleries, workshops on creative expression, and a bout on natural history, which creatively coalesces scientific curiosity with field-based learning.

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Visitors are highly heartened to join the art and ecology walks where paintings and installations serve as visual reflections of ecological impression, biodiversity, and climate histories. These walks offer a revitalizing experience, allowing attendants to understand how artists interpret nature and its tensions and fragile balance. People become more than just passive viewers, as they are constantly encouraged to “wander through” and have active participation.

The premise of NGMA is adorned like a living laboratory where art, ecology, and human experience intertwine. For people who are interested in experiential learning, the Pop-Up DIY Nature Corners invite participants to engage in mindful creative activity. Under the guidance of able naturalists, people can sketch, observe textiles, collect impressions, and craft tiny notebooks. The organizers have made it clear: “No experience needed; just wander in, play, and discover what your hands can learn from the wild.” This approach reflects the sense of inclusivity propounded by the organizers to make the festival accessible to all. Here, “curiosity” is treated as the only prerequisite for participation.

The Creative Encounters

Anubandha’s workshops extend to art, design, and nature-based creativity. These activities are solely designed with the aim to invigorate people’s bond with nature. Each session is well curated and leads to a saga of exploration that involves persistent observation, field journaling, and much more. The festival also sets foot into performative and cinematic experiences. The rawness of the festival is well represented through live performances. Wildlife screenings are also scheduled to teleport viewers into distinct distant habitats. The “docu-dialogues and natural history learning sessions” amalgamate scientific documentation and storytelling.

The finely spearheaded photography exhibition is also one of the major attractions. It behaves as a visual aid that depicts how people engage with nature. The displayed images function as an aperture into how individuals perceive, sense, frame, and respond to the non-human stimuli.

The Juncture of Art and Ecology

Anubandha shines bright as it celebrates diverse art forms and highlights how artists, scientists, and everyday observers use their physical presence to deal with the environment. Attendees can look forward to exploring various art forms inspired by landscapes, species, and ecological moods. It weaves an inclusive space for people to freely converse about ecology, environment, and climate and connect directly to specialists, students, and laypeople. The major emphasis lies on promoting ecological literacy.

Event details

Aspects	Details
Festival Title	Anubandha: Celebrate Art in Nature
Venue	National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Bengaluru
Dates	December 12th to 21st, 2025
Time	11:00 AM – 7:00 PM
Collaborators	The Naturalist School & Lila – Artist Research Studio
Workshops & DIY Corners	Hands-on sessions in art, journaling, crafting, leaf rubbings, design, and nature-based creativity
Guided Walks & Docu-dialogues	Gallery walks connecting art and ecology, alongside natural history sessions encouraging scientific curiosity.
Film Screenings & Performances	Wildlife films and live performances inspired by landscapes, species, and ecological moods.
Photography Exhibition	Visual showcases capturing the many ways people connect with nature.

Key Highlights

Art-and-ecology gallery walks that deepen engagement with natural themes
Pop-Up DIY Nature Corners encouraging spontaneous creativity
Natural history learning sessions led by experts
Wildlife film screenings transporting viewers into ecological frontiers
Photography exhibitions showcasing diverse engagements with nature
Live performances embodying natural energies and moods
A ten-day public festival focusing on accessibility, curiosity, and ecological connection

Why Anubandha Matters Today

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The festival feels more like an authentic call to reconnect with our naturalistic roots. A festival like ‘Anubandha’ reminds us that some of the deepest learning happens when we step away from the screen and use our hands, our bodies, and our senses to interact with the raw, untamed reality of nature. By creating an accessible entry point into ecology through art, it democratizes learning about the environment without a stringent academic jargon. At a time when environmental crises intensify, festivals like Anubandha become essential cultural interventions. They restore the sense of responsibility and empathy in people and make them more accountable for their actions in relation to the natural environment. The experience promises to be an aide-memoir that we are not just in nature, but we are nature.

