Paintings of India

Origins

Like most of the ancient worlds paintings in India too first started on the rocks of caves, moving to walls of buildings and finally to hand-held surfaces.

The rock shelters of Bhimbetka, near Bhopal, are some of the earliest examples of Indian cave painting. The majority are dated 5500 BC, with the oldest ones dating back to the Upper Palaeolithic Age and considered 12,000 years old.

The most notable of frescos, murals and cliff paintings during the historic period are those of the Ajanta Caves. There are 30 caves chiselled out of rock, dating from 2nd century BC to the 7th century AD. These paintings are almost exclusively Buddhist.

The paintings from Bagh caves in Madhya Pradesh are contemporaneous with later Ajanta caves with figures stronger in outline and more earthly.

The earliest Brahmanical paintings are those found in Badami, circa 6 AD. While the technique follows that of Ajanta and Bagh, the modelling is more sensitive in texture and expression and the outline soft and elastic.

The next series of wall-paintings to survive is at Ellora, a site of great importance and sanctity. A number of Hindu, Buddhist and Jain temples were constructed here between the 8th and 10th centuries AD. The most impressive of these, the Kailashnath Temple, is a free-standing monolithic structure.

Then there are the 11th century fresco paintings at Alchi in Ladakh, a style which is believed to have spread to the entire Central Asia. The style does not exist anymore, but the murals of Alchi are still intact, due to the dry and cold climate.

The most notable wall paintings in the south are in Tanjore, the dancing figures from Rajarajeswara and Brihadeeshwara temples from the early 11th century are beautiful examples of medieval paintings. The wide open eyes of all the figures are a clear negation of Ajanta tradition of half closed drooping eyes.

The last series of wall paintings are from the Lepakshi Temple (near Bangalore) from the 16th century AD. The paintings are pressed within broad friezes and illustrate Saivaite and secular themes.

Thereafter a decline of Indian wall paintings began. Some paintings of this period are found in Travancore, Rajasthan and in the Rangmahal of Chamba. Original Rangmahal paintings can be seen in the National Museum in Delhi.

From walls to leaves

Whilst the tradition of wall paintings declined a new method of expression in painting known as miniature on palm leaves and paper had begun, around 11th century AD. The Pala period (750 AD to mid 12th century) witnessed the last great phase of Buddhist art in India. The monasteries of Nalanda, Odantapuri, Vikramsila and Somarupa were great centres of learning and art. A large number of manuscripts on palm-leaf were written and illustrated with the images of Buddhist deities at these centres which also had workshops for the casting of bronze images. Visiting students and pilgrims from all over South-East Asia took back examples of Pala Buddhist art, in the form of bronzes and manuscripts which helped to carry the Pala style to Nepal, Tibet, Burma, Sri Lanka and Java.

The Western Indian style of painting prevailed in the region comprising Gujarat, Rajasthan and Malwa. The driving force here was Jainism, patronised by Chalukyan kings. A large number of Jain manuscripts were commissioned from 12th to 16th centuries and are available in the Jain libraries (bhandaras) at many places in Western India.

The Mughal School of painting originated during the reign of Akbar in 1560 AD. An atelier of painting was established under the supervision of two Persian masters, Mir Sayyed Ali and Abdul Samad Khan. The Mughal style thus evolved as a happy synthesis of the indigenous style of painting and the Safavid school of Persian painting. This was further influenced by European paintings and absorbed some of the Western techniques like shading and perspective.

Under Jahangir, painting acquired greater refinement, with portraiture of birds, animals and flowers. The portrait of Jahangir is a typical example of miniatures executed during the period and is in the collection of the National Museum, New Delhi.

Under Shah Jahan the Mughal painting maintained its fine quality but became over-ripe with portraiture given considerable attention. After his death all art forms began to decline in the Mughal court. Aurangzeb was a puritan and did not encourage art; as a result a large number of court painters migrated to the provincial courts.

Early centres of painting in the Deccan, during the 16th and 17th centuries were Ahmednagar, Bijapur and Golconda where painting continued to develop independently of the Mughal style in the beginning. In the 17th and 18th centuries it was increasingly influenced by the Mughal style imbibed from migrating painters from the north.

Unlike Mughal painting which is primarily secular, the art of painting in Central India, Rajasthan and the Pahari region is rooted in Indian traditions, taking inspiration from Indian epics and religious texts. The cults of Vaishnavism, Saivism and Sakti exercised tremendous influence on the pictorial art of these places, with the cult of Krishna being the most popular.

The popular Mughal style which migrating painters carried to various places influenced the already existing styles of paintings there, and a number of new schools of painting originated in Rajasthan and Central India in the 17th and 18th centuries. Among these the important ones were Malwa, Mewar, Bundi-Kotah, Amber-­Jaipur, Bikaner, Marwar and Kishengarh.

The earliest centre of painting in the Pahari region was Basohli where under the patronage of Raja Kripal Pal, an artist named Devidasa executed miniatures in 1694 AD. The last phase of the Basohli style was closely followed by the Jammu group of paintings mainly consisting of portraits of Raja Balwant Singh of Jasrota by Nainsukh, an artist who originally belonged to Guler. These paintings are in a new naturalistic and delicate style marking a change from the earlier traditions of the Basohli art and are known as the Guler style.

The Guler style was followed by the "Kangra style", the name derived from the fact that they are identical in style to the portraits of Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra. The Kangra style continued to flourish at various places namely Kangra, Guler, Basohli, Chamba, Jammu, Nurpur and Garhwal. These paintings are attributed mainly to the Nainsukh family.

Some of the Pahari painters also found patronage under Maharaja Ranjit Singh and the Sikh nobility.

The earliest surviving examples of miniature paintings in Orissa appear to belong to the 17th century A.D. Some good examples of the paintings of this period are a court scene and four illustrated leaves of a manuscript of the Gita Govinda in the Asutosh Museum, Kolkata, and an illustrated palm ­leaf manuscript of the Ramayana in the National Museum at New Delhi.

The traditional Indian painting started deteriorating after the first half of the 18th century and by the end of the century it lost most of its vitality. In the Pahari region, however, the art maintained its quality till the end of the first quarter of the 19th century. Under the impact of the Western colours and technique of painting the traditional styles of Indian painting finally died out in the second half of the 19th century.