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THE MOTICHAND KHAJANCHI COLLECTION
A miniature painting (not for sale) with Khajanchi written
in Devnagari at the upper centre which belongs currently
to the Khajanchi family and has been with them for three
generations.
Image courtesy of the Khajanchi family
T
he collecting of Indian art in pre‒
Independence India was established
through the concentrated efforts of
pioneers like A K Coomaraswamy, the Tagore
brothers, Rai Krishnadasa, Gopi Krishna Kanoria,
and Sir Cowasji Jehangir, among others. In the
1950s, with a growing sense of national identity,
other private collectors began acquiring art,
gradually leading to large collections, “paralleling
and reinforcing Indian interest in the nation’s
artistic heritage.” (Jonathan S Bloom and Sheila
S Blair eds.,
Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art
and Architecture
, Oxford and New York: Oxford
University Press, 2009, online)
One such early connoisseur was Sri Motichand
Khajanchi of Bikaner, who acquired a fine collection
of Rajasthani miniatures. One of three sons,
Motichand Khajanchi was born to Premchand
Khajanchi, a noted jeweller in Bikaner, in 1925.
Premchand, who dealt with precious jewels and
rare Basra pearls, was a jewellery supplier to the
royal family of Bikaner. At the age of 11, Khajanchi
followed his father into the family businesses,
which allowed him to travel across the country and
gave him the opportunity to come across diverse
artistic traditions. By 15, he had started collecting
his first miniature paintings. Taking on some of his
father’s responsibilities with the royal family led
him to discover fine Rajasthani paintings, which
he began seeking out, often buying them at locally
held auctions.
Khajanchi’s passion for collecting was insatiable,
and even got him in trouble a few times in his
early years. Often he got carried away and ended
up spending thousands of rupees on paintings—a
tendency that rankled his father who once
temporarily cut him off from all funding. On the
other hand, he found kinship among a group of
friends with whom he shared his love of art and
collecting. Among these were the artist Ramgopal
Vijaivargiya and art historian Anand Krishna. They
wrote to each other, exchanging information and
scholarship, sometimes even trading paintings.
Over time, as his knowledge and collection grew,
Khajanchi was recognised as an authority on
Rajasthani miniatures. Self trained, he acquired
this knowledge by collecting old handwritten
manuscripts (
hastha likhita grantha
) and
studying and translating them. The text in these
manuscripts—correlating and expounding on the
subject matter of the paintings—gave him a deep
and holistic grasp of the literature and religious
references in the paintings. In his lifetime, Khajanchi
Image courtesy of the Khajanchi family