Why UNESCO Recognised Deepavali as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

Kriti Sen

December 11, 2025

UNESCO-Recognised-Deepavali-as-an-Intangible-Cultural-Heritage-of-Humanity-01 — Image Source

The concept of the triumph of light over darkness is central to Indian culture, and the festival that celebrates it, Deepavali, has recently received its highest global validation. The festival of lights has been officially inscribed on UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (ICH). This announcement was made following the 20th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which represents the Indian festival beyond its religiosity and highlights it as a global festival. UNESCO’s framework highlights living traditions through criteria like continuity, community participation, and cultural diversity, which are globally represented through the Indian diaspora. This recognition was formally adopted on December 10, 2025, at the historic Red Fort in New Delhi. The event marked the sixteenth cultural element from the nation to be featured on this prestigious list, such as yoga, kumbh mela, Durga puja, etc.

Deepavali As a Living Tradition

The nomination of Deepavali was secured under the domain of “Social practices, rituals and festive events.” This categorization pushes the objectivity of the festival beyond its historic ties and designates it as a living heritage that has been passed down through generations. This also justifies the role of Deepavali in promoting social cohesion, support towards traditional artisanalship, and core societal values like generosity and hope. The festival spans five days, beginning with Dhanteras and culminating in Bhai Dooj. This festival is not restricted to the Hindus alone; it is well-celebrated by Jains, Sikhs, and certain Buddhist communities as well. The festival symbolizes the return of Rama for Hindus, the event of Mahavira’s nirvana in the Jaina traditions, and Bandi Chhor Divas for Sikhs.

The festival encompasses people of all age brackets, all genders, and all backgrounds, transmitting rituals where the elders instruct the children on preparations and celebrate the proceedings together. Furthermore, oil lamps are lit, stories are recited, traditional food is prepared, and pujas are performed. These practices recreate cultural memory, making the festival a continuous source of joy and bonding. UNESCO advocates for the safeguarding of these traditionally crucial practices to be sustained to keep the authenticity intact.

Beyond this prospect, Deepavali also functions as a corridor of economic boom. In different regions, it also marks the beginning of agricultural transitions. In Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, Deepavali signals the end of monsoons and the beginning of a new business year. In North India, it represents renewal and purification.

Inscription Details

UNESCO Inscription	Details
Official Name of Listing	Deepavali
Inscription Year	2025 (Adopted December 10, 2025)
Location of Committee Session	Red Fort, New Delhi (20th Session)
Domain of Heritage	Social practices, rituals, and festive events
Status for India	16th element on the UNESCO Representative List
Core Values Reinforced	Victory of light over darkness, social unity, hope, and generosity
UNESCO’s Criteria	Deepavali meets UNESCO’s criteria of community-driven transmission, representation of cultural diversity, and safeguarding of traditional knowledge systems.
Ritual Complexity	The festival includes rituals, oral traditions, performative arts, culinary practices, and household customs that differ regionally yet remain unified in meaning.

Key Highlights

Deepavali fulfils UNESCO’s emphasis on living heritage sustained through community participation.
It encompasses a wide array of intangible practices: rituals, folklore, performing arts, culinary knowledge, and social customs.
The festival functions as a cultural bridge across religious groups, regions, and diasporic communities.
Its adaptive nature allows continuous renewal, ensuring long-term viability.
Deepavali’s symbolism reinforces collective values of hope, moral renewal, and social cohesion.

The Responsibility of Recognition

The inscription of Deepavali in the globally acknowledged list of intangible heritage is a proud moment for all citizens of India. However, it also brings a pile of responsibilities upon everyone. This global recognition is not the end of the goal, but the initiation of a journey to make a festival a means for a better tomorrow. It is a mandate to safeguard and ensure the tradition is authentically transmitted and traditional elements are protected and not subject to homogenization. It also aims to protect the warmth of diyas and homemade traditional food from getting replaced with modern-day commercial items.

