History
Indian Art, Literature and Culture
Painting
Indian painting for CGPSC: Bhimbetka and Jogimara, Ajanta murals, Pala and Mughal miniatures, Rajasthani and Pahari schools, modern art and folk paintings.
Prerequisites
- Architecture and Sculpture — Ajanta, Bagh and the temples whose walls carried murals.
- Mughal Empire — the emperors whose workshops shaped the miniature.
- Ancient Chhattisgarh — the state’s rock shelters and the Jogimara cave.
The Hook: A Love Note on a Cave Wall in Surguja
Connect
High in the Ramgarh hills of Surguja, the Jogimara cave (जोगीमारा गुफा) has a painted ceiling and a short Brahmi inscription about Sutanuka, called a devadasi, and Devadinna, a sculptor. The cave is dated variously between the 3rd and 1st centuries BCE, and its murals are counted among the oldest surviving paintings of the historic period in India. Long before that, people in Raigarh had painted buffaloes and hunters on the rock shelters of Singhanpur and Kabra Pahad.
So Chhattisgarh sits at both ends of the earliest Indian painting story. How did that story continue, from Ajanta’s walls to palm-leaf books, Mughal miniatures, Kangra love scenes, Raja Ravi Varma’s oils and the Gond and Madhubani art sold today?
Why it matters: Prelims asks “which school is this”, “which painter served which emperor”, “which folk painting belongs to which state”. Each is a pair to memorise.
1. Prehistoric Rock Painting
| Site | Facts |
|---|---|
| Bhimbetka (भीमबेटका) | Raisen district, Madhya Pradesh; discovered by V.S. Wakankar (1957); hundreds of rock shelters with paintings from the Upper Palaeolithic onwards (Mesolithic paintings most numerous); mainly red and white, also green and yellow; hunting, dancing, animals. UNESCO World Heritage Site (2003) |
| Singhanpur, Kabra Pahad, Ongna, Karmagarh | Raigarh district, Chhattisgarh; red-ochre animals, hunting scenes, human figures and geometric designs |
| Jogimara | Ramgarh hills, Surguja; painted ceiling of the historic period with a Brahmi inscription |
More on the state’s sites: Prehistoric Sites and Rock Art of Chhattisgarh.
2. Theory: The Six Limbs of Painting
Indian painting had a theory long before it had schools. Yashodhara, in his commentary (Jayamangala) on Vatsyayana’s Kamasutra, lists the Shadanga (षडंग), the six limbs of painting:
| Limb | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Rupabheda | Knowledge of forms |
| Pramana | Proportion and measure |
| Bhava | Emotion and expression |
| Lavanya-yojanam | Infusing grace |
| Sadrishyam | Likeness, similitude |
| Varnikabhanga | Use of brush and colour |
The Chitrasutra section of the Vishnudharmottara Purana is another classical text on painting.
3. Mural Painting
| Site | Period / patron | Highlights |
|---|---|---|
| Ajanta (Maharashtra) | Two phases, c. 2nd–1st century BCE and 5th century CE (Vakatakas) | Bodhisattva Padmapani and Vajrapani (Cave 1); “dying princess” (Cave 16); Jataka stories; graceful outlines and shading. Technique: tempera on dry plaster, not true wet fresco |
| Bagh (Dhar, MP) | Gupta–Vakataka age | Close to Ajanta in style; Buddhist |
| Sittanavasal (Pudukkottai, TN) | Jain; attributed variously to Pallava or Pandya patronage | Lotus pond with bathers, elephants and fish |
| Brihadeshwara, Thanjavur | Chola, 11th century | Murals in the circumambulatory passage, later overpainted in the Nayaka period |
| Lepakshi (Andhra Pradesh) | Vijayanagara, 16th century | Ceiling murals of epic themes |
| Kerala murals | Later medieval | Mattancherry Palace (Kochi): Ramayana scenes |
4. Miniature Painting
A miniature is a small, detailed painting, usually in a manuscript or an album.
