AAAUM/Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh.
This work shows an interesting outdoor game of chess (chaturanga) taking place somewhere. It shows Mian Gopal Singh of Guler, who is sitting on the left and his respected scholar and court priest Pandit Dinamani Raina on the right.
Mian Gopal Singh (Left): reclining against a cushion, dressed in off-whit-color jama curved. In this position, this royal personage looks pensive and concerned about his next move in the game.
Dress of Pandit Dinamani is plain green robe complemented by a white scarf. In the above-pictured game, this man appears to be fidgeting with a handkerchief while deep in thoughts about his move.The two people depicted here are located on either side of the orange board with chess pieces. Below there is a dark woven rug covering the floor in front of the terrace wall. This work marks a turning point in the history and style of 18th-century Indian miniature art. While earlier Basohli art relied on the use of strong colors and bold abstraction, Pandit Seu’s work employs naturalism, nature-like portraiture, and gentle modeling, influenced by Mughal court art. In contrast to portraiture techniques of depicting royalty and godlike images, in Pandit Seu’s paintings there are real human emotions, figures with their own faces, and the gestures reflecting emotional experiences. It’s also important to point out the contribution of Pandit Dinamani Raina, who appears in both paintings and various literary texts of the period, including the Dilparanjani.
Pandit Seu's painting "Mian Gopal Singh Playing Chess with Pandit Dinamani Raina" (c. 1720-25) is so much more than an illustration of two nobles passing time over a game of chess. It's actually a fine examination of intelligence, social relationships, and even equality; placed within the context of Guler court culture in an aristocratic manner. The two figures sit face-to-face, engaged in an animated exchange which looks less like rivalry and more like contemplation or discussion between players who are clearly at equal standing.
The checkered board is itself transformed into a compact space for strategy, forethought and composure, a ground where social hierarchies are momentarily suspended in the interest of cerebral conflict.
We see known faces here, not simply two stock courtly gentlemen; there's a clear indication of an immediacy and a personal dynamism in the characters depicted.
The aspect I find most compelling is the unspoken negotiation and internal thought taking place between the players, their anticipation, yet also the necessary quiet control within each of them. This painting conveys to me that not all power is in superiority; true authority and dominance lies in the intellectual power to strategize and compromise, and to see your opponent in turn. The game becomes in turn, life itself-wherein all of the decisions one makes may later be held against one, and wisdom dictates knowing the right moment to act and when to stay one's hand.
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By: Jyotirmaya Samanta
Pandit Seu’s portrait of Mian Gopal Singh playing chaturanga with Pandit Dinamani Raina marks an important transition in Pahari miniature painting from the heightened abstraction of early Basohli to the observational naturalism associated with Guler. The work is compelling because its drama is understated. Gopal Singh reclines against a cushion, his thoughtful gaze directed toward the chessboard, while Dinamani Raina, seated opposite, appears equally absorbed in the intellectual contest. Their gestures, postures, and individual physiognomies replace the idealised rigidity of earlier royal portraiture with a more intimate psychology.
Comparatively, the painting departs from the emphatic colours, flattened forms, and symbolic monumentality of Basohli, embracing Mughal-inspired modelling, individualized portraiture, and subtle emotional observation. Yet Seu does not simply imitate Mughal conventions; he adapts them to the intimate social world of Guler. Chess becomes a metaphor for contemplation, strategy, and intellectual exchange. The painting therefore records not merely leisure, but a changing conception of portraiture—one in which personality, social relationship, and fleeting human thought become worthy subjects of art.