It functions as a reminder for all of us to consciously choose our living heritage and carry forward the continuum of our celebrations. Deepavali’s global presence today demonstrates the capacity of cultural practices to travel, adapt, and unite communities. Thus, UNESCO’s honour is a validation of the deeper human requirements for continuity, meaning, and shared celebrations.

The Body Speaks at Art Incept: A Bold New Lens on Contemporary Indian Art

Kriti Sen

December 11, 2025

Articulating the Ineffable: “The Body Speaks”

Gurugram’s South Point Mall houses ‘Art Incept,’ a gallery known for supporting emerging and mid-career artists from South Asia. This time, the gallery is featuring “The body speaks,” a group exhibition curated by Rahul Kumar, running from December 5th, 2025, to January 10th, 2026. This exhibition taps the inner contours of human experience and translates them through canvases. The premise of the event is to perceive the human body as “canvas, vessel, and voice.” The exhibition features the work of 5 artists, namely Badush Babu, Deepanjali Shekhar, Indu Antony, Isha Sharma Haritash, and Rinku Choudhary. In their art, the body becomes the medium through which stories of labour, grief, joy, desire, and social injury are narrated.

The Body as Canvas, Vessel, and Voice

In the history of art, no other motif has possibly enjoyed the privilege of multiple subjectivity as the “humans”. The exhibition positions the human body as the “first landscape.” The body becomes the living archive of time and life. Every curve and scar bears the weight of care, exhaustion, aegin, and desires. Curated by Rahul Kumar, whose previous curatorial projects like ‘Precarious’ and ‘Original Shadows’ have also tackled profound human and artistic concerns, the exhibition sought to reveal the “inner world” through expressive forms.

The body becomes a metaphor for expressing universal experience. The artists used different media to convey their distinctive styles. These include painting, photography, and mixed media. This wide range of media helps in creating an intersection where almost every aspect of “human life” is touched. It asks pointed questions: What does it mean to belong in a body? How does one negotiate visibility and erasure? What forms can freedom take when the body itself is a site of regulation? The subject of the exhibition is based on the dichotomy of the body, which is vulnerable and resilient at the same time. The works challenged viewers to confront their own physicality and their own stories.

Mapping the Human Form as Archive, Threshold and Voice

A sense of animatedness is invoked in the audience with the ongoing charcoal series, Silent Stories by Badush Babu. He puts forth recollections of his mother’s garden, depicting mushrooms, vines, moths, and other organic elements that symbolize growth, decay, and metamorphosis. He named it the “healing touch” and created it during a difficult phase of life. As he attempted to cope with the difficulties, nature accompanied him, becoming his healer and easing the process of dealing with turbulences in life. His purposeful reliance on charcoal and soot crosses the peripheral understanding of aesthetics. He himself spoke about the medium as metamorphic. The imperfect texture of coal and soot personifies the instability of both memory and the body.

Deepali Shekhar views the human body as an evolving inner ecology. Her paintings, titled “Stages of growing up,” “They are welcoming in nature,” and the “Dance of Joy” series, together construct an organism-like motif. The core of her presentation is unspoken emotions, and these are aptly translated through botanical forms and microbiological structures.

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Indu Antony, from her Archive of Memories and Names they called series, forges a sharper social and feminist character into the exhibition. She works with cyanotype prints, combined with her own hair and khadi cloth painstakingly embroidered with words. This technique helps her depict the human body as a wounded text. Names they called emerge from her long-term engagement with gendered abuse and eve-teasing, where derogatory words hurled at women are literally stitched onto a fabric using the artist’s own hair strands. Upon viewing, it appears like an exorcism of trauma. Her Archive of Memories series further augments the theme via photographic processes. The body is never directly depicted, yet obsessively indexed through traces in hair, cloth as skin, cyanotype as ghost-image.