Pala and Western Indian (Apabhramsha) schools — the earliest miniatures
| School | Region / dates | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Pala (पाल) | Bengal and Bihar, c. 11th–12th centuries; Buddhist monasteries (Nalanda, Vikramashila) | Palm-leaf manuscripts such as the Prajnaparamita; sinuous lines, subdued colours; Vajrayana themes |
| Western Indian / Apabhramsha (अपभ्रंश) | Gujarat, Rajasthan, Malwa, c. 12th–16th centuries; mostly Jain | Kalpasutra, Kalakacharya Katha; angular figures, protruding farther eye, bright red and yellow; palm leaf, later paper |
Mughal painting
graph LR
A["Humayun
brings Mir Sayyid Ali
and Abdus Samad from Persia"] --> B["Akbar
imperial workshop; Hamzanama;
Daswanth, Basawan"]
B --> C["Jahangir
peak: portraits and nature;
Mansur, Abul Hasan, Bishandas"]
C --> D["Shah Jahan
formal court portraits"]
D --> E["Aurangzeb
decline; painters move to
Rajput and Pahari courts"]| Reign | Key facts |
|---|---|
| Humayun | Met the Persian masters Mir Sayyid Ali and Khwaja Abdus Samad during his exile and brought them to India |
| Akbar | Organised an imperial workshop (tasvir-khana); the Hamzanama (adventures of Amir Hamza) on large cloth folios; illustrated the Razmnama (Persian Mahabharata) and Akbarnama; Indian painters Daswanth and Basawan rose to fame |
| Jahangir | Golden age. Ustad Mansur (birds and animals; title Nadir-ul-Asr), Abul Hasan (title Nadir-uz-Zaman), Bishandas (portraits). Albums (muraqqa), European influence (halo, perspective) |
| Shah Jahan | Stiff, jewel-like formal portraits; more interest in architecture |
| Aurangzeb | Withdrew patronage; artists dispersed to provincial and Rajput courts |
Deccani painting (Bijapur, Golconda, Ahmednagar) grew in the 16th–17th centuries with Persian, Turkish and local influences; Ibrahim Adil Shah II of Bijapur was a noted patron.
Rajasthani (Rajput) schools
| School | Remember it for |
|---|---|
| Mewar (Udaipur) | Painter Sahibdin; Ragamala and Ramayana sets (17th century) |
| Bundi and Kota | Lush landscapes; Kota famous for hunting scenes |
| Kishangarh | Bani Thani by Nihal Chand under Raja Savant Singh (pen-name Nagari Das); elongated eyes and profile; called the “Indian Mona Lisa” |
| Marwar (Jodhpur), Bikaner, Jaipur (Amber) | Court and portrait scenes; Bikaner had painters trained in the Mughal manner |
Themes: Krishna lila, Ragamala (paintings of musical modes), Baramasa (twelve months), heroines (nayika).
Pahari schools (Himalayan hill states, 17th–19th centuries)
| School | Features |
|---|---|
| Basohli | Bold primary colours, flat backgrounds, beetle-wing pieces for emeralds |
| Guler | Delicate, naturalistic; the family of Pandit Seu with his sons Manaku and Nainsukh |
| Kangra | Lyrical, soft colours; peak under Raja Sansar Chand; Gita Govinda, Bihari Satsai |
| Chamba, Jammu (Jasrota), Mandi | Regional variants |
5. Colonial and Modern Painting
| Movement / artist | Key facts |
|---|---|
| Company painting | Indian artists painting for British patrons in a hybrid style (Patna, Murshidabad, Tanjore, Delhi) |
| Kalighat painting | 19th-century Kolkata, near the Kalighat temple; bold outlines, satire on the “babu” |
| Raja Ravi Varma (1848–1906) | Kilimanoor, Travancore; oil paintings of myths and women in saris; his oleograph prints spread images of gods into ordinary homes |
| Bengal School | Abanindranath Tagore (Bharat Mata, 1905) and the British teacher E.B. Havell; wash technique; rejected academic oil realism for Indian themes |
| Nandalal Bose | Abanindranath’s pupil; Haripura Congress posters (1938); illustrated the original calligraphed Constitution of India |
| Jamini Roy | Simplified folk-inspired forms drawn from Bengal’s patachitra |
| Amrita Sher-Gil (1913–1941) | Blended European modernism with Indian subjects |
| Progressive Artists’ Group | Bombay, 1947; founded by F.N. Souza; with S.H. Raza (the Bindu), M.F. Husain, K.H. Ara, S.K. Bakre, H.A. Gade |
6. Folk and Tribal Painting
| Painting | State | Clue |
|---|---|---|
| Madhubani / Mithila | Bihar | Women’s wall and floor art; double outlines; no empty space |
| Warli | Maharashtra | White rice-paste stick figures on mud walls; circles and triangles |
| Pattachitra | Odisha (also West Bengal) | Cloth scrolls of Jagannath and Krishna |
| Kalamkari | Andhra Pradesh | “Pen-work” on cloth: Srikalahasti (hand-drawn) and Machilipatnam (block-printed) |
| Phad | Rajasthan | Long scrolls of folk deities Pabuji and Devnarayan, sung by bhopas |
| Pithora | Gujarat and MP (Rathwa and Bhil) | Ritual wall paintings with horses |
| Gond | Madhya Pradesh (also Chhattisgarh’s Gond regions) | Dots and dashes filling animal forms; Jangarh Singh Shyam took it to the world |
| Cheriyal | Telangana | Narrative scrolls |
| Tanjore | Tamil Nadu | Gold foil and gems on wooden boards |
| Saura | Odisha | Tribal wall paintings (idital) |
| Sohrai and Khovar | Jharkhand (Hazaribagh) | Harvest and marriage wall art |
Chhattisgarh angle
- Rajwar wall art of Surguja: clay relief and mural decoration of homes, associated with Sonabai Rajwar of Puhputra village.
