And then, of course, there is that entirely different, and remarkably inventive, even visionary, rendering of illuminations and fireworks at Fatehgarh, not far from Farrukhabad, to which I am irresistibly drawn. Under a looming, rumbling sky rendered dark by comparison with the illumination below, there is what looks like a hazy river of lights: earthen lamps by the thousand forming towards the horizon something of an arc of a vast rainbow that has decided to descend to the earth; at two spots a conical tower as if it has burst into flames; at still another, a coliseum seen from a long distance.
In the foreground a group of men, all involved in putting up the show of fireworks stands, each figure a dark, misty presence. The loose, relaxed brushwork, the interplay between dark arcades and illuminated passages, the overall feeling of a stippled, unearthly happening, take your breath away.
All this by a little known ‘native’ painter who lay in virtual obscurity till only a few years ago.