Offtrack: Jaipur: Royal Summons

The city's erstwhile ruling house decides to revive its patronage for craftsmen.

Parvez Mohammad, a 26-year-old craftsman making bangles and toys of lac and glass, couldn't believe it. Nor could Govind Ram Dev, a diploma holder in painting from the Rajasthan School of Art. They had just got royal summons. Princess Diya of the erstwhile ruling family of Jaipur had selected them from various artists in the city to demonstrate their work on the premises of the City Palace. "It was difficult to believe," says Parvez. "This opportunity has provided us an exclusive place to display our items before visitors from all over the world."

Patronage has changed the lives of the artisans, most of whom earn handsomely, thanks to the foreigners who throng the City Palace.

Patronage has changed the lives of the artisans, most of whom earn handsomely, thanks to the foreigners who throng the City Palace.

Diya and Narendra Singh, the royal couple of Jaipur, are doing what royals do best: offering artists their patronage. The duo got the idea of offering free space to artists working on traditional art forms from the ancient system of Chhattis Karkhana (36 departments) that used to exist in Akbar's court and was later emulated by Raja Man Singh in Amer.

The different karkhanas looked after different crafts. For instance, the department that patronised painters was known as the Suratkhana and like all departments had two wings, one of them being the Hazuri where eminent artists evolved various art forms supervised by the royalty itself. Other departments consisted of the Khyalkhana, which dealt in toys and objects of lac, and the Kapatdwara which patronised the art of using fine wires to beautify woodwork.

The proposal of reviving the Hazuri was suggested by an old family friend, Manjit Singh, and was immediately lapped up by the royal couple who asked Yaduvendra Singh, the director of the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II museum in the City Palace, to coordinate the project. The place that was offered, to begin with, used to be an art gallery that had hosted a number of international exhibitions three decades ago before circumstances led to its closure. The gallery itself was once the rasora, the royal kitchen. The huge hall is now home to the state's traditional artists. This is a blessing in disguise for craftsmen like Govind who suffered at the hands of the middlemen. It is also an honour. "It is a matter of prestige to be picked up from 5,000 artists in Jaipur," he says.

The patronage extended by the royal couple has made a drastic change to the lives of the artists, most of whom now earn more than Rs 15,000 a month thanks to the plethora of foreign tourists who visit the palace. But Shyamu Ram Deo, a craftsman involved in making colours for paintings by crushing stones, feels enriched by the experience itself. The new complex is a place to pick up nuggets of marketing wisdom: "More than sales, we are learning about the tastes of a cross-section of people. For example, it is interesting to learn that Indian buyers go for size whereas foreign tourists prefer miniatures even when priced higher." They have also realised that traditional crafts are the ones which are in high demand whereas cheap imitations like that of the Mona Lisa and other oil paintings leave foreigners unimpressed. The artists have been given strict instructions to keep prices within reasonable limits. Moreover, there is no chance that a fake will be sold as an antique here.

However, despite being an interesting concept the Chhattis Karkhana leaves a lot to be desired. The atmosphere is more like that of a modern-day private venture lacking the touch of the karkhanas of yore. Further, the absence of any information about the historical relevance of these karkhanas or about the artists and their works has failed to recreate the old-world charm of Emperor Akbar's court. "It is only a beginning," explains Narendra Singh. "It will soon look better with more masterpieces and karkhanas being added here." He proposes to introduce the Zarzarkhana (jewellery factory) at the City Palace and the Rathkhana (chariot-building), Farashkhana (furniture-making) and Chhapakhana (printing press) at the Jaigarh Fort.

Whether the venture is a successful one or not is yet to be seen but Diya, who shocked the royal family last year by marrying a "commoner", has truly turned out to be the "people's princess" by giving the man on the street a royal platform to exhibit his talent.