Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington London
Manaku belonged to the Guler state which is present day Himachal Pradesh. He was an artist of Pahari style of painting. He was member of Seu-Nainsukh family. He worked for the court of Guler of Northern India. His father was also a famous painter named Pandit Seu while his younger brother Nainsukh was also one of the prominent figure of Pahari painting. He mostly painted mythical and religious scenes. He also painted Seige of Lanka, depiction of Ramayana in illustrated version but he was not able to finish that. His work shows influence of his father's painting style which was Basholi painting style of Pahari painting. While his two sons, Fattu and Khushala also became painters.
In this painting a lady is smoking a Huqqa. She is sitting on a charpai (stool). In the background there is a grey lake. It is done on paper using opaque watercolour. It is of Pahari style of painting done by Manaku. There is a Persian inscription at the bottom which suggests that Manaku is the artist whom this artwork belongs to. There are some trees in the background near the ground around the lake. Lady is seen wearing lilac lehengha with orange or rustic orange dupatta.
Manaku was a celebrated Pahari-style painter from the Guler state in modern-day Himachal Pradesh, who came from the famed Pandit Seu painting family, and was the brother of the famous Nainsukh. His traditional style, which was largely informed by his father and the Basohli school, was primarily characterized by the use of mythical themes. He painted an unfinished illustrated Ramayana in this style, which was later passed on to his sons, Fattu and Khushala, as well as other painters in the region. The painting under discussion is a Pahari miniature done with opaque watercolor on paper, which depicts a lady in a lilac lehenga and orange dupatta as she enjoys smoking a hookah on a stool. The background of this painting features a grey lake against a backdrop of trees with a Persian inscription at the bottom of the painting indicating that the painter was Manaku.
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By: Reetirisha Kashyap
Manaku, a painter of the Guler tradition, belonged to the Seu–Nainsukh family, one of the artistic lineages of Pahari painting. His work retains the robust linearity and expressive conventions associated with the Basholi idiom, while introducing a quieter sensitivity to everyday life.
In this miniature, a woman sits alone on a richly patterned charpai, absorbed in smoking her huqqa. The subject is striking precisely because of its ordinariness. Rather than depicting a mythological or courtly episode, Manaku presents a moment of private leisure, giving the figure an unusual sense of psychological presence. Her lilac garment and rust-orange dupatta form a restrained chromatic contrast against the expansive grey lake. The delicate landscape, with its distant trees, low hills and architectural forms, creates a spacious setting that intensifies her solitude. The elegantly curved huqqa pipe also provides a subtle compositional rhythm, leading the eye back towards the seated figure.
The Persian inscription identifying Manaku adds documentary value, while the simplified landscape anticipates the observational intimacy that later became prominent in Pahari painting.
