indian painting of layla & majnoun

A painting of Laila and Majnun

Batik Painting of the historical Laila Majnun Legend



This painting is done in a style that was common in India during the Mughal period. The story of Laila and Majnun is Middle Eastern in origin, but it is also popular in the Indian subcontinent.

This Mughalia version of Laila-Majnun legend represents both, the masterful skill necessary to creat this outstanding Batik mural relating to this great romance and the classical phase of medieval art.....
The technique of batik is a demanding one and requires unprecedented skill. Beginning with a plain white piece of cotton... the final design must be conceived before the picture is begun. The batik artist works intimately with color; if he wishes parts of his design to be light yellow, for example, all these parts must be waxed at the same time before any subsequent dyeing. He cannot isolate one part of his design and complete it before moving on to the others as an artist in oils or watercolor may; he must create his design in stages, each of which encompasses the whole picture..... The basic process of batik while simple creates a masterpiece in the hands of the seasoned painter. It consists of permeating an area of fabric with hot wax so that the wax resists the penetration of dye.


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Bonjour Mr.Chennoufmed,

Mérci de nous avoir présenté l'art Batique...La peinture que vous avez publiée ici est vraiment très belle et l'histoire de Laila-Majanu est aussi très connue en Inde...Merci...j'aime vraiment comme ça un echange culturel...

dear chennouf
it's a marvellous batik painting

this technique is based on cotton or silk fabric ,melted wax,and dyes. after the design is ready on cloth the melted wax is added by a tool called dtjant (if i'm not mistaken ).it's a very small pot with thin tube looks like a fountain pen , allows the melted wax to pour in line on the design,making isolated areas to be filled with the light color first.then the next stage of design where anothe layer of wax and dyes and again untill it's all colored from lighter to darker colors.then its fixed by fixing material and water
the last stage is ironing the fabric with spacial absorbing paper to get rid of the wax
golden coloreis used sometimes to add richness to the painting. of course this fabrik is used for clothes .house hold objects and paintings .
thanx chennouf and jayshree for the story of laila and majnun

i don't think in the least that dear jayshree,with any cultural bias, is questioning the cristal clear arabic origin of the real love story of the great arab poet,Qayss, & his beautiful beloved cousin,layla.
certainly the story is very popular in the arab world as well as in islamic & many non arab or islamic countries.sometimes it is known by the two lovers names : Qayss & layla,other times by layla & almajnun (layla & the mad or possessed).
here is an extract from wikipedia about it:

• Layli o Majnun "Layla and Majnun" (1192)
  

A story Of Arabic origin, the poem of 4,700 distichs was dedicated, in 1192, to Abu al-Muzaffar Shirvanshah, a descendant of Bahram Chubin, the Sassanid general, whose exploits are reflected in Nezami's "Seven Beauties." The poem is based on the popular Arab legend of ill-starred lovers: the poet Qays falls in love with his cousin Layli, but is prevented from marrying her, and goes mad (Hence called Majnun meaning mad and possessed in Arabic). Majnun abandons society and family and moves to the desert and composes poems for his love Layli, who has been married to another. Although they were never united in life, when the lovers pass away, they are buried in the same grave.

thanks dear hanane Agha for your kind appreciation & for your expert & savant detailed information you added about this magnificient indian batic painting...