INDIAN PAINTINGS

■INDIAN PAINTING has a very long tradition and history in Indian art. The earliest Indian paintings were the rock paintings of pre-historictimes, the petroglyphs as found in places like Bhimbetka, some of them from before 5500 BC.

India's Buddhist literature is replete with examples of texts which describe palaces of the army and the aristocratic class embellished with paintings, but the paintings of theAjanta Caves are the most significant of the few survivals. Smaller scale painting in manuscripts was probably also practised in this period, though the earliest survivals are from the medieval period.

Mughal painting represented a fusion of the Persian miniature with older Indian traditions, and from the 17th century its style was diffused across Indian princely courts of all religions, each developing a local style. Company paintings were made for British clients under the British raj, which from the 19th century also introduced art schools along Western lines, leading to modern Indian painting, which is increasingly returning to its Indian routes.Indian paintings provide an aesthetic continuum that extends from the early civilisation to the present day. From being essentially religious in purpose in the beginning, Indian painting has evolved over the years to become a fusion of various cultures and traditions.

■ SADANGA OF  INDIAN PAINTING:---

Around 1st century BC the Sadanga or Six Limbs of Indian Painting, were evolved, a series of canons laying down the main principles of the art. Vatsyayana, who lived during the third century A.D., enumerates these in his Kamasutra having extracted them from still more ancient works.

These 'Six Limbs' have been translated as follows:
1. Rupabheda The knowledge of appearances.
2. Pramanam Correct perception, measure and structure.
3. Bhava Action of feelings on forms.
4. Lavanya Yojanam Infusion of grace, artistic representation.
5. Sadrisyam Similitude. 
6. Varnikabhanga Artistic manner of using the brush and colours. (Tagore.)

The subsequent development of painting by the Buddhists indicates that these ' Six Limbs ' were put into practice by Indian artists, and are the basic principles on which their art was founded.
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, as in the Ajanta Caves and the Kailashnath temple. Miniature paintings are executed on a very small scale for books or albums on perishable material such as paper and cloth. 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 tradition of miniature paintings was carried forward by the painters of different Rajasthani schools of painting like the Bundi, Kishangarh, Jaipur, Marwar and Mewar. The Ragamala paintings also belong to this school, as does the Company painting produced for British clients under the British Raj.

■ MURAL PAINTING is inherently different from all other forms of pictorial art in that it is organically connected with architecture.

The use of colour, design, and thematic treatment can radically alter the sensation of spatial proportions of the building; in this sense mural is the only form of painting that is truly three-dimensional, since it modifies and partakes of a given space. Apart from its organic relation to architecture, a second characteristic of mural painting is its broad public significance. The mural artist must conceive pictorially a social,religious, or patriotic theme on the appropriate scale in reference both to the structural exigencies of the wall and to the idea expressed.

The history of Indian murals starts in ancient and early medieval times, from 2nd century BC to 8th – 10th century AD. There are known more than 20 locations around India containing murals from this period, mainly natural caves and rock-cut chambers.

The highest achievements of this time are the caves of Ajanta, Bagh, Sittanavasal, Armamalai Cave (Tamil Nadu), Ravan Chhaya rock shelter, Kailasanatha temple in Ellora Caves.

Murals from this period depict mainly religious themes of Buddhist, Jain and Hindu religions. There are though also locations where paintings were made to adorn mundane premises, like the ancient theatre room in Jogimara Cave and possible royal hunting lodge circa 7th-century AD – Ravan Chhaya rock shelter.

■ Later Murals:---Even after Ajanta, very few sites with paintings have survived which provide valuable evidences to reconstruct the tradition of paintings. It may also be noted that the sculptures too were plastered and painted. The tradition of cave excavations continued further at many places where sculpting and painting were done simultaneously