Indian Paintings

Prehistoric Cave Paintings 

• Painted rock shelters by prehistoric cave dwellers
• Notable example →  Bhimbetka caves in the Kaimur Range, MP (biggest prehistoric art depositoryin India)

Genres of Indian Painting 

• Indian paintings can be broadly classified as murals and miniatures.
• Murals are large works executed on the walls of solid structures directly, as in the Ajanta Caves & Kailash temple (Ellora)
• Miniature paintings are executed on a very small scale for books or albums on perishable material such as paper and cloth.

Mural Paintings

• Mural is the only form of painting that is truly three-dimensional, since it modifies and partakes of a given space.
• Mural paintings are applied on dry wall with the major use of egg, yolk, oil, etc.

• Notable examples → Ajanta Caves, Bagh Caves, Sittanavasal Caves, Armamalai Cave (Tamil Nadu), Kailasa temple (Ellora Caves)
• Murals from this period depict mainly religious themes of Buddhist, Jain and Hindu

Ajanta Murals Paintings 

• Depict a large number of incidents from the life of the Buddha (Jataka Tales)
• Exclusively Buddhist, excepting decorative patterns on the ceilings and the pillars.

Ellora Murals Paintings 

• Painted in rectangular panels with thick borders with following
• Prominent features →  Sharp twist of the head + painted angular bents of the arms + sharp projected nose + long drawn open eyes + concave curve of the close limbs

Badami Mural Paintings 

• A cave site in Karnataka, patronized by chalukya king, Manglesha
• Depictions in the caves show Vaishnava affiliation, Therefore, the cave is popularly known as Vishnu cave.

Murals under the Pallava, Pandava and Cholas 

• Paintings at the Kanchipuram temple were patronised by Pallava king, Rajsimha
• Paintings at Tirumalaipuram caves & Jaina caves at Sittanvasal were patronised by Padayas
• Paintings at Nartamalai & Brihadeswara temple were patronized by Cholas

Vijayanagara murals (13^th century) 

• Paintings at Virupaksha temple (Hamphi) & Lepakshi temple (Andhra Pradesh) were patronised by Vijayanagara Kings

Miniature Paintings

• The Palas of Bengal were the pioneers of miniature painting in India.
• The art of miniature painting reached its glory during the Mughal period.

The Pala School (11^th – 12^th century)

• Exist in the form of illustrations to the religious texts on Buddhism executed under the Palas of the eastern India & the Jain texts executed in western India
• The Buddhist monasteries of Nalanda, Odantapuri, Vikramsila & Somarupa were great centers of Buddhist learning and art.
• A large number of manuscripts on palm-leaf relating to the Buddhist themes were written, illustrated with the images of Buddhist deities at these centers

• The Pala painting is characterized by sinuous line and subdued tones of colour

Western Indian School of Painting 

• Also called Jaina Painting, largely devoted to the illustration of Jaina religious texts of the 12th–16th century
• Notable sites → Gujrat, Uttar Pradesh, Central India & Orissa
• Characterized by simple, bright colours, highly conventionalized figures, and wiry, angular drawing

Mughal Paintings (16^th – 19^th century) 

• Mainly confined to miniature illustrations on the books or as single works to be kept in an album
• Mughal paintings were a unique blend of Indian, Persian (Safavi) and Islamic styles
• Marked by supple naturalism →  Primarily aristocratic and secular
• Tried to paint the classical ragas and Seasons or baramasa
• Tuti-nama – first art work of the Mughal School.
• Akbar’s reign (1556–1605) ushered a new era in Indian miniature painting.
• At Zenith under Jahangir who himself was a famous painter
• Jahangir encouraged artists to paint portraits and durbar scenes.
• Shah Jahan (1627–1658) continued the patronage of painting.
• Aurangzeb had no taste for fine arts.

• Most significant are Hamza Nama, Razm-Nama or “The Book of War”, Akbar Nama
• Finest example of this school includes Hamzanama series, started in 1567 & completed in 1582
• Hamzanama →  Stories of Amir Hamza, illustrated by Mir Sayyid Ali
• 1200 paintings on themes of Changeznama, Zafarnama & Ramayana
• The paintings of the Hamzanama are of large size, 20” x 27″ and were painted on cloth.
• They are in the Persian safavi style with dominating colours being red, blue and green
• Indian tones appear in later work, when Indian artists were employed 

Rajput Painting (16^th – 19^th century)

• the art of the independent Hindu feudal states in India
• Unlike Mughal paintings which were contemporary in style, Rajput paintings were traditional & romantic
• Rajput painting is further divided into Rajasthani painting and Pahari painting (art of the Himalayan kingdoms)

Central Indian and Rajasthani Schools (17^th – 19^th Century) 

• Deeply rooted in the Indian traditions, taking inspiration from Indian epics, Puranas, love poems & Indian folk-lore
• Mughal artists of inferior merit who were no longer required by the Mughal Emperors, migrated to Rajasthan

Malwa paintings (17^th century) 

• Centred largely in Malwa and Bundelkhand (MP); sometimes referred as Central Indian painting due to its geographical distribution.

