urniya was a Brahmin
Hindu, but served
both Tipu and his father, Haidar Ali, before the Fall of Seringapatam
in 1799. After Tipu's death, the British re-instated the ancient
Hindu dynasty of the Wadeyars, and Purniya was appointed guardian
of the young Rajah, then only four years old. Formerly Tipu's Chief
Minister, he now became Diwan (Chief Minister) of Mysore, with an
annual salary of
6,000 pagodas (�2,400)
and a bonus of 1% of the State Revenue. In Hickey's portrait, the
bronze figure of Justice, with her balancing scales, alludes to
Purniya's reputation for fairness and justice: his hand rests on
a pile of petitions. The tall column symbolises his firmness of
purpose, and the rich silk garment and regal shawl emphasise his
dignity and status.
The artist, Thomas Hickey, was a professional, and had worked in
India between March 1784 and January 1791, returning to England
'not overburdened with riches.' He joined Lord Macartney's embassy
to China, 1792-94, and was drawn again to India in 1798. He was
the only portrait painter on the spot when the Fourth Mysore War
ended in 1799, and planned a related series of seven historical
paintings. In preparation, between June 1799 and November 1801,
he made at least 55 chalk drawings of the principal Indian and British
participants, including Allan, Beatson, Baird, the young Krishnaraja
Wadeyar III and Purniya. Work on numerous other commissions for
oil portraits, including those of
William
Kirkpatrick and Richard Wellesley, eventually superceded his
ambitious plan for history paintings. Hickey did use the drawings
as references, for a series of 16 half - and three-quarter length
portraits of Tipu's sons, courtiers and ministers, now in the Rashtrapavati
Bhavan, New Delhi and the Victoria Memorial, Calcutta. During his
final period at Madras, 1802-22, aged 75, Hickey painted the Scotsman,
Colin Mackenzie, soldier of the Mysore
Wars, who was to become India's first Surveyor General in 1817.
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