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Origin & Development of Indian Painting The origin of Indian painting goes back to 8000 years and an account of its development is inextricably meshed with the development of Indian civilization. But the culmination of Indian frescoes can be seen at Ajanta, where from the second century B.C., wall painting continued to be made until the fifth century. There is no definite evidence of painting during the Indus Valley Civilization, but the design and decoration of earthen pots reveal that the art of painting was not entirely unknown. Painting was unknown during the Mauryan period also. Indian painting reached a high level of achievement in the Gupta period at Ajanta and Bagh where entire settlements of rock-cut caves were decorated with figures of men and women. Some of them, like the famous painting of the Bodhisattva, are graceful and yet pensive, as of pondering the cycle of birth and death. When the Gupta Empire declined, its style of art underwent several distinct changes, which art historians have classified into three phases. In the 7th to 8th century, which constitutes the first phase, the styles did not change very visibly. Painting activity seems to have shifted at this time from Ajanta caves to the neighbouring caves at Ellora. During the second phase, artists painted scenes from the Hindu epic, the Ramayana. The third phase, which date to the 13th to 16th centuries, creativity in art was replaced by excellence of craftsmanship. It was during this period that the earliest book illustrations developed. Buddhist scriptures such as the Pranjaparamita preserved on palm leaf manuscripts were now illustrated for the first time with miniatures in flat, bright hues of red and blue outlined in black. The Pala rulers of Eastern India, who came to power in the 9th century, encouraged this form of art, and so did royal patrons in other parts of India The Muslim ruler of South India followed the Persian tradition of art and painting, which was novel in itself. After the decline of Mughal painting, a large number of painters took shelter in Patna and developed a novel style or school of painting by combining the Mughal and British style and giving it a local touch. It consists of small painting which is generally made on the paper and elephants teeth. The theme is generally related to the daily life style of the common people. Some of the important [...]

SCHOOLS OF PAINTING IN INDIA: Past & Present Mughal Paintings: The new style developed in the court of Akbar, who successfully blended Hindu and Islamic elements to create the style that we now call Mughal, in architecture, art and administration. Akbar established workshops or Karkhanas for painters at his court at Fatehpur Sikri, near Agra. Under the guidance of a Persian artist, Mir Sayyid Ali, and a talented calligrapher named Abdus Salam, about a hundred promising young artist were trained in the art of miniature painting and calligraphy. Mughal miniatures defy traditional Western classification. They are not always on paper. Not all of them are of a standard size. In fact, some of them are far from miniature in size, being as large as English watercolours. And, not all of them were made as illustrations for books. Some are loose individual paintings gathered in albums called Muraqqa. Among these are the Hindu epic, the "Mahabharata", which became known as the "Hamzanama" or the story of the Great War. It was illustrated with about 1400 paintings on coarse cotton cloth. Among other manuscripts written and illustrated under his direction were the baburnama, or the Memoir of Babur, and the akbarnama. The paintings done in Akbar’s time established new patterns of art. If Akbar established a new idiom in the field of painting, his son Jahangir brought, it to fruitation, for the miniatures produced under his patronage are the best of those in the Mughal style. Jahangir had an interest in fauna and flora that led to a large number of lovely paintings of animals, birds and plants being done.             Rajput Paintings: It was prevalent in Rajputana, Bundelkhand and Punjab-Himalya region. It is an aristocratic folk art appealing to all classes alike. It illustrates every phase of medieval Hindi literature and its theme cannot be understood without a thorough knowledge of the Indian epics, Krishna Lila literature, music and erotics. One of the oldest Rajput paintings has Krishna Lila and lyrical theme. ‘I’anjore school: This school of painting imbibed the culture and style of various conquering rulers. Tanjore paintings on wood were commissioned by patrons whose wealth decided the quality of art work on gold leaf or gems. The artists were Kshatriyas of the Raje community, for whom art was a ritual expression rather than a creative one. The common themes for Tanjore paintings are the ones, portraying Krishna or the [...]

LITERATURE OF EASTERN  INDIA Assamese Literature: Though the origin of Assamese language may be traced in the 7th century, its literary tradition started in the 13th century with the advent of Shanker Dev (1449-1568) who composed creative drama, epic and songs. In the field of prose, Bhattdev contributed a lot during the 16th century. In modern time, the British and Bengali influence may be traced. In 1873, Bible was translated in Assamese. The age of renaissance was started with the publication of Janaki Patrika which was edited jointly by Chandra Kumar Agrawal (1858-1938), Lakshmi Nath Bejbarua (1867-1938) and Hem Chandra Goswami. The tradition of fiction or novel writing was started in 19th century by Padnath Gohai Barua and Rajnikant Bardolai. Some of the famous novelists of this phase are Dandinath Kalit, Devchandra Talukdar, Beena Barua who are still remembered. In the field of prose, Virendra Bhattacharya (1924-1997) bagged prestigious Gyanpith award. In the year 2000, Indira Goswami was given the Gyanpith award.   Bengali Literature: During the primary stage of its development, the Bengali literature followed the Nath School of thought and romanticism of Radha-Krishna. In the 14th century, Chandidas