Indian Painting: Murals, Miniatures and Folk Traditions

A long tradition of colour

Indian painting has a history of over ten thousand years, from the rock shelters of Bhimbetka to the murals of Ajanta, the miniatures of the Mughal and Rajput courts, the folk and tribal traditions still alive in villages, and the modern art of the Bengal School. Ancient texts describe the theory of painting: the Vishnudharmottara Purana contains a section on painting (*Chitrasutra*), and the commentary on the Kamasutra by Yashodhara lists the six limbs (Shadanga) of painting – variety of form, proportion, emotion, grace, likeness and colour. UPSC asks about the features of each school, its patrons and famous works, and about GI-tagged folk paintings.

Prehistoric and mural painting

Bhimbetka (Madhya Pradesh) has over 700 rock shelters with paintings from the Upper Palaeolithic to the medieval period, showing hunting, dancing, animals and daily life in red and white mineral colours; UNESCO 2003. It was discovered by V.S. Wakankar in 1957.

Ajanta (2nd century BCE–6th century CE) contains the finest surviving ancient murals. They are painted on a plaster of clay, cow dung and rice husk using the tempera technique (on dry surface), and show the Jataka tales and the life of the Buddha. The Padmapani and Vajrapani Bodhisattvas in Cave 1 and the Dying Princess in Cave 16 are celebrated. Most of the later caves were funded under the Vakatakas (Harishena's reign).

Other mural traditions:

• Bagh caves (MP) – Buddhist murals close to Ajanta in style.
• Sittanavasal (Tamil Nadu) – Jain murals of a lotus pond, Pallava–Pandya period.
• Ellora – Hindu, Buddhist and Jain murals; Lepakshi (Andhra Pradesh) – Vijayanagara murals at the Veerabhadra temple.
• Brihadeshwara temple, Thanjavur – Chola frescoes, painted on wet plaster.
• Kerala murals – temple and palace murals such as at the Mattancherry Palace, Kochi, in a rich palette of five colours.

Pala and western Indian manuscripts

From the 10th to 12th century, the Pala kings of Bengal and Bihar patronised Buddhist monasteries such as Nalanda and Vikramashila, where palm-leaf manuscripts were illustrated with small paintings of the Buddha and Mahayana deities in sinuous lines and muted colours. In Gujarat and Rajasthan, Jain manuscripts such as the Kalpasutra were painted on palm leaf and later paper, with figures having angular faces and a protruding further eye.

The Mughal school

Mughal painting began when Humayun brought two Persian masters, Mir Sayyid Ali and Abdus Samad, from the court of Shah Tahmasp of Persia.

• Akbar set up a large royal studio (karkhana) with over a hundred painters, many of them Hindus, such as Daswanth and Basawan. Major works: the Hamzanama (adventures of Amir Hamza, about 1,400 large paintings), the Razmnama (Persian Mahabharata), the Akbarnama and the Tutinama. Style: Persian elegance combined with Indian vigour, crowded narrative scenes.
• Jahangir – the peak of naturalism. Painters such as Ustad Mansur (birds and animals, the famous Siberian crane and the zebra), Abul Hasan ("Nadir-uz-Zaman") and Bishandas (portraits). Jahangir claimed he could identify each painter's hand. He favoured portraits, nature studies and allegorical paintings with haloes.
• Shah Jahan – formal, decorative portraits, rich borders and court scenes.
• Aurangzeb withdrew patronage; painters moved to provincial and Rajput courts.

Rajput and Pahari schools

Rajasthani schools (16th–19th century) – bold colours, religious and romantic themes, especially the love of Radha and Krishna, the Ragamala (musical modes painted as scenes), Baramasa (twelve months) and Nayika themes.

• Mewar (Udaipur) – oldest Rajasthani school; bright red and yellow; Sahibdin's Ramayana.
• Bundi and Kota – lush landscapes, hunting scenes.
• Kishangarh – the elongated features of Bani Thani (by Nihal Chand), sometimes called India's Mona Lisa.
• Marwar (Jodhpur), Bikaner, Jaipur (Amber).

Pahari schools (17th–19th century) of the Himalayan hill states:

• Basohli – bold primary colours, large eyes, use of beetle-wing cases for emerald effect.
• Guler – a delicate, naturalistic style developed by Pandit Seu and his son Nainsukh.
• Kangra – the high point under Raja Sansar Chand; soft colours, graceful women, lyrical scenes from the Gita Govinda and Bhagavata Purana.
• Chamba, Mandi, Garhwal.

Deccan and southern schools

• Deccani painting at Bijapur, Golconda and Ahmednagar (16th–17th century) combined Persian, Turkish and local traditions; Ibrahim Adil Shah II was a great patron.
• Mysore painting – gesso work with gold leaf; Tanjore (Thanjavur) painting – Maratha-period icons on wood with gold foil and precious stones, GI-tagged.

Folk and tribal painting

Modern Indian painting

• Company painting – Indian artists painting for British patrons in a European-influenced style.
• Raja Ravi Varma (1848–1906) – oil paintings of Hindu myths in a realist European style; his oleographs made gods familiar to millions.
• Bengal School – led by Abanindranath Tagore (*Bharat Mata*, 1905) and E.B. Havell, it rejected Western academic art and revived Indian traditions with nationalist feeling; Nandalal Bose illustrated the Constitution manuscript.
• Amrita Sher-Gil (1913–41) – fusion of European modernism with Indian themes.
• Progressive Artists' Group (1947) – F.N. Souza, S.H. Raza, M.F. Husain.

Materials, techniques and conservation

Traditional Indian painters made their own colours from minerals, plants and even insects: red and yellow ochre from earth, white from lime or conch shell, black from lamp soot, blue from lapis lazuli (imported from Afghanistan) or indigo, green from terre verte and malachite, and the famous Indian yellow, once said to be made from the urine of cows fed on mango leaves. Gold and silver were beaten into leaf or ground into paint. Brushes were made from squirrel hair, and paper was burnished with an agate stone to give a smooth, glowing surface. A master would draw the outline, while apprentices filled in colours, and a specialist added faces. Knowing this workshop system helps answer questions on why Mughal paintings often carry the names of two or three artists. Today many folk forms survive because of Geographical Indication protection, state craft boards, museums such as the National Museum and the Salar Jung Museum, and new markets for women artists in Madhubani and tribal artists in Gond and Warli. The challenges are commercialisation, cheap printed copies and the loss of natural colours, issues that link art and culture to GS1 questions on heritage conservation and to GS3 questions on the creative economy.

Mains practice question

Trace the evolution of miniature painting in India from the Pala period to the Pahari schools. (250 words)

Answer framework

• Intro: definition; palm-leaf origins.
• Pala and Jain manuscripts; Mughal school (Akbar, Jahangir); Rajasthani and Pahari schools; Deccani.
• Common features and differences: patrons, themes, colours.
• Conclusion: a dialogue of Persian and Indian traditions; survival in folk and GI-protected forms.