Theosophy. Theosophy advocates seeking enlightenment through the search of truth, essential and common to all religions to solve unanswered questions of mankind. It requires faith in a common brotherhood and respect for men of all creeds and races. Echoing this, Raiba many years later in his invitation-catalogue for an exhibition of his works in 1984 said, "To comprehend the meaning of Art, I have ceaselessly tried to understand what life is – its circuitous course and ultimate goal. I go through a labyrinth of desire and fear, and I must keep on. The only alternative to ceaseless action is Death, which alone can drop a curtain on the medley of deeds and also what remains undone". Raiba was introduced to Charles Gerard, then dean of Sir JJ School of Art, who urged him to pursue mural painting and work with oils. Raiba greatly admired the works of his professor J. M. Ahivasi, who belonged to the revivalist school of Indian miniature painting. Raiba, though, believed that the technique of oil painting presented many more possibilities than the use of tempera. He however retained certain elements of visual play from his early training in the Indian traditions. Seeking to establish a distinct style, Raiba rejected western norms of landscape painting. In his works the use of light is akin to that of miniature paintings. He blurred out the horizon and instead illuminated intended subjects, giving them a three-dimensional sculpted quality. Therefore, like miniature paintings various perspectives lie in the same plane. In his portraits of village folk, he placed the woman in the same plane as the hamlet which surround her, but rendered in a perspective where she diminishes the other details such as the hamlet. Some of Raiba's later works illustrated the poems of Mirza Ghalib. Early work Raiba studied at the Sir JJ School of Art, from 1942 to 1946. After graduating with a diploma, Charles Gerard appointed him as a fellow to assist other students. Though there were protestations to his appointment, as he lacked fluency in spoken English, Gerard asked him to continue. Later that year he was contemplating moving to Paris, like most of his contemporaries. Raiba approached Walter Laghammer, the Austrian art director of the Times of India, for advice. Langhammer knowing his meagre means advised him instead to go live in Kashmir. Raiba took up residence in the Naginbagh area of Srinagar and often