We find the Jain style in the four paintings of Jins (Jain Gods) in the Sittanvasala caves in 700 AD. The oldest examples of this school are the paintings of Parshwa-Nath, Nemi-Nath, and Rish-Nath, etc. – 20 Tirthankars in “KalKacharya Katha” and “Kalpa Sutra”. Most of the Jain paintings were done in black and white during the 10th and 15th centuries. These paintings were mostly executed on Tala-Patra. In an article titled “Jain on Dwara Pallavit Chitrakala” in “Vishal Bharat,” Muni Kanti Sagar mentioned that these paintings were painted on Tala-Patra, paper, and cloth.
In the Frayer atr gallery of Washington, a manuscript on cloth named “Vasant Vilas” was found, which has been quoted as belonging to the Jain style by some art critics. The book has 50 Shalokas in it. Paintings of eyes have been a specialty of this school. Gold color has also been used. These Jain paintings are done on Tala-Patra using red and yellow colors. Due to the lack of space, the lines have been drawn very carefully. After the advent of the Mughals, the Jain style suffered a setback, but there was a mention that Jain artists also were there in the court of Jahangir.
Muni Kanti Sagar has referred to some manuscripts that had Jain style paintings. Among them, some are “Shri Kalpa Sutra,” Jain “Chitra Kalpa Lata,” “Sachitra Kalpa Sutra.” The examples of the Jain school are found in Calcutta, Baroda, Surat, Khambat, Bombay, Poona, and Bikaner. Female figures were rare in the Jain school. However, some were found there, but they were of the worshipped Goddesses of the Tirthankaras, which were painted in Chitra-Kalpa drum. Dhoti has been made especially beautiful.
The garments of saints have been shown white like pearls or golden garlands, and Mukut has been specially designed and nicely painted. The paintings of ek Chasma (side profile), Ded Chasma (one and a half eye face), and front pose have been done in this school. As we come to Rajput and Mughal schools, we find a specially developed form of this school.
Rajasthani School
The Rajasthani School consists of the Mewar School, Kishangarh School, Bikaner School, Bundi School, and Jaipur School. In the 15th century, it is supposed to be the time of the revival of Hindu literature of painting, music, art, and architecture. All these saw a new dawn in this period. Paintings of Krishna religion, ragmala, and ritikala poetry, etc., were done in this period. This was not the traditional apabhransha style of painting but a very divine and purifying form of the same, which originated in Gujarat and Mewar as a new school. This was called the Rajasthani or Rajput or Hindu school. In the beginning, the paintings were confined to different kings for their amusement, gradually it all came to the common man.
Several precious paintings were destroyed by the Mughals in the 16th to 17th century. In the beginning, the style was inspired by religion, as the followers of Ramanuja, such as Surdas, Tulsidas, Meera Vallabha Charya, and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, had taken the expansion and publicity of Hindu Vaishnava religion to its climax. In the later stages, paintings were done on romance and general folk themes. The whole of Rajasthan was affected by the invasion of Mughals, but Mewar did not come under their control until the end. This was the reason that the Rajasthani School first developed in Mewar in its present form.
Patna School or Company School of Painting
After the downfall of the Mughal emperor, artists tried to settle themselves in different parts of the country. Some artists took refuge under the Nawab of Murshidabad as the conditions were better there. Paintings were done for three years, but due to the quarrels between the East India Company and the Nawabs and the attacks of Afghans and Marathas, the painters settled in Patna during 1750-1776.
Paintings continued in Patna for two centuries from the 18th to the 20th century. It was a big business center and the main commercial center of the British. That’s why the British mainly got paintings done by these artists and sent them to England depicting social life, birds, and animals. The two main artists of the school, Lal Chand and his nephew Gopal Chand, disciples of artist Dallu Lal of Varanasi, lived with Maharaj Eshwari Narayan Singh of Varanasi and painted hundreds of paintings from 1835 to 1888.
This school started at the inspiration of the British, as they taught new techniques of watercolor to these artists and got the paintings done in the same style. But as these artists were of the Mughal school, we find a mixture of Mughal and Western art in the Patna School, which was of a middle standard. The color and shading were of European style and were considered of lower standard by the British due to their false propaganda. Artists started learning the wash technique of watercolor. The artist who copied the British style was rewarded accordingly. This way, the Patna School got started.
The artist who properly copied the British style was given the title of Company’s painter and was encouraged. According to Raja Rajeshwar Prasad Singh, the Patna school was born in the 19th century. The paintings that the King and rich people of Patna got painted by the artists in their shelter were actually the work of the Patna School. It does not look proper to call those paintings done under the Britishers as belonging to the Patna School. The name of Sewak Ram is important among the painters of that age along with Shiv Lal, Hulas Lal, Thumak Lal, Fakir Chand Lal, and Jai Ram Das (1830-50).
Shri Ram Krishan Das is of the opinion that the name “Patna School” is inappropriate, as the paintings were popular throughout the whole country, mainly in Bengal, Punjab, Maharashtra, the West, and Nepal. The British called it the Patna School simply because some prominent artists were from Patna. The main centers of the Company School were Patna, Lahore, Delhi, Lucknow, Varanasi, Murshidabad, Nepal, Pune, and Tanjore. The Dil Shahi, Nizam Shahi, and Qutub Shahi rulers were the patrons of the Deccani School of painting.
During the rule of Ibrahim Adil Shah (II) (1580-1627), a lot of artists flourished, and he was a great lover of painting. This is evident from the availability of numerous portraits of Ibrahim Adil Shah in different museums around the world. One of the finest portraits of him can be found in the Lalgarh Palace at Bikaner, and the British Museum has another portrait of him, which was reproduced by Douglas Barrett and Basil Gray in “Painting of India.” These two portraits represent the typical characteristics of the Deccani School of painting, such as the “richness and mellowed grandeur” set in a mysterious background.