- Godna (गोदना), traditional tattoo art, now also transferred to cloth and paper in Surguja and Jashpur.
- Gond art is practised by Gond communities in the state as well as in Madhya Pradesh.
See Folk Arts of Chhattisgarh for crafts like Dhokra and the state’s performing arts.
Analysis for Mains: What Painting Tells a Historian
- Patronage shaped style: Buddhist monasteries (Ajanta, Pala), Jain merchants (Western Indian), emperors (Mughal), Rajput and hill rajas, colonial officials (Company), nationalists (Bengal School).
- Synthesis: Mughal painting fused Persian technique with Indian naturalism and later European perspective, then flowed back into Rajput and Pahari art.
- Nationalism: the Bengal School and Nandalal Bose turned art into a statement of Indian identity in the Swadeshi and Gandhian years.
- Livelihoods today: folk paintings carry GI tags and markets but face issues of authenticity, middlemen and fair pay for tribal artists.
Memory Tricks
Mughal painters: MAD BB
Mansur (animals) · Abul Hasan (Nadir-uz-Zaman) · Daswanth · Basawan · Bishandas (portraits).
Akbar = Daswanth + Basawan; Jahangir = Mansur + Abul Hasan + Bishandas.
Folk painting state map: W-M-P-K-P
Warli → Maharashtra · Madhubani → Bihar · Pattachitra → Odisha · Kalamkari → Andhra · Phad → Rajasthan.
A chain to recite: “Warli works in Mumbai, Madhubani in Mithila, Patta in Puri, Kalam in Kalahasti, Phad for Pabuji.”
Don’t Confuse
| This | vs | That |
|---|---|---|
| Bhimbetka — Madhya Pradesh, prehistoric, UNESCO | vs | Singhanpur / Kabra Pahad — Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, prehistoric |
| Ajanta — murals | vs | Ellora — sculpture and architecture |
| Nadir-ul-Asr — Ustad Mansur | vs | Nadir-uz-Zaman — Abul Hasan |
| Basohli — bold, flat, beetle wings | vs | Kangra — soft, lyrical, Sansar Chand |
| Kalighat — Bengal, 19th century, satire | vs | Kalamkari — Andhra, pen or block on cloth |
Common Mistakes
MCQ traps
- “Ajanta paintings are true frescoes.” Not strictly. They were painted on dry plaster (tempera), though books often call them frescoes; statement-based questions may test this.
- “Mughal painting reached its peak under Akbar.” Most books place the peak under Jahangir.
- “Bani Thani belongs to the Kangra school.” False. It is Kishangarh (Rajasthani), by Nihal Chand.
- “Pithora is from Bihar.” False. It is a Rathwa/Bhil art of Gujarat and MP. Bihar’s is Madhubani.
- “Bhimbetka is in Chhattisgarh.” False. It is in Raisen, Madhya Pradesh.
Practice
All questions are original practice questions in CGPSC style, not previous-year questions.
Level 1: Foundation
- The Persian masters brought to India by Humayun were Mir Sayyid Ali and ______.
- The painting Bharat Mata (1905) was made by ______.
- The Jogimara cave with ancient murals lies in the ______ hills of Surguja.
Answers
- Khwaja Abdus Samad.
- Abanindranath Tagore.
- Ramgarh.
Level 2: Prelims MCQs
Q1. Consider the following statements:
- Ustad Mansur, known for paintings of birds and animals, worked at Jahangir’s court.
- The Hamzanama was illustrated under Shah Jahan.
- The Pala school produced Buddhist palm-leaf manuscript paintings.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 and 3 only
- (c) 1 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer and explanation
(c) 1 and 3 only. Mansur was Jahangir’s great painter of nature. The Hamzanama was Akbar’s project, made in his imperial workshop, so statement 2 is wrong. Pala painting (Bengal–Bihar, 11th–12th centuries) is known for palm-leaf Buddhist manuscripts such as the Prajnaparamita.
