The Nathadwara school of art came to life within the spiritual lineage of Vallabhacharya during India's 11th-century devotional revival. Numerous religious reformers were sweeping across the Indian subcontinent revitalizing the spirit of devotion from dry ritual to tangible experience. Among them, Vallabhacharya was one who posited an Absolute with form, qualities, and pastimes - Krishna, the form of beauty. His was a deity for all, and especially all of the arts, for Krishna was depicted and mediated upon in drama, music, dance, and colorful renderings of his form and pastimes.
As the Krishna deity of Vallabhacharya, known widely as Shrinathji, was secretly moved from Mathura to Rajasthan to escape the ruthless religious persecution of Mulslim invaders, his artisan devotees moved along with him. Two Brahmin castes, Adi Gaud and Janki, fostered devotional artists, generation after generation, in glorification of Shrinathji. B.G. Sharma is a member of the Adi Gaudi caste.
Under the inspiration of Vallabhacharya's eldest son, Gopinatha, the Nathdwara style of Rajasthani art became intertwined with temple worship. His youngest son, Vitthal, followed suit, engaging artist in painting everything from huge cotton prints (pachhavis) for festival days to miniatures for personal devotional inspiration. This tradition continues today. As an act of devotion, temple walls are repainted yearly with murals depicting the pastimes of Krishna. B.G. Sharma has been honored to participate in this elaborate ritual - an act of selfless devotion - by exercising his God-given talent. He was selected by the temple priests in 1981 as the Mukhiya, or chief painter, which involved selecting and supervising more than 50 other devotional artists. Sharma is the only artist ever honored the privilege of entering the deity chambers to paint the deity, and honor that kept him within the deity's chambers for more than three hours.
Sharma is original in his work while true to the Nathadwara tradition. All of his paintings are rendered in classical styles with pigments derived from natural ingredients. Colored minerals, semi-precious stones, plants, leaves, and cow's urine form the basis for his palette. The stones are ground by hand into a fine powder and then mixed with gum or resin. Henna leaves produce black, dark blue, and green; bamboo stalks yield bright red; and cactus provides a shade of yellow. Lemon yellow, unavailable in minerals or leaves, is derived from cow's urine after the bovines have feasted exclusively on fresh mango leaves for several days. This special yellow is usually used for painting a halo around the deity's head. Gold and silver leaf is also used for this purpose. Despite the availability of chemical paints in the marketplace, Sharma continues too take the time and energy to acquire his pigments from natural sources.
Sharma's work appears on ivory, watercolor on board, and cotton. His miniatures on ivory require a very fine brush. True to the tradition, Sharma uses a hair from the tail of a squirrel, captured harmlessly for this purpose and then released. For larger paintings, Sharma employs a brush made from the tail of a horse.
B.G. Sharma envisions his work as a service to humanity. It is the human prerogative, and more, the necessity of the human race, to realize the divine. Sharma makes such contemplation easy and sublime through his artistic renderings of Krishna. The paintings in this volume represent 40 years of devotion to Godhead, as well as tangible service to human society.