In a city gallery far from the temple town where it was born, a centuries-old devotional art form is finding fresh attention. At Forum Art Gallery in Chennai, artist Yugdeepak Soni is presenting Sri Pichwai, an exhibition that draws on the pichwai tradition that emerged nearly 400 years ago in Nathdwara, Rajasthan, where painters began creating cloth backdrops for the idol of Shrinathji, the seven-year-old form of Krishna worshipped there.
The pichwai, whose name comes from pichh, meaning behind, and wai, meaning hanging, were originally designed to be draped behind the deity and changed according to the seasons and festivals. Over time, they became not just decorative hangings but visual narratives of devotion, ritual and myth. Soni's exhibition brings that legacy into the present while remaining closely tied to the Pushtimarg tradition of the 16th century, the devotional path that shaped the iconography and spiritual purpose of these works.
Soni, who hails from Udaipur, has been associated with pichwai art for more than two decades. His connection to the form is deeply familial. He learned from his nanaji, Badri Lal Chitrakar of Bhilwara, Rajasthan, and describes his artistic formation as something inherited as much as taught. "I was a good observer in my school days. My teachers and my uncle used to say that a good observer is more important than a good painter. Pichwai was in my blood, so nobody had to push me into it. I felt like I needed to hold the brush too. I was privileged that my gurus were within my own house. With so many artists under one roof, it became easy for me to adopt their approach to art," he says.
That sense of continuity is central to pichwai painting, which was created to serve a specific devotional function inside the Nathdwara temple. Soni explains that Lord Krishna is revered there as a seven-year-old child who was not permitted to step outside. "To ensure the young deity could still experience and celebrate every auspicious occasion, artisans painted these backdrops to bring the daily and seasonal festivals inside the temple," he says. The paintings therefore became a way of extending the temple's sacred world, visually marking the passage of time through ritual, celebration and story.
Traditionally painted on cotton cloth and now also on handmade paper, pichwais often chronicle the celebratory life of Shrinathji. Soni's works follow that lineage, focusing on major festivals such as Janmashtami, the celebration of Krishna's birth; Sharad Purnima, associated with the autumn full moon raas leela dance; and Govardhan puja, which recalls the episode in which Krishna lifted Mount Govardhan on his little finger to protect the villagers of Braj from storms sent by Lord Indra. These are not merely illustrative scenes but devotional compositions that place the viewer within a sacred cycle of memory and worship.
Like traditional pichwai paintings, Soni's works feature elaborate imagery, with the cow appearing repeatedly as a companion of Shrinathji. The lotus, peacock and monsoon clouds also recur, each symbol carrying layers of religious and aesthetic meaning. Through these motifs, the artist situates himself within the visual language of the tradition while keeping its symbolic vocabulary intact.
Colour, too, remains central to the practice. Soni says traditional artists use natural pigments and semi-precious stones, often in powder, semi-powder or stone form. He points to hinglu, a stone used to produce a specific red, explaining that it must be crushed, ground and purified, with only two grams of red colour extracted from 10 grams of stone. In earlier times, he says, the red used in pichwai was a very specific shade, but modernisation and commercialisation have broadened the palette. "Nowadays you can also do crimson red or a vermilion red," he adds.
Yet for all the visual richness of the form, Soni is uncertain about its future. Asked about the next generation, he does not sound optimistic. "I don't think the coming generation will have that same level of patience, because everything they want is at their fingertips. They will encourage pichwai; they will buy the end product, but they won't encourage the process of traditional art. That's the difference," he says. His concern points to a larger tension facing many heritage crafts: admiration for the finished object does not always translate into support for the slow, disciplined labour required to sustain the tradition.
Sri Pichwai is on view until October 30 at Forum Art Gallery, Padmanab.