INDIAN PAINTINGS

Upper Paleolithic Period (40000-10000 BC) • Quartzite walls

• Used minerals for pigments
• Ochre or geru mixed with lime and water
• The white, dark red and green were used to depict
large animals like bison, elephant, rhino, tigers etc.
• The green paintings are of dancers and the red ones of
hunters.

Bhimbetka Paintings • Theme - ranging from mundane events of daily life in

those times to sacred and royal images. These include
hunting, dancing, music, horse and elephant riders,
animal fighting, honey collection, decoration of
bodies, and other household scenes.

• The drawings and paintings can be categorised into

seven historical periods. Period I, Upper
Palaeolithic; Period II, Mesolithic; and Period III,
Chalcolithic. After Period III there are four
successive periods.

Mesolithic Period (10000-4000 BC) • Use of red colour

• Group hunting
• Grazing activity
• Riding scenes
• bison, elephant, boar, deer, antelope, leopard,
panther, rhinoceros, fish, frog, lizard, squirrel
• In some pictures, animals are chasing men.
• The young and the old equally find place in these
paintings.
• Children are painted running, jumping and playing.
• Community dances provide a common theme.
• There are paintings of people gathering fruit or honey
from trees, and of women grinding and preparing
food.
• Some of the pictures of men, women and children
seem to depict a sort of family life.

Chalcolithic Period • Green and yellow colour

• Battle scenes
• Men riding horses and elephants
• Carry bow and arrow
• Pottery and metal tools

Mural Paintings
Ajanta cave paintings • 4th century AD
• Under the reign of Mauryan empire
• Murals in the cave 9 and 10 belong to the Sunga

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 • Murals in the cave 9 and 10 belong to the Sunga
period, while the rest belong to the Gupta period
• Have both murals and fresco
• Used tempera style i.e. use of pigments
• The themes of the paintings are the events from the
life of the Buddha, the Jatakas and the Avadanas.
• Some paintings such as Simhala Avadana,
Mahajanaka Jataka and Vidhurpundita Jataka cover
the entire wall of the cave. It is worth noting that
Chaddanta Jataka has been painted in the early Cave
No. 10 with many details and events grouped
according to their geographical locations.

• Events that happened in the jungle and events that

happened inthe palace are separated by their
locations.

• In Cave No. 10 Chaddanta faithfully follows the Pali

text whereas the one painted in Cave No. 17 is very
different.

• In one of the events, the Boddhisattva, Chaddanta, is

shown removing his own tusk and giving it to the
hunter, Sonuttar.

• The other important paintings are the famous

Padmapani and Vajrapani.

PADMAPANI BODDHISATTVA

Painting of the Buddha, Yashodhra and Rahul, Cave

No. 17, Ajanta

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 Apsara, Cave No. 17, Ajanta

Part of Mahajanaka Jataka panel, Cave No. 1, Ajanta

Ellora cave paintings 600-1000 CE • Kailash temple

• Vishnu with his consort Lakshmi borne through the
clouds by Garuda
• Procession of Shiva holy men

Ambika, Yakshini

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Bagh cave paintings • M.P.
• Close to the actual Ajanta caves
• More earthly and human
• Depicting Buddhist and Jataka tales
• Contemporary life style of people, thus are more
secular

Ravan Chhaya Rock Shelter • Odisha

• In a shape of half opened umbrella
• Royal hunting lodge
• Royal procession of 7th century
• Chola period paintings

Lepakshi paintings • Andhra Pradesh, Vijayanagar period

• Secular
• Complete absence of primary colours

Folk Paintings
Madhubani paintings • Mithila paintings
• Bihar
• Religious motifs of Hindus, including Krishna, Rama,
Durga, Lakshmi and Shiva
• Painted on walls using rice paste
• Vegetable colours
• A base of cow dung
• 2D

Pattachitra • Odisha
• Base of cloth
• Colours- burnt coconut shells, Hingula, Ramaraja and

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 • Colours- burnt coconut shells, Hingula, Ramaraja and
lamp black
• No pencil
• Background is decorated with foliage and flowers
• Jagannath and Vaishnava cult
• Sometimes from shakti and Shiva cult

Patua art • Bengal

• On pats or scrolls
• Painted on cloth
• Religious stories

Kalighat paintings • Calcutta

• Watercolours used on mill papers
• Religious note, Hindu gods and goddess
• Social sentiments

Paitkar painting • Jharkhand and Bengal

• Scroll paintings
• Theme- what happens to human life post death

Kalamkari Painting • Andhra Pradesh

• The pen used is made of sharp pointed bamboo'
• The base is cotton fabric while the colours used are
vegetable dyes
• Hindu mythology

Warli painting • Maharashtra

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Warli painting • Maharashtra
• Close resemblance to the mural paintings of
Bhimbetka in MP
• Done on the walls
• Triangle, circle, square
• The base (red or black ) is made of a mixture of mud,
branches and cow dung
• Only white pigment is used which is made of rice
powder

Thangka painting • Sikkim

• Buddhism
• A base of cotton canvas
• Colours - natural vegetable dyes or mineral dyes

Manjusha painting • Bhagalpur, Bihar

• Also known as Angika art
• Snake motifs
• Also called as snake painting
• Executed on boxes of jute and paper

Pala school of art • Part of manuscripts and generally executed on palm

leaf or vellum paper.
• The buddhist monks mostly used them.
• There are single lonely single figures in the paintings.