The Deccani School of painting got its inspiration from the Mughal School and evolved its own unique and characteristic style. In the Prince of Wales Museum of Mumbai, the painting gallery has some typical examples of Deccani paintings, which have pale green mineral-colored backgrounds with figures placed squarely in the foreground. There are few other collections of Deccani paintings from Bundi, of the 18th century, available in this gallery, which deal with the theme of love. Another painting in the gallery depicts a lady looking in a mirror (Bundi, 18th century).
In this painting, the artist has created a courtyard with a lush garden in the background and a pond of lotuses in the foreground that blossom in reflection of the glory of the young girl or lover. One more painting of Bundi in the 17th century depicts a “Nayika” in agony painting in another mood. The young lady is in agony, suffering the torment of separation from her lover. Ibrahim Adil Shah was shown as a musician in a few other paintings available in the Naprstck Museum, Prague, and the Goenka Collection, Calcutta.
Although the Mughal School of painting and the Deccani School of painting developed naturalism due to European influence, there was a difference between the two. The Mughal school paintings were more dazzling in technique, whereas the Bijapur or Deccani School of painting represented more naturalism due to imaginative composition and poetic content. Some other Deccani paintings of that period include the paintings of an “Elephant,” “Ayogjni,” “Saints,” “Elephant fights,” “Sparrows,” “Falcons,” etc. These paintings have a distinct quality of their own in the very unconventional composition.
The rich landscape, mysterious atmosphere, gem-like coloring, lavish use of gold, exquisite finish, profusion of large plants, flowering shrubs, and typical Dakhni castles in the background, and above all, the sweeping decorative rhythm that is of Bijapur origin are quite visible in them. But in many cases, the names of those creative painters were not known.
Shri Ram Krishan Das is of the opinion that the name “Patna School” is inappropriate, as the paintings were popular throughout the whole country, mainly in Bengal, Punjab, Maharashtra, the West, and Nepal. The British called it the Patna School simply because some prominent artists were from Patna. The main centers of the Company School were Patna, Lahore, Delhi, Lucknow, Varanasi, Murshidabad, Nepal, Pune, and Tanjore. The Dil Shahi, Nizam Shahi, and Qutub Shahi rulers were the patrons of the Deccani School of painting.
During the rule of Ibrahim Adil Shah (II) (1580-1627), a lot of artists flourished, and he was a great lover of painting. This is evident from the availability of numerous portraits of Ibrahim Adil Shah in different museums around the world. One of the finest portraits of him can be found in the Lalgarh Palace at Bikaner, and the British Museum has another portrait of him, which was reproduced by Douglas Barrett and Basil Gray in “Painting of India.” These two portraits represent the typical characteristics of the Deccani School of painting, such as the “richness and mellowed grandeur” set in a mysterious background.
The Deccani School of painting got its inspiration from the Mughal School and evolved its own unique and characteristic style. In the Prince of Wales Museum of Mumbai, the painting gallery has some typical examples of Deccani paintings, which have pale green mineral-colored backgrounds with figures placed squarely in the foreground. There are few other collections of Deccani paintings from Bundi, of the 18th century, available in this gallery, which deal with the theme of love. Another painting in the gallery depicts a lady looking in a mirror (Bundi, 18th century).
In this painting, the artist has created a courtyard with a lush garden in the background and a pond of lotuses in the foreground that blossom in reflection of the glory of the young girl or lover. One more painting of Bundi in the 17th century depicts a “Nayika” in agony painting in another mood. The young lady is in agony, suffering the torment of separation from her lover. Ibrahim Adil Shah was shown as a musician in a few other paintings available in the Naprstck Museum, Prague, and the Goenka Collection, Calcutta.
Although the Mughal School of painting and the Deccani School of painting developed naturalism due to European influence, there was a difference between the two. The Mughal school paintings were more dazzling in technique, whereas the Bijapur or Deccani School of painting represented more naturalism due to imaginative composition and poetic content. Some other Deccani paintings of that period include the paintings of an “Elephant,” “Ayogjni,” “Saints,” “Elephant fights,” “Sparrows,” “Falcons,” etc. These paintings have a distinct quality of their own in the very unconventional composition.
The rich landscape, mysterious atmosphere, gem-like coloring, lavish use of gold, exquisite finish, profusion of large plants, flowering shrubs, and typical Dakhni castles in the background, and above all, the sweeping decorative rhythm that is of Bijapur origin are quite visible in them. But in many cases, the names of those creative painters were not known.
It was Mangat Ram’s son Mola Ram who carved a niche for himself and took Garhwal School of painting to great heights. Mola Ram, who was born in 1743, was a philosopher, poet, statesman, and a great painter. Beautiful women with thin waistlines, fully developed bosoms, soft oval-shaped faces, high arched delicate eyebrows, and thin noses with defined nose bridges are the special features of the Garhwal School of Painting, thus making it a perfect blend of beauty, romance, passion, poetry, and sometimes religion.
The paintings of Mola Ram are preserved at various places like HNB Garhwal University Museum, Srinagar, Boston Museum of Art in the USA, Bharat Kala Bhawan, Banaras, and Kastur Bhai Lal Bhai Sagrachalaya, Ahmedabad. A book called “Garhwal Paintings” by Mukandi Lal, a barrister by profession, revived this school of painting in 1968. Some of the most famous paintings of the Garhwal School of Painting are Illustrations of Ramayana (1780 AD), Celebrations of Balarama’s Birthday (1780 AD), Illustrations of Geet Govinda, Shiva and Parvati, Krishna Painting the Feet of Radha, Radha Looking into a Mirror, and Varsha Vihar.