Q2. Match List I (Folk painting) with List II (State):
| List I | List II |
|---|---|
| A. Warli | 1. Rajasthan |
| B. Phad | 2. Maharashtra |
| C. Pattachitra | 3. Bihar |
| D. Madhubani | 4. Odisha |
- (a) A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3
- (b) A-2, B-4, C-1, D-3
- (c) A-3, B-1, C-4, D-2
- (d) A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4
Answer and explanation
(a) A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3. Warli is the white stick-figure art of Maharashtra’s Warli tribe; Phad scrolls of Pabuji are from Rajasthan; Pattachitra cloth paintings are from Odisha; Madhubani (Mithila) is from Bihar.
Q3. The painting Bani Thani, often called the “Indian Mona Lisa”, belongs to which school?
- (a) Basohli
- (b) Kangra
- (c) Mewar
- (d) Kishangarh
Answer and explanation
(d) Kishangarh. It was painted by Nihal Chand under Raja Savant Singh in the 18th century. Basohli and Kangra are Pahari schools; Mewar is another Rajasthani school known for Sahibdin.
Q4. Which of the following rock-art sites is located in Chhattisgarh?
- (a) Bhimbetka
- (b) Kabra Pahad
- (c) Lakhudiyar
- (d) Adamgarh
Answer and explanation
(b) Kabra Pahad, near Raigarh. Bhimbetka and Adamgarh are in Madhya Pradesh; Lakhudiyar is in Uttarakhand.
Level 3: Mains-Style Answer Writing
Q1. (150–200 words) Mughal painting was a meeting point of Persian, Indian and European traditions. Discuss with examples.
Model answer outline
- Intro: Mughal painting began when Humayun brought Mir Sayyid Ali and Abdus Samad from the Safavid world.
- Body:
- Persian base: fine line, flat colour, decorative borders, manuscript format.
- Indian contribution: Akbar’s workshop employed Indian painters such as Daswanth and Basawan; Indian epics (Razmnama) and landscapes entered the repertoire.
- European influence: Jesuit gifts introduced perspective, shading and the halo, visible in Jahangir’s allegorical portraits.
- Jahangir’s naturalism: Mansur’s birds and animals, Abul Hasan’s portraits.
- Diffusion: decline under Aurangzeb sent artists to Rajput and Pahari courts, shaping Kishangarh and Kangra.
- Conclusion: Mughal painting was a living synthesis whose effects outlasted the empire itself.
Quick Revision Table
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Bhimbetka | Raisen, MP; V.S. Wakankar; UNESCO 2003 |
| Raigarh rock art | Singhanpur, Kabra Pahad, Ongna, Karmagarh |
| Jogimara | Ramgarh, Surguja; murals + Brahmi inscription (Sutanuka) |
| Shadanga | Six limbs of painting; Yashodhara’s commentary on the Kamasutra |
| Ajanta | Padmapani (Cave 1); Vakataka phase 5th century |
| Pala | Palm-leaf Buddhist manuscripts, Bengal–Bihar |
| Western Indian | Jain Kalpasutra; protruding eye |
| Akbar’s painters | Daswanth, Basawan; Hamzanama |
| Jahangir’s painters | Mansur (Nadir-ul-Asr), Abul Hasan (Nadir-uz-Zaman), Bishandas |
| Kishangarh | Bani Thani, Nihal Chand |
| Kangra | Raja Sansar Chand |
| Basohli | Bold colours, beetle wings |
| Bengal School | Abanindranath Tagore, E.B. Havell |
| Progressive Artists’ Group | Bombay 1947; Souza, Raza, Husain |
| Chhattisgarh folk | Rajwar wall art (Surguja), Godna |
Key Takeaways
Key Takeaways
- Chhattisgarh has both prehistoric (Raigarh shelters) and early historic (Jogimara) painting.
- Ajanta is the high point of mural painting; the miniature begins with Pala and Western Indian manuscripts.
- Mughal painting peaks under Jahangir; its decline feeds the Rajasthani and Pahari schools.
- Modern Indian art runs from Ravi Varma to the Bengal School to the Progressive Artists’ Group.
- Folk paintings are high-yield as painting-to-state pairs.
What’s Next
- Classical Music and Dance — Ragamala paintings make more sense once you know ragas
- Literature and Philosophy — the texts these painters illustrated
- Folk Arts of Chhattisgarh — the state’s own crafts and folk traditions
- Chapter Quick Revision — the whole chapter on one page
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