QUEEN`S PALACE

Hindi

(It’s a looking mirror and this art is known as Mirror Engraving)

In this painting the artist have shown a beautiful scene of Queen’s palace in which Queens are practicing different art works. In this painting we can see Queen is sitting on her throne and two of her maids are going towards her to serve her drinks. In the centre we can see a beautiful fountain with birds in it and a woman is feeding those birds. On the left side we can see two ladies with dholak and tanpura and one woman standing near them is singing. On the right side we can see one lady is smashing some kind of herbs for the Queen. On this side itself we can see a lady practicing mehandi and another lady is looking at it. At their back another woman is seen practicing Rangoli on floor. The boundary walls of the palace and trees behind them makes the view very beautiful. The word Ranivas came by joining two different words Rani means Queen and Vas means the Palace where queen lives. So basically Ranivas was the place where queens used to live. In ancient times Hindu kings Ranivas was known by the name Antahpur and Mughals used to call it Janan Khana or Harem.Hindu kings also called it as Shuddhanta and from this we come to know that the part where ladies used to live in palace was meant to be pure and sacred. Outsiders were not allowed there. The security of Ranivas was very high even at the time of Mughals or Chinese emperor. Only the king had the right to go there at night. From some ancient Sanskrit plays we come to know that the part where queens used to live also had nazarbaah where king with his queens used to spend time. There were singing classes, drawing classes for the Royal ladies of the palace.