Pahari Paintings: Art and Stories

In the far north of India, the Himalayan mountain ranges rise abruptly from the Punjab plains to form the alpine region known as Pahari, defined by a shared language (Pahari) and script (Takri). From the 1600s to 1900s, the Hindu nobility of the Pahari kingdoms commissioned paintings for their royal collections. Known as “Pahari paintings,” they were made by painters who were born into hereditary artist communities located in villages throughout the region. By the end of the 1900s, many descendants of royal families dispersed them, and they became some of the most popular and widely collected genres of Indian painting in the world.

This installation celebrates the CMA’s 2018 acquisition and 2026 publication of the Pahari paintings from the renowned Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Ralph Benkaim Collection. It includes portraits of key patrons, a large-scale historical painting on cloth, and paintings of religious and poetic subjects. A special feature on paintings from a mystical romance, the Madhavanala-Kamakandala, reveals the complex dynamic between visual and literary arts, the sacred and the secular, Hindu and Muslim, local and mainstream. Two double-sided embroideries, known as rumal, showcase textile art made by Pahari women in collaboration with painters who were predominantly men. These 23 works of art summarize the scope of Pahari painting. 

This show was organized to complement Epic of the Northwest Himalayas: Pahari Paintings from the “‘Shangri’ Ramayana” on view in the Julia and Larry Pollock Focus Gallery from April 19 through August 16, 2026.