The paintings in the original manuscript deserve careful study in relation to those of other Indian schools. The pictures of trees with flowers or birds have considerable charm; and animal life is vividly portrayed with observant sympathy and tenderness of feeling. The maneless Indian lion occurs more than once, and the bison (methan in Assamese) which is almost extinct in the province will attract the attention of the student. The costumes follow a conventional pattern, but it is interesting to find the drum and the horn (pepá), the familiar auxiliaries of the Bihu festival, Treatment of popular mythological topics, in connected sequence, and representation of realistic scenes of rural life constitute a genre in which Rajput painting excels; and these features are exhibited to a considerable extent in the
Gauhati,
April, 1949.
pictures in our manuscript, though not with a draughts-manship comparable to the best examples of Rajput art. A detailed study of the original pictures is essential for a correct appreciation of their technical traits and the aims and methods of the Assam school of painting and its relation to folk art.
The publication of a work like this would have done credit to any research institution, but actually we owe it to the enterprising zeal of Srijut Hari Narayan Datta Borooah, a retired school teacher who has devoted his life and energies to the study and publication of old Assamese texts, The labours of the veteran scholar will be amply rewarded if some of his younger contemporaries emulate his example and help to widen our knowledge of a little known phase of Assamese culture.