Mola Ram

Mola Ram or Maula Ram (1743–1833) was an Indian painter, who originated the Garhwal School of Miniature Painting. He was also a poet, historian and diplomat. Mukandi Lal did research on him.

Life and career He was born in Srinagar (now in Uttarakhand) to Mangat Ram and Rami Devi and worked for the Garhwal Kingdom from 1777 until its annexation first by the Gorkhas in 1803 followed by the British Raj in 1815.

It is said that two miniature painters of the Mughal imperial court at Delhi, Sham Das and his son Har Das (or Kehar Das e.g. his painting Mastani is in the Mughal idiom, while his later paintings, e.g. Vasakasajja Nayika, are in the Garhwal style, and can be called Garhwali Paintings in true sense. Some of his paintings are signed. He starts with Shyam Shah and goes on to describe Dularam Shah, Mahipati Shah, Pritam Shah, Medini Shah, Lalit Shah, and Jayakrit Shah. He also wrote Ganika Natak or Garh Gita Sangram in 1800. Mola Ram himself played a part in politics, helping Jayakrit Shah obtain help from Raja Jagat Prakash of Sirmur to quell a rebellion at the battle of Karparoli.

Mola Ram wrote Garhrajvanshkavya, Ran Bahadur Chandrika, Shamsher-e-Jang Chandrika, Bakhtawar Yash Chandrika and others. When Kaji Bakhtawar Singh Basnyat reached Srinagar on 1867 V.S. (i.e. 1810 A.D.), Mola Ram described the Gorkhali administration since 1861 V.S. (i.e. 1804 A.D.). In appreciation of Mola Ram's works, Kaji Bakhtawar gave 61 gold sovereigns, a horse, a robe, some weapons and restored his jagir villages and daily allowances. Mola Ram dedicated Bakhtawar Yash Chandrika in praises of Kaji Bakhtawar Singh Basnyat. He also wrote about the past, present, and future of the Gorkhali administration in Kumaon and Garhwal, which had predicted the possible collapse of Gorkhali rule as mentioned in his another work Garhrajvanshkavya.

Mola Ram died in Srinagar in 1833. Maula Ram's great-grandson, Tulsi Ram (also known as Phattu Sah), was responsible for painting most of the murals found on the walls of the Jhanda Darwaza of the Ram Rai Darbar in Dehradun.

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