Ques 1 :- ORIGIN: Rajasthani school of miniature painting flourished

between 16th to early 19th century in the principalities of Rajasthan. Dr. A

coomarswami.
The great scholar of Indian Art History discovered this school and introduced it
as Rajput school. Later this school was called Rajasthani school. Rajasthan is
divided in to parts by the aravali parvat,on the west are the jodhpur ,Bikaner
and Jaisalmer to the east Mewar ,Bubdi ,kishan garh and kota .first of all the
painting started from Mewar to Bundi and other parts of state.
It was inspired and influenced by Jain manuscripts painting of Gujrat along
with Indian traditional art. Krishna leela is the most popular theme in the
Rajasthani school. these topic have been derived from the literary work of
Surdas .Tulsidas ,Meera bai Keshav das and Bihari lal also from Bhagvat
Puran Ramayna and Geet Govinda etc.

DEVELOPMENT: Two major factors contributed greatly to the development of

Rajasthani Paintings. First, the commercial community of Rajputana was
economically prosperous. Second, the revival of ‘Vaisnavism’ and the growth
of Bhakti cult provided a direction to the development of a distinct school. The
influence of poets and seers like Ramanuja (worshipper of Vishnu) in the 14th
century and writers like Jaydev (worshipper of Krishna) greatly influenced
thinking, spiritual awakening and art of the people of large parts of India. The
Rajasthani School, akin to many others, was influenced greatly by the advent
of Ramananda, Tulsidas, Kabir, Raidasa etc. This is how the subjects of the
Rajput paintings included the Sri Ram Charit Manas, Geet-Govinda, the divine
love of Radha and Krishna, ancient tales, lives of saints, Baramasa (monthly
festivities of the year) and Ragamala (Rag-Raginis) and religious texts such
as the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagvat Purana, Krishna Lila and Devi
Mahatmyam. Earlier this style was inspired by Vaishnava religion at that
time the followers of Ramanuj like ballabhachaarya chaitany mahaprabhu
etc. Had reached this religion to the climax. Important illustrations of
Ramayna and Mahabharat of this school are also founded. Besides this
theme later on painting have been done on romance ,general folk themes
.illustration on Ragmala ,Barhmasa and nayk -nayika bheda,etc.Mewar
,Bubdi jodhpur , Bikaner ,kishan gharh and Jaipur are the sab school of
Rajasthani school of minture painting .

Ques 2 :- Pahari Paintings

At the close of the seventeenth century, painting developed in the Punjab Hill states,
which for long had remained in cultural backwaters. The rulers of the Punjab hill
states were chieftains like the Rajasthani rulers. Though some of the artists from the
Mughal atelier did come to Pahari courts and executed a few commissioned works
they were not the pure Pahari miniature painters. The lively and romantic school of
Pahari miniaturists produced some of the finest religious or legendary scenes
offering a glimpse of Indian life with sentimental and psychological undertones. The
tradition of Indian miniature painting can be traced from the 9th-10th century in the
Buddhist Pala period palm leaf manuscript of eastern India and in the western India
in the Jaina palm leaf manuscript. With the introduction of paper in 12th century in
India, illustrations on paper manuscript of larger format than the narrow palm leaf,
began to come into vogue. But apart from such manuscripts still there were no
schools of Miniature Paintings in India. There came into existence in the Lodi period
(1451-1526 AD) a Sultanate bourgeois school of manuscript. The Sultanate
illustrated manuscript represented the court style. The full flowering of miniature
painting began when India came into direct contact with the civilization of Islam. With
Mughal Empire, (1526-1757 AD) the studios were established at the Imperial court
and Indian painting began a new phase in its evolution. It was from there that
illustrated manuscripts, album miniatures, portraits, celebratory or genre scenes and
various other paintings made their way allover India. Indian miniature painting was
subjected to a strong initial Persian influence, but it was short lived since the Indian
artists soon recovered their own independence and originality.
The earliest Pahari School of miniature painting is Basholi. Basholi had produced
some marvelous portraits and Rasamanjari series. Pahari art produced in Kangra
under Raja Sansar Chand is identified with a new level of rhythmical exaltation. The
source of inspiration of Kangra painting was the Vaishnav cult of Hinduism, the love
of Radha and Krishna.

