JOIN USRam Nath Pasricha’s paintings of the Himalayas capture the divine in water colour, writes Swapna Dutta, of an artist who had no formal training in art but excelled in it beyond all expectations.
Ram Nath Pasricha entered the Limca Book of Records in 1999 for having the maximum number of paintings of the Himalayas to his credit. That was when I had met him for the first time. He had already been honoured by the Lalit Kala Akademi for lifetime achievement and his special contribution to the field of art. His brilliantly coloured mountainscapes, done at the dizzying height of over 20,500 ft, and hundreds of sketches done while trekking the majestic mountain depict the Himalayas in all its glory. He was perhaps the very first artist to actually trek there and paint from that altitude — something that requires both speed and accuracy as the shifting sun rapidly changes the angle and the beam of light and the colours change rapidly. I was keen to know about his adventures firsthand, and spent an enthralling hour in conversation with him.
The birth of an artist
Pasricha’s foray into the world of art began during his school days. Art came to him naturally and instinctively, although he did not have any formal training. His journey started with line drawings and water colour portrayals of the jungles of his neighbourhood and the Aravalli Ridge around Delhi, his native city. Landscape was his special forte and he extended his excursions to Haryana and Rajasthan as well. His first visit to Mussoorie in 1947 got him hooked to the mountains for good, and it was to become his lifelong obsession. To quote his own words, “One fine morning, a view of the snow-clad Himalayas left me spellbound. There was a magnetism in the mountains that captivated my mind.”
And it was for keeps. Shuttling between his government job and the call of the hills, he saved small sums of money whenever he could and rushed to the mountains at the first opportunity.How did the memorable journey begin? “It was from Srinagar that I had my first contact with the high Himalayas. From Pahalgam I went to the Amarnath cave. I cannot forget the two evenings I spent beside the Sheshnag Lake,” he told me.
“The snow-clad peaks, turned pink by the rays of the setting sun, reflected faithfully in the deep green water of the lake. It was too wonderful for words.” He traversed the Himalayas from Ladakh to Sikkim, capturing magical mountainscapes in vivid colours. Many of them had a special place for the sun that appeared as a huge red disc. Water colours, pastels, oils and collage were all used by him throughout his artistic career, but water colour always remained his prime favourite. He felt it to be the most difficult as well as challenging medium.
Painting close to the heavens
“Landscape painting is great fun,” he said, “the company of nature is invigorating. Nature delights. But painting mountains is the best of them all. The vastness of the panorama, the heights of the mountains, the depths of the valleys, the movement of the clouds and the brilliance of light — all this taken together, bewilders the artist at first. One has to be patient. But then, slowly but surely, these very aspects come under control. Nature itself guides the artist like an affectionate teacher. Then the lines begin to flow freely, forms and shapes fit into the right places, and the colours manage to convey the ethereal.”
Pasricha’s quest for magical moments took him to the Kashmir Valley, Amarnath, Kedarnath, Badrinath, Hemkund, Valley of Flowers, Pindari Glacier, Chamba, Kinnaur, Sangla, Ladakh and the Rohtang Pass, amongst others. Many of his trips involved arduous trekking, as motorable roads and transport were hard to come by in those days. I asked him what really stood out in his memory and he spoke of his trip to Ladakh. “In the desert of Ladakh, situated at 12,000 ft, in the rarified atmosphere, we faced severe heat during the day, strong dust-raising winds in the afternoon, and freezing cold at night. When we entered our tents at the end of the day, we prayed to God to keep us alive and give us the courage to stand the rigours of the journey in the merciless desert. But then, we felt more than compensated by the stark beauty of nature and the sight of some of the finest creations of man on earth.”
A challenge
Pasricha’s on-the-spot paintings needed to be done really fast. While the sun changed the angle of the beam of light, he got no more than a short while to do a sketch or complete a part of his water-colour landscape. There were other constraints as well. “To be at the height of 16,000 ft amidst the snow and to paint the sunrise — sheer determination alone can prompt you to wield your brush while you are frozen, short of breath, and your fingers get numb. It has happened with me year after year. Yet the charm of the mountain is overwhelming. The ruggedness of form, the purity of Himalayan colours, the silence, the winds and the voids inspire emotions that compel me to paint.” There have been exhibitions of Pasricha’s Himalayan paintings in Delhi, Bombay, Madras, Benaras, Chandigarh and Dehradun. His work is on display at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Lalit Kala Akademi, Sahitya Kala Parishad, All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society and many other places.
Were his paintings meant to convey any special message? I had asked him. He had smiled and replied, “My paintings are my hymns in praise of the Himalayas. They are my prayers to the Almighty.” And he continued to sketch and paint until he breathed his last.