Even during the early days of their establishment, The founders of Gita Press aimed big. Famous names such as Mahatma Gandhi, Rajendra Prasad, S. Radhakrishnan and Premchand have all, at one point, written for Kalyan. Hanuman Prasad Poddar the founding editor-in-chief of Kalyan was a huge contributor to the massive success of the magazine. To date, the magazine has sold around 17 crore copies with 2.5 Lakh subscribers. Naturally, the press had a list of famous artists who illustrated for them. Moreover, One of the eye-catching spots of Gita Press Gorakhpur is the art gallery Leela Chitra Mandir. The gallery comprises paintings from the holy scriptures. As the establishment completes 100 years of its existence, let us look at all the important contributors to the art of its publication.
Leela Chitra Mandir
Inaugurated in 1950 by then President of India Rajendra Prasad, Leela Chitra Mandir is an art gallery that holds paintings of Gods painted by devoted in-house artists of the time. The gallery holds about 684 paintings, 92 Mewari-style paintings, and 700 couplets from exalted saints and Bhagavad Gita inscribed in marble around the walls.
As one enters the Leela Chitra Mandir inside of Gita Press Gorakhpur, true to their name- in a very temple-esque fashion, the visitors are expected to leave their footwear outside. The art gallery or Chitra Mandir is chiefly divided into 5 quadrants. As one enters, The walls on their right contain portraits of famous preachers such as Swami Vivekanand and Mahatma Gandhi. As we turn to our left we see a bountiful of paintings of Gods in a massive hall. On the left we see Ram Leela on the right we see Krishna Leela and towards the middle, we see a depiction of Shiv Shakti. The central part of the hall contains Mewari-style paintings gifted to the gallery by some rulers of Rajasthan that are some 100 years old according to a worker at Leela Chitra Mandir. This also relates to the fact that a lot of early illustrations were done by Nathdwara artists of Rajasthan in the Kalyan.
Another speciality of this gallery is that the walls have a line of marble tiles inscribed with verses 1-18 of Gita that surrounds the entire gallery in a flow. Moreover, the ceilings are painted with shlokas from great poets such as Kabir, Tulsidas etc. At the corner of each of the paintings, one can find the initials or signature of the artist responsible. The prominent in-house artists of Gita Press at the time of the establishment of the Leela Chitra Mandir was B.K. Mitra, Jaganath, Bhagwaan and others. Among them, the majority of the paintings are done by B.K. Mitra. It is said that the creator of the legendary TV Series Ramayan came to Leela Chitra Mandir in order to get an insightful perspective on the depiction of gods. All the paintings in Leela Chitra Mandir are based on descriptions that are provided in ancient scriptures and therefore provide an accurate description of each of the gods and scenes in Indian Mythology.
Artists of Gita Press
One of the primary artists we look at the Leela Chitra Mandir is BK Mitra. However, there were other big names that contributed paid illustrations to Gita Press before Mitra. Some of them were regular contributors. In conversation with Akshaya Mukul, the author of the 2015 book “Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India”, we noted the following revered names that contributed their works to the publication:
1. Nathdwara Painters
In their early days, Gita Press outsourced a lot of their works to artists from the Shrinath temple in Nathdwara since the promoters at the time were from Rajasthan. In fact, chromolithograph productions were dominated by Nathdwara artists throughout the 20th century. One of the notable names among these artists was Narendra Ghasiram Sharma – the son of a chief painter of the Shrinath temple.
2. Satyendranath Banerjee
Trained under big names such as Nandalal Bose and Asit Kumar Halder in Santiniketan’s Kala Bhavan, Satyendranath Banerjee was a notable artist who has illustrated for Gita Press.
3. Mohd. Hakim Khan
An interesting name in the lot is Mohammad Hakim Khan, a Muslim man, was widely known for his iconography of Hindu Gods and Goddesses. Having previously worked for magazines such as Sudha and Madhuri, Khan was recommended to Gita Press publication by none other than Munshi Premchand himself.
4. Sarada Charan Ukil
Trained under Abanindranath Tagore, Sarada Charan Ukil also did illustrations of Gods and Goddesses for Gita Press. The artist started a school in Janpath Delhi named “Sarada Ukil School of Art” and has trained artists such as Ram Kumar and J. Swaminathan.
5. Ordhendra Coomar Gangoly
The founder of the Indian Society of Oriental Art and the editor of Roopam – an art magazine, Gangoly is a revered figure in the Bengal School of Art. A staunch believer and supporter of Hindu nationalist ideals and principles himself, Gangoly has also illustrated for Gita Press publication.
6. D.D. Deolalikar
An alumni of J.J. School of Art, renowned master watercolourist and most famously known for being one of the teachers of M.F. Hussain, Dattatreya Damodar Deolalikar did many commissioned works for Gita Press. It was especially during a time in his life when the artist had returned to his hometown- Indore whilst facing a very serious financial crisis.
7. Kanu Desai
A big name in Hindu iconography and a student of Ravishankar Rawal & Nandalal Bose, Kanu Desai did several illustrated works for Kalyan. He was not only a silhouette painter but also designed cover pages of books. Desai also worked in films as a set designer and art director.
8. Savitri Khanolkar
The famous designer behind the Paramvir Chakra, Savitri Khanolkar( formerly known as Eve Yvonne Maday de Maros) was a Swiss designer who developed a particular love for Hindu Mythology. Khanolkar was an illustrator for Gita Press as a regular artist.
9. B.K. Mitra
One of the most famous names, having painted the majority of paintings in the Leela Chitra Mandir is B.K. Mitra.
10. Jagannath
Another prominent name in Leela Chitra mandir is the artist Jaganath.
The art of Gita Press has hence continued to enchant visitors and devotees with its divine depictions, and the timeless artistry of renowned painters, encapsulating the essence of Indian mythology and spirituality.
References:
- Mr. Akshaya Mukul
- GitaPress.org
- DAG World
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Vaishnavi Srivastava is a learning writer, a keen researcher and a literature enthusiast. She is a Sub-editor at Abir Pothi.