Aparbhramsa school of art • Gujarat and Rajasthan

• Jainism is the main theme.
• The paintings were made of palm leaf but in the later
period they were made on paper.
• Fish shaped bulging eyes, a pointed nose and a double
chin.
• The animals and birds are represented as toys.

REGIONAL SCHOOLS OF ART

Mewar School of Painting
• Early Mewar painting were dominated by the extra
Ordinary figure of Sahibdin. This period of Mewari
painting focuses on Sahibdin's depiction of literary
texts — the Rasikapriya, the Ramayana and the
Bhagavata Purana.

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 Bhagavata Purana.
• Later paintings depicted the life at court in Mewar.
The unique point of this period is the extraordinary
'tamasha' paintings that show court ceremonial and
city views.

Kishangarh School of Painting • associated with the most romantic legends — of

Sawant Singh and his beloved Bani Thani. (IAS 2018)
• It is sometimes argued that the women in 'bani thani'
is said to resemble the character of Radha. She has a
distinctive profile and has large and lustrous eyes, thin
lips and a pointed
chin.
• Her odhni or headgear defines her side profile.
• On themes of Radha and Krishna
Bundi School of Painting • Krishna—bhakti plays a role in painting — or perhaps
painting plays a role in their Krishna bhakti.
• In Bundi school, paintings of local vegetation were in
detail.
• Human faces were round with pointed nose in the
paintings.
• Colour of sky is painted in different colours and mostly
a red ribbon is visible in the sky.

Amber-Jaipur School of Painting • The Amber school is also called the 'Dhundar' school.
• On topics of Bhagwata Purana, Ramayana, Ragamala
and several portraits.

Marwar School of Painting • It is one of the most extensive schools of painting as it

includes Jodhpur and Bikaner, both ruled Jaisalmer
that was ruled by the Rathods and by the Bhatis.
• In the paintings produced in the 15th and 16th
century, the men wore colourful clothing and so did
the women.
• After the 18th century, they contained the linear
rhythm coupled with bright colours.
• One of the earliest examples of painting in Marwar is a
series of the Ragamala in the collection of Kumar
Sangram Singh.
• completely uninfluenced by the Mughal style.

Bikaner School of Painting • Early paintings from Bikaner were made by 'patshahi
chitrakars' artists from the Mughal court.
• similarity with the Mughal and the Deccani styles.

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 • similarity with the Mughal and the Deccani styles.

Pahari Styles of Painting • This style of painting developed in the sub-himalayan

states that were also under the umbrella of
Mughal over lordship.
• The Pahari paintings can be grouped into two groups-
1. Jammu or Dogra School: Northern Series
2. Kangra School: Southern Series
• The themes that were painted ranged from mythology
to literature and brought new techniques to the fore.
• A typical Pahari painting would bring several figures
into the canvas and they would all be full of
movement. Each figure is different in composition,
colour and pigmentation.
• Two of the greatest figures of this school are Nainsukh
and Manaku.

Kangra School • Guler- Kangra School of paintings.

• It first evolved in Guler then came to Kangra.
• This school reached its zenith under the patronage of
Raja Sansar Chand. His paintings were marked with a
sensuality and intelligence that the other schools lack.
• The most popular subjects were the Gita Govinda,
Bhagwata Purana, Satsai of Biharilal and
Nal Damyanti.
• Another very famous group of paintings is the 'Twelve
months' where the artist tried to bring forth the effect
of the twelve months on the emotions of human
beings.

Basholi • The paintings created in the Pahari school in the 17th

century under the patronage of Raja Kirpal Singh were
called the Basholi school.
• Expressive faces with a receding hairline and big eyes
that are shaped like lotus petals.
• Use a lot of primary colours.
• Clothing in Mughal style
• Rasamanjari, Gita Govinda and Ramayana illustration

Tanjore paintings • Decorative paintings

• Maratha rulers patronised them.
• Mostly created on glass and board.
• Liberal use of gold leaf, Gemstones.
• Smiling Krishna
Mysore paintings • Hindu god and goddess
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Mysore paintings • Hindu god and goddess
• Gesso paste- a mixture of zinc oxide and arabic gum.

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