Margashirsha Shuddha Chaturdashi
Press Release
Lesser-known facts about Chhatrapati Shivaji will be highlighted in a painting exhibition. French Indophile Francois Gautier will organise the exhibition, to be held from December 2 to 20 at the Pune Municipal Corporation’s newly-developed Art Centre on Ghole road .
Titled ‘Shivaji: a hero of modern India’, it will be organised by FACT India and comprises over 60 miniatures in watercolors, on the life and times of the legendary Maratha warrior. This is Gautier’s most ambitious historical project yet. It took three years to get the paintings done from artists based in Rajasthan. The exhibition was inaugurated in Delhi last November, and later travelled to Mumbai and Bangalore. “We hope to see the maximum number of visitors in Pune because of the strong connection between Chhatrapati Shivaji and the city,” says Gautier. As for the reason behind organising the exhibition, he states, “When I first came to Pune a few years back, I was quite disappointed by the lack of information available in the city on Chhatrapati Shivaji.”
There are several intriguing facts about Shivaji that many are unaware of. For instance, he was one of the first Indians to have a full-fledged naval fleet. He even introduced a modern system of administration through his council of ministers. The exhibition also includes maps depicting Shivaji’s kingdom that spread all the way to south India. Explanatory charts in Hindi and English will support the paintings. The exhibition has been backed by a three-year research by V S Bhatnagar, a former professor of history at the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur. Valuable information was collected from historical archives in Delhi, Bikaner and Indore.
It’s Chhatrapati Shivaji’s relevance in today’s times that Gautier wants to focus on. “He was a secular ruler who respected every religion. His administrative style was very modern and remains evergreen. He was more than a warrior. According to me, he was the son of the soil. We are trying to show his vision of India,” explains Gautier. Gautier will soon start writing a coffee table book on the Maratha hero. A Delhi-based publishing house has already bought the rights to this book.
FACT INDIA is founded by Francois Gautier, a Not for profit organisation working for Human rights and Historical research. As part of spreading awareness through History and bringing it to the common people, exhibitions are organised across the country. FACT India’s Exhibitions are a blend of Art and History. Art specifically the miniature paintings from Rajastan are being used to portray historical findings carefully researched from documents and archives. Till date 6 exhibitions have been put in place on Human rights and History. From Kashmiri Pandits to Naxalism and Historical exhibitions, to Sikhism and Shivaji as well as the History of Guns and fire arms in India as also one on the Great Queen of Indore, Ahilyabai Holkar.