Example : The painting titled ‘Maru Ragani’ is the painting from the ‘Ragamala Series’ painted
by Sahibdin a courtier painter of Mewar in the early 18th century The painting is done in Water
colour on paper using the Tempara Technique has been attributed to the Mewar-Sub School of
the Rajasthani Miniature painting. This painting is a pride possession of the National Museum,
New Delhi. The painting has a vertical format with primarily a yellowish background. The
painting depicts the desert scene at night and bring out a beautiful texture of the miniature of the
Rajasthani this painting in water color.
Ques 3: The colors in Pahari paintings are eco-friendly ( PLANT BASED
PIGMENTS AND DYES and MINERAL BASED PIGMENTS AND DYES), thus
laboriously made. They are so lustrous that even after so many years these colors
in paintings have retained shine and not faded at all. The colors are obtained
from sources like:
 WHITE– Khadiya chalk
 ORANGE– Sindoor (vermillion)
 YELLOW– Cow urine, Varki-hartal, Ramraj
 LIGHT YELLOW– Sararevan
 GREEN– Malachite
 RED– Shingraf (a type of stone)
 DEEP RED– Aalta, Krimidana fruit
 BLUE– Lazward, Indigo
 BLACK– Kajal created by holding a burning wick under a metal surface
 GREY– Hazratbal
 SILVER/GOLD– Silver/Gold foil Lac color
The colors obtained from vegetable, mineral or other sources are carefully
treated before their final use. Many shades, hues and tints were created
by diligent combinations of different colors or pigments. Because of the
passionate color making process and precise use in the Pahari
paintings, they became significant to the Kangra artists. For stronghold
on canvas, every color is mixed up with the gum obtained from
the babul tree. The process is interesting, have a look-
BLUE:
It is an important color in Pahari miniature used as a color
for Krishna or Vishnu. Its plant source is THE BLUE DYE – INDIGO or Neel.
Blue is also extracted from lapis lazuli which is a mineral. This stone is effortly
crushed, grounded into powder which yield rich color tone. The
powdered ultramarine is also used much in Kangra style of paintings.
BLACK:
This is obtained from a natural process of burning terracotta lamp where the
leftover residue- Kohl or Kajal became the source of black color. The lamp is
burned in sesame oil with camphor in order to get the smooth black residue.
RED:
When the Shingraf stone (Cinnabar) was ground into powder it yield rich
vibrant red color. Only the purified form of Cinnabar is used and impurities are
avoided.
ORANGE:
Obtained from Sindoor plant, it is mixed with cow-urine to produce brilliant
shine.
YELLOW:
The mineral source for yellow is Hartal, a stone which is grounded and sieved for
extracting soft yellowish color.
Another source is cow-urine or Gau-mutra which is called Gaugoli. The cow is
purposely fed with mango-leaves which makes the urine dark yellow in color. It
is then dried up and used in paintings showcasing the Indian-yellow. This color is
more commonly seen in BASOHLI SCHOOL OF PAINTINGS.
GREEN:
The mineral source is Dana Farang or Malachite. This is a precious stone
imparting rich green shade mostly seen in Mughal style to Pahari paintings.
Various plant source also yields green color. Mixing of yellow and blue also
produces green.
VIOLET:
It is obtained from the Lac produced by peepal tree. The Lac is soaked in water
overnight and then fitkari, daruhaldi and suhaga are added. Boiling all these
ingredients together yields violet color which is called kiram in local language.
Other than colors and tools, the motifs used in each school of painting
is unique. Motifs or themes define the period in which painting is made.
The motifs are inspired by the contemporary scenario and cultural and
ethical approach.