Manaku of Guler

Indian painter

Manaku
Portrait of Manaku by his brother Nainsukh
Born	Manaku 1700 Guler
Died	1760
Nationality	Indian
Known for	Painting
Movement	Pahari painting
Family	Nainsukh (brother)

Manaku of Guler or Manaku (c. 1700–1760) was an Indian painter from the Guler State, in modern-day Himachal Pradesh.^[1] After his death he was mostly forgotten and overshadowed by his much-celebrated younger brother Nainsukh.^[2] But today he is recognised as an exponent of Pahari style of painting, much like his brother.^[3] The rediscovery of Manaku has been a result of research efforts by art historians like B. N. Goswamy.^[4]^[5] Like Nainsukh, Manaku almost never signed his works, and only four extant works carry his signature.^[6]

Gallery

Ravana shows Sita the counterfeit head of Rama, c. 1725, Opaque watercolor and gold on paper, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Poet Jayadeva worshipping Radha and Krishna based on Jayadeva's Gita Govinda, c. 1730, Watercolour on paper, National Museum, New Delhi
Hiranyagarbha (Golden Cosmic Egg), c. 1740, Opaque watercolour and gold on paper, Bharat Kala Bhavan, Varanasi
Vishnu as Varaha challenges the demon Hiranyaksha from Bhagavata Purana series, c. 1740, Opaque watercolour and gold on paper, Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh

Bibliography

Goswamy, B. N.; Fischer, Eberhard (1997). Pahari Masters: Court Painters of Northern India. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195640144.^[7]
Goswamy, B. N. (2014). The Spirit of Indian Painting: Close Encounters with 100 Great Works 1100-1900. Penguin UK. ISBN 9789351188629.
Goswamy, B. N. (2017). Manaku of Guler: The Life and Work of Another Great Indian Painter from a Small Hill State. New Delhi: Niyogi Books. ISBN 978-9385285820.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Manaku.

^ Goswamy & Fischer 1997, p. 240
^ Goswamy 2017, p. 18
^ Goswamy 2017, p. 26
^ "Historian B.N Goswamy brings alive 18th century artist Manaku". September 14, 2017 – via Business Standard.
^ "An Uphill Task". September 25, 2017.
^ Gupta, Gargi (October 15, 2017). "Book Review: Manaku of Guler – The Life and Work of Another Great Indian Painter from a Small Hill State". DNA India.
^ Smart, Ellen S. (May 22, 1998). "Pahari Masters: Court Painters of North India. By B. N. Goswamy and Eberhard Fischer. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1997. 391 pp. $95.00 (paper)". The Journal of Asian Studies. 57 (2): 565–566. doi:10.2307/2658899. JSTOR 2658899. S2CID 165258122 – via Cambridge Core.