Isha Sharma Haritash, and Rinku Choudhary also contribute to this saga with their untitled works, where fragments of the body appear to oscillate between presence and disappearance. Their artworks contribute to the plurality of the exhibition.

The Exhibition At a Glance

Aspects	Description
Exhibition Title	The Body Speaks
Curator	Rahul Kumar (also credited as @rahulclaystudio)
Venue	Art Incept, 227 South Point Mall, Gurugram
Duration	December 5, 2025 – January 10, 2026 (Preview on Dec 5th)
Timings	11:00 am – 6:30 pm, closed on Sundays
Core Theme	The human body is explored as a metaphor for expression, identity, vulnerability, and resilience.
Featured Artists	Badush Babu, Deepanjali Shekhar, Indu Antony, Isha Sharma Haritash, and Rinku Choudhary
Media	Drawing, charcoal works, cyanotype, textile-based installation, mixed-media photography

Key Highlights

Curated, conceptually cohesive show that explicitly frames the body as canvas, vessel, and voice rather than mere subject.
Strong material dramaturgy: charcoal, cyanotype, hair, cloth, and intricate drawing push the idea of the body beyond representation into tactility and residue.
Participating artists span different regions and life experiences, bringing together ecological, feminist, psychological, and autobiographical perspectives on the body.
The exhibition is embedded in Art Incept’s broader mandate to support emerging voices and critical discourse around contemporary Indian art.
The show is accessible yet conceptually layered, inviting both casual viewers and informed audiences to reflect on how bodies carry memory, violence, care, and transformation.

Takeaway

Today, bodies are constantly constrained by law, technology, and social norms. Amidst such a climate, The Body Speaks feels like a necessary provocation that speaks on behalf of the body, that it must listen to its own terms. The exhibits refute the easy, spectacularised images of human form. It displays a quieter part of the struggle and stresses more on pain, care, solitude, and healing. It becomes a space where people can intellectually reclaim their bodies and converse with their inner selves. Every artwork feels like a relatable self-reflection and re-evaluates the body as our home. Art Incept continues to solidify its role as a vital cultural hub, bridging the gap between emerging South Asian talent and a globally conscious art audience.

First Selfie of India: The Manikya King Who Froze Time with a Lens

Kriti Sen

December 10, 2025

In an age when the world was yet to grasp the essence of photography, one princely figure from a little-known corner of northeastern India redefined time and technology. Maharaja Bir Chandra Manikya of Tripura, also known as the ‘vikramaditya of modern age’, along with his consort, a Manipuri Meitei princess Khuman Chanu Manmohini Devi, not only composed lyrical verses and nurtured music but also captured moments through the lens— leaving behind what many believe to be India’s first “selfie” or “self-shot portrait”. This article traces the multifaceted legacy of this visionary monarch who fused tradition with technology and art with administration to lay the cultural foundations of modern Tripura.

The Beginning of Photography

In the 21st century, almost everyone is a photographer with great cameras fixed on our devices. But, long before phones and photo apps, the camera arrived in India as a strange, boxy invention called the ‘camera obscura’, a lens, a mirror, and a sheet of paper, ensnaring light like never before. It was a miracle draped in science. In the early 1800s, two English brothers, Thomas and William Daniell, travelled in India with this mystery box. It was their overseas contemporary, W.H. Fox Talbot, who invented ‘negatives’, allowing innumerable ‘prints’ from a single shot. He called it the ‘calotype’, meaning “the beautiful”. And this invention simply overturned the fate of photography forever.

