🎨 Overview
Indian painting spans an extraordinary range, from prehistoric rock art to court miniatures and living folk and tribal traditions. It is frequently tested alongside architecture and other Art & Culture topics, often through image-based or matching questions in Prelims.
🏖️ Mural and Cave Painting
- Bhimbetka rock shelters (Madhya Pradesh): Prehistoric rock paintings, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, depicting hunting scenes, animals and early human life across multiple periods.
- Ajanta murals (Maharashtra): Buddhist murals (roughly 2nd century BCE–6th century CE) depicting Jataka tales, using the tempera technique on a lime-plastered rock surface; considered among the finest examples of ancient Indian painting.
- Ellora and other cave sites also contain painted fragments, though less extensively preserved than Ajanta.
📜 Miniature Painting Schools
Miniature painting — small-format, detailed work typically on paper, palm leaf or cloth — flourished from the medieval period onward across several regional schools:
- Mughal school: Developed under Humayun and reached its peak under Akbar and Jahangir, blending Persian techniques with Indian subject matter; noted for realistic portraiture, court scenes, and natural history illustration (especially under Jahangir).
- Rajput/Rajasthani schools: Sub-schools including Mewar, Bundi, Kishangarh (famous for the "Bani Thani" portrait) and Marwar, generally devotional and romantic in theme (Krishna Leela, Ragamala series), with bold colours and flat perspective.
- Pahari school: From the Himalayan foothill kingdoms (Basohli, Kangra, Guler); Kangra painting in particular is known for its lyrical, delicate depiction of Radha-Krishna themes.
- Deccan schools: Developed under the Deccan Sultanates (Bijapur, Golconda, Ahmednagar), noted for rich colour palettes and Persian-influenced elegance, distinct from the Mughal style.
🎭 Folk and Tribal Painting Traditions
- Madhubani/Mithila (Bihar): Traditionally painted by women on mud walls and floors, now on paper/canvas, characterised by intricate line work and natural dyes; received GI tag recognition.
- Warli (Maharashtra): Tribal art using basic geometric shapes (circles, triangles, squares) in white pigment on a mud/red-ochre background, depicting daily and ritual life.
- Pattachitra (Odisha/West Bengal): Cloth-based scroll paintings, often depicting Jagannath and Vaishnavite themes.
- Kalamkari (Andhra Pradesh): Hand-painted or block-printed cotton textile art using natural dyes, with two distinct styles — Srikalahasti (pen-based, mythological) and Machilipatnam (block-printed).
- Gond (Madhya Pradesh): Tribal art using dots and lines to create intricate patterns, often depicting flora, fauna and folklore.
🎯 Exam Angle
Prelims tests matching a painting style/school to its state and defining features (e.g. Bani Thani → Kishangarh, dots-and-lines → Gond art). Mains rewards linking painting traditions to patronage patterns (royal, temple, folk/community) as a window into regional cultural history.
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