• This school’s most appealing features is its primitive charm & a simple childlike vision

Kishangarh paintings (18^th century) 

• Distinguished by its individualistic facial type and its religious intensity
• Developed under the patronage of Raja Savant Singh (1748-1757 AD) by master artist Nihal Chand

Mewar (Udaipur) Paintings (17^th – 18^th century) 

• Characterized by bold bright contrasting colours and direct emotional appeal
• The earliest-dated examples come from Ragmala (musical modes) series painted in 1605

• Reflects portraiture & life of the ruler, along with religious themes

Marwar (Jodhpur) Paintings 

• Executed in a primitive and vigorous folk style
• Completely uninfluenced by the Mughal style.
• Portrays court scenes, series of Ragamala & Baramasa

Bundi paintings (Late 17^th century) 

• Very close to the Mewar style, but the former excels the latter in quality
• Prominent features → Rich and glowing colours, the rising sun in golden colour, crimson-red horizon, border in brilliant red colour (in Rasikpriya series)
• Notable examples → Bhairavi Ragini (Allahabad Museum), illustrated manuscript of the Bhagawata Purana (Kota Museum) & a series of the Rasikapriya (National Museum, Delhi)

Kota paintings (18^th – 19^th century) 

• Very similar to Bundi style of paintings
• Themes of tiger and bear hunt were popular
• Most of the space in painting is occupied by the hilly jungle

The Pahari Schools (17^th – 19^th Century) 

Comprises the present State of Himachal Pradesh, some adjoining areas of the Punjab, the area of Jammu, & Garhwal in Uttarakhand

Basohli Paintings (17^th – 18^th century) 

• known for its bold vitality of colour, lines & red borders
• Emotional scenes from a text called “Rasamanjari” →  Krishna legend
• Favoured oblong format, with the picture space usually delineated by architectural detail, which often breaks into the characteristic red borders
• Stylized facial type, shown in profile, is dominated by the large, intense eyes

Guler painting (Jammu) 

• Mainly consisting of portraits of Raja Balwant Singh of Jasrota (Jammu) designed by Nainsukh
• Colours used are soft and cool unlike Basohli school

• Style appears to have been inspired by the naturalistic style of the Mughal painting

Kangra painting (Late 18^th century) 

• The Kangra style is developed out of the Guler style & possesses its main characteristics, like the delicacy of drawing & naturalism
• The Kangra style continued to flourish at various places namely Kangra, GuIer, Basohli, Chamba, Jammu, Nurpur and Garhwal etc.
• However, Named as Kangra style as they are identical in style to the portraits of Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra
• In these paintings, the faces of women in profile have the nose almost in line with the forehead, the eyes are long & narrow, & chin is sharp.

• There is, however, no modelling of figures and hair is treated as a flat mass.
• Paintings of the Kangra style are attributed mainly to the Nainsukh family.

Kullu – Mandi painting 

• A folk style of painting in the Kulu-Mandi area, mainly inspired by the local tradition
• The style is marked by bold drawing and the use of dark and dull colours

Independent Paintings

Kalighat Paintings (Kolkata – 19^th century)

• Patua painters from rural Bengal came and settled in Kalighat to make images of gods and goddesses in the early 19^th century
• They evolved a quick method of painting on mill-made paper
• Used brush and ink from the lampblack

Madhubani Paintings (Mithila – Bihar) 

• Colorful auspicious images on the interior walls of homes on the occasion of rituals & festivity → painted by women
• This ancient tradition, especially elaborated for marriages, continues today.
• Used to paint the walls of room, known as KOHBAR GHAR in which the newly wedded couple meets for the first time
• Very conceptual, first, the painter thinks & then “draws her thought”

Phad paintings (Bhilwada, Rajasthan) 

• Phad is a painted scroll, which depicts stories of epic dimensions about local deities and legendary heroes.
• Bhopas (local priests) carry these scrolls on their shoulders from village to village for a performance

• Represents the moving shrine of the deity and is an object of worship
• Most popular & largest Phad – local deities Devnarayanji and Pabuji

Kalamkari Paintings (Andhra Pradesh) 

• Literal meaning is painting done by kalam (pen) , Mainly in Andhra Pradesh (developed under Vijaynagar rulers)
• Stories from the epics Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Puranas are painted as continuous narratives
• Mainly to decorate temple interiors with painted cloth panels scene after scene; Every scene is surrounded by floral decorative patterns
  

Warli painting

• Practiced in tribal regions of Maharashtra with subjects, predominantly religious
• decorative paintings on floors & walls of ‘gond’ and ‘kol’ tribes homes and places of worship
• made in a geometric patterns like squares, triangles, and circles
• Unlike other tribal art forms, Warli paintings do not employ religious iconography and is a more secular art form.

Handicrafts