Murli Dhar Parashar paints the tigers of Ranthambore with an unusual medium: the char of oil lamps. Sonal Shah meets the artist
The short black strokes on the paper appear as random lines, a few bold, others smudged and soft, all made using a folded newspaper edge dipped in a bowl of soot. Slowly the face of a tiger becomes clear between the black dashes and the blank white spaces. Then an eye appears, with a sharply pressed dot forming the pupil. Watching Murli Dhar Parashar's deft rendering as he creates his favourite subject, the tigers of Ranthambhore, is mesmerising.
Having grown up around the forests surrounding Sawai Madhopur, Parashar's fascination for the majestic cats goes back to his childhood. After graduating from the Rajasthan School of Art, he came back to his beloved Ranthambhore to do wildlife photography, and paint these graceful felines. Quite by accident he discovered the qualities of soot, and began experimenting with the medium. "While cleaning a dirty oil lamp with a piece of paper, I noticed the myriad shades of grey and black on the crumpled sheet and hit upon the idea of using fine soot deposits."
Using a sharply folded newspaper as a nib, he started working on dramatic monochromatic drawings of tigers, using his photographs as inspiration. This was in 1986. Over the last 30 years, Parashar has made this medium his own and honed it into a fine art. The 55-year-old Rajasthani artist is surrounded by several large soot paintings of tiger faces. He places a thin paper on top of the unfinished one and strokes it over. Not one particle of the lamp black is displaced. "The soot is so fine that it is completely absorbed by the paper," he explains. "I don't need any sophisticated art supplies. My tools and medium are virtually free. My nib can be made with any piece of paper, and if I don't have lamp deposits, I just collect soot from the edge of a truck's exhaust pipe!"
Each soot painting takes almost a week to complete. Many of the artworks are of Noor, the grand tigress of the National Park. Parashar speaks of her and the other cats with great affection. Like several others one meets in Ranthambhore, he is passionate about the environment and highly respectful of the forest. "The jungle teaches us so much about life. About respecting all creatures, regardless of their shape and size or colour, and their right to live free in their habitat. We can only survive if we live harmoniously with nature."
In 1982, Parashar founded the Ranthambhore School of Art and Wildlife Conservation Society, where he teaches for free, an average of 400 students a year. Over the years, Parashar has won several awards for his work and his art adorns the walls of the Rashtrapati Bhavan and other institutions across the world.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Murli Dhar Parashar")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}