Arrival of the Camera in India

By the 1830s, cameras were quietly clicking in India. Even Louis Daguerre, the French inventor of the ‘daguerreotype’, left his mark. In Calcutta around 1840, a man named Monsieur Montaino used this technique to capture early glimpses of Indian life. Soon, Photographic Societies sprang up in Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras, backed by the British elite. They published journals, held exhibitions, and turned photography into a ‘fashionable pursuit’. The discourse of photography in India was surely not restricted to a ‘hobby’. In 1839, the British began using photography as a powerful tool. It reflected the subjugated culture of the subjects through the frames of the conqueror. The Indians were photographed by Westerners to strengthen their ideas about the “other”. Alongside, they also captured India’s architecture, mapped its monuments, and catalogued its people. The camera became inseparable in the field of ‘ARCHAEOLOGY’. Men like Alexander Cunningham and Lord Canning saw it as the perfect medium to document India’s ancient past, to preserve what was ‘vanishing’.

The Case of Tripura

In the tranquil corridors of ‘Nuyungma’ or ‘Ujjayanta Palace’, as named by Rabindranath Thakur, during the 1880s, Maharaja Bir Chandra Manikya devised a way to capture an image of himself and his queen, taken using what Bir Chandra’s great-great-great grandson Vivek Dev Burman terms “a long wire shutter control” activated via a pneumatic bulb in the king’s hand as the couple sat facing their camera. This strikingly intimate photograph frames the king affectionately embracing the queen. Such a pose juxtaposes the typical portrayal of a royal pair in a traditional sense. Surprisingly, this experimentation with portraiture resulted in ‘India’s first selfie’, as it did more than freeze a moment in time; it framed a king’s obsession with his craft, innovation, and identity.

A Palace Turned Into a Living Darkroom

He possessed one of the first two cameras that arrived in the Subcontinent (the other was purchased by Raja Deen Dayal, perhaps funded by the Indore state) and was photographing ‘Daguerreotypes’ in the 1860s. He developed all the fresh techniques of photography. The craft of photography in the late 19th century clung to the typical European photographic portraits that were accepted as ‘examples’ and were presented with props, costumes, and painted backgrounds.

Breaking the European Frame

Maharaja-Bir-Chandra-Manikya-01 — Maharaja Bir Chandra Manikya, King of Tripura, 1862-96 – Wikimedia

But Maharaja Bir Chandra approached his craft differently. He consciously chose to break the continuum and began experimenting at the Agartala palace. Forthwith, the palace housed a dedicated studio where settings were frequently changed to keep things ‘fresh’. With exposures lasting 10–20 seconds, photography emerged as a collaborative and meticulous process. The photographic materials were sourced from Calcutta, involving a long and tedious journey. The Maharaja soon forged his own “photo darkroom”, mastered the processes of coating and developing, and began importing photographic chemicals and equipment independently.

Building India’s First Royal Camera Club

Maharaja Bir Chandra institutionalized his passion for photography by founding “The Camera Club of the Palace of Agartala” and initiating an annual photography exhibition at the palace. (Memory project) He held the yearly photo exhibition at Agartala to encourage the princes, nobles, and people in the state. His craft became so renowned that the American photographic journal, namely “Practical photographer”, published the illustrated biography of Maharaja in one of its publications. In a holistic sense, it was during his reign that the true beginning of Tripura’s modern age occurred.

When the Queen Became a Photographer

The-First-Selfie-of-India — Selfie of Maharaja Birchandra with the queen Maharani Manamohini in 1880 – Wikimedia

In the May 1890 edition of the Photographic Society of India’s journal, a letter penned by Radharaman Ghosh, secretary to the Maharaja of Tripura, titled “The Camera Club of the Palace of Agartala,” offered insights into a royal photographic endeavour. Though signed by Ghosh, the content was likely dictated by Maharaja Bir Chandra Manikya himself and accompanied a set of photographs submitted to the journal. Interestingly, some of the images were credited to the Maharaja, others were said to have been taken by his consort, Maharani Manmohini. This resurfaced in Siddhartha Ghosh’s landmark 1988 book, Chobi Tola: Bangalir Photography Chorcha. Ghosh highlights that Maharani Manmohini not only took photographs but also printed most of them, while the Maharaja handled much of the developing. Each image, he notes, bore a distinct identifier marking its creator. Therefore, Maharaja’s passion for photography transcended the boundaries of his personal pursuit, as his third wife, Monmohini Debi, became an amateur photographer under his guidance. Manmohini seems to be the first Indian woman credited with taking photographs, but it is her bhadramahila contemporary Sarojini Ghosh who is recognised as the first Indian woman professional photographer.

