 In 1835, Wikne, an English traveller visiting Basali, wrote about its slovenly bazaar, dilapidated ruins and also of its heavenly paintings, in which it would seem the painters had the colours of dawn and the rainbow on their palette. Nothing much seems to have changed. The bazaar continues to look, well, slovenly. The ruins are home to a colony of bats, but do exude an aura of power and prosperity of a bygone era, and the paintings continue to enthrall. It was around 1640, during the reign of Raja Sangram Pal of Basali, who incidentally was a favourite at Emperor Shah Jahan's court, that a distinct style of painting emerged. Its techniques were that of the Mughal school, but it had a spirit which was its very own. Unlike the Mughal miniatures, these paintings reflected the beauty of the artist's environment, the landscape of the Shivalic hills, their flora and fauna. They also derived inspiration from the eroticism of Sringhar literature in Sanskrit and Hindi poetry. What really set them apart, however, was the bold use of primary colours, which were made from stones found in the river and which came from flowers, trees and bushes all around the artist. Another unique feature was the distinctive shape of the eye, the Basali eye. Primitive vigour, savage intensity, were words used by the Gentiles said, familiar with the delicacy of Mughal miniatures to describe the Basali paintings initially. Nonetheless, by 1930s, their barbaric vigour had been recognised as the cradle of all the four centres of hill painting and was making waves internationally. Unfortunately, in Basali, the story was different. At that time, I remember that my grandfather came from Amritsar to buy a painting of Rs. 50-50. Where Dhramnivaspada would know, as he is a direct descendant of the Rajvayads of Basali or the king's physicians who received these paintings as part of royal patronage. Today, his daughter Sonu, along with a few others like Shaqeel, are trying desperately to keep this art alive in Basali so that the younger generation is aware of the legacy it has inherited. Unfortunately, her fears seem very real, as Basali slides further into obscurity and the savage intensity of Basali paintings holds caught elsewhere.