Meet Sobha Singh, the model behind iconic ‘Sohni-Mahiwal’

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 28

If you have been smitten by the beauty of Sobha Singh’s iconic painting ‘Sohni-Mahiwal’ and wondered who the model was for Sohni, the answer is here: it was none other than the artist himself.

Sohni’s cheeks came from his 15-year-old brother-in-law; Sobha Singh’s right leg reflected in a mirror became Sohni’s left leg and a doctor friend’s brother was the inspiration for Mahiwal.

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The models used by Sobha Singh to paint ‘Sohni-Mahiwal’ and other paintings have haunted historians for long, says Dr Madanjit Kaur, a historian and former professor, Department of Guru Nanak Studies at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. She had edited a volume ‘Painter of the Divine’ on his life three decades back. 

She says it was a question she also battled with during her research. “I first came to know about this fact from a piece written by Dr Kulwant Singh Khokhar, a very close friend of the artist,” she says. 

Though Sobha Singh — whose 116th birth anniversary falls on Wednesday — was a little reluctant to use models, the case was a little different when it came to ‘Sohni-Mahiwal’. Between 1937 and 1980, he painted it five times. The most famous was the third one, painted in 1952 and which is part of Karan Singh’s personal collection. 

This painting was widely printed and sold by Sobha Singh himself.

In conversation with Dr Kulwant Singh, Sobha Singh revealed, “To paint ‘Sohni-Mahiwal’, I covered my limbs with a thin wet cloth and used the reflection from an electric heater to study the effect of water and light.” The conversation is part of ‘Painter of the Divine’.

Later, Kulwant Singh documented the entire story behind the painting in his book. At that time, Sobha Singh’s 15-year-old brother-in-law visited him at Andretta, Himachal Pradesh. 

“The artist drew the outlines of his cheeks for painting Sohni. He sculpted the bust of Sohni in terracotta and transferred its outlines to the painting. 

He wrapped his own body in thin wet muslin cloth and his right leg’s reflection in a mirror became her left leg.”

An electric heater with copper reflector gave him the light effect of a setting sun. He took the face of Mahiwal from a boy known to Dr Dhanwant Singh Thind, who was an eye surgeon at Army Hospital, Palampur. Dr Hirdayapal Singh, grandson of Sobha Singh based at Andretta, says the information given by Dr Kulwant Singh seems true as it was not possible to get models in those days at a place like Andretta.

The five versions of ‘Sohni-Mahiwal’ 

• Sobha Singh painted Sohni for the first time in 1937. But in 1947, he left the first painting in Lahore. 
•  The second painting took two years and was completed at Andretta in 1949. On the request of Dr MS Randhawa, it was presented to the Royal Air Force at Ambala. Now, it is believed to be at the Air Force Officers’ Mess at Secunderabad 
• The third painting was done in 1952 and is with Karan Singh, but the rights of printing were retained by Sobha Singh 
• The fourth and fifth paintings were done in 1957 and 1980 at Andretta and are part of Sobha Singh Art Gallery, Andretta