The Sons Who Carried the Lens Forward

Some of his platinum palladium prints were part of a 2019 exhibition titled The Tripura Project curated at the Mangalbag Gallery, Ahmedabad, by Tilla, a design studio founded by Aratrik Dev Varman, one of the king’s descendants, including another “selfie” with his first wife, Bhanumati Devi. Bir Chandra’s sons were also avid photographers, carrying their father’s legacy forward. Samarendra (Bara Thakur) was a prolific photographer who regularly submitted his photographs to competitions in England. His work and writings on photography are well documented. One of his most renowned photographs—a portrait of a tribal girl—is preserved at the British Library. Samarendra even experimented with techniques to preserve negatives under the challenging hot and humid conditions of India. His father famously remarked, “Samarendra’s paintings and photographs were near flawless.” Another son, Maharaja Radha Kishore Manikya, was likewise a passionate photographer and succeeded to the throne in 1897. Unfortunately, no negatives of their photographic works have been discovered to date.

Important Aspect	Mentionworthy Details
Royal family’s engagement	Bir Chandra’s sons were avid and skilled photographers
Samarendra (Bara Thakur)	Prolific photographer; submitted work to competitions in England. Experimented with techniques to preserve negatives in hot/humid conditions. His renowned portrait of a tribal girl is at the British Library.
Maharaja Radha Kishore Manikya	Passionate photographer; succeeded to the throne in 1897
Father’s Remark	Bir Chandra considered Samarendra’s paintings and photographs near flawless
Loss of Archival Material	No negatives of their photographic works have been discovered to date

Key Highlights

Bir Chandra Manikya’s sons carried forward his pioneering interest in photography.
Samarendra (Bara Thakur) gained recognition internationally for his photographic submissions to England.
His iconic portrait of a tribal girl is preserved in the British Library.
He explored techniques to protect photographic negatives in harsh tropical conditions.
Maharaja Radha Kishore Manikya was also deeply passionate about photography, alongside his royal duties.
Despite their contributions, none of their original photographic negatives have survived.

Takeaway

The photographic pursuits of Tripura’s royal heirs reflect a remarkable blend of artistic curiosity and technological experimentation. These were rare qualities in princely households of the time. Their engagement with the medium was not only leisurely; it was innovative and internationally relevant. The loss of their negatives is an unfortunate gap in India’s visual heritage, for their works could have offered invaluable insights into the socio-cultural landscape of Northeast India during the late 19th century. Their legacy, however, stands as a testament to a dynasty far ahead of its time.

FAQs on Tripura’s Royal Photographers

Question: Why were the Manikya princes interested in photography?

Answer: They inherited Bir Chandra Manikya’s passion for modern visual culture, treating photography as both an art form and a scientific pursuit.

Question: What makes Samarendra’s work significant?

Answer: His photographs were internationally recognised, technically innovative, and one of his portraits is preserved in the British Library, a rare honour for an Indian prince of that period.

Question: Why are their photographic negatives missing today?

Answer: Poor preservation practices, climatic conditions, and archival neglect likely led to the disappearance of these historically valuable negatives.

Question: Did Radha Kishore Manikya continue the artistic legacy as a ruler?

Answer: Yes. Even after ascending the throne, he remained engaged with photography, reflecting the family’s deep-rooted affinity for the medium.

Question: How does their legacy contribute to Tripura’s cultural history?

Answer: It enriches Tripura’s narrative by highlighting royal involvement in early photography, linking the state to global visual culture in the colonial era.

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