Basholi is a town in Jammu and Kashmir. It is a notified area committee in Mores district of Jammu and Kashmir. This place is famous for its paintings. It is known as Basoli painting. This place is also famous for the medieval miniature paintings, which is known as Basohli Paintings.
Location of Basholi
Basholi is a town and a notified area committee in Mores district in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Basholi is situated on the right bank of Ravi River at an altitude of 1876 feet from the sea level. Basholi is located at 32.50 degree North to 75.82 degree East. It has an average elevation of 460 metres. Basoli is situated in the uneven lofty hills of Shiwalik Range. It is situated in the right bank of Ravi river. Basoli has become popular for the Thein dam which has made it almost landlocked. Before the construction of Ranjit Sagar dam or Thein dam, Basoli was 32 km from Kathua but now it is about 72 km from Kathua city.
History of Basholi
Basholi is founded by Raja Bhupat Pal, the ruler of Jammu and Kashmir in the inception era. He founded in the medieval era. It was known for wonderful places which are now in ruins. Basohli is widely known for its paintings called Basohli paintings, which are considered the first school of Pahari paintings, and which evolved into the much prolific Kangra paintings school by mid-eighteenth century.
Demography of Basholi
According to the population census report of 2001, Basholi had a population of 5865. The males constituted 53 percent of the population and females 47 percent. Bashohli had an average literacy rate of 77 percent, which is higher than the national average of 59.5 percent with 57 percent of the male and 43 percent of female literate. Nearly 12 percent of the population was under 6 years of age.
Basholi Paintings
Basholi is immortalised by its artistic eminences and its connoisseur patrons. Basohli today is a symbol of energetic, intrepid and ingenious artistic style, rich, stylish and unconventional. A style of painting characterized by vigorous use of primary colours and a strange facial formula prevailed in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries in the foothills of the Western Himalayas in the states of Jammu and Punjab States. The earliest paintings in this style have been dated to the time of Raja Kirpal Pal.
Basholi painting is originated in Basholi. The style spread to the Hill States of Mankot, Nurpur, Kulu, Mandi, Suket, Bilaspur, Nalagarh, Chamba, Guler and Kangra. The first mention of Basohli painting is in the annual report of the Archaeological Survey of India published in the year 1921.
Tourism in Basholi Basholi is a famous tourist spot in middle Himalayan Range. Basholi is 27 kilometers from Basohli and 87 km from Kathua. This palce is famous for the medieval Sanan Ghat, Ranji Sagar (Thein) Dam, Sewa Hydel Project and Chamunda Devi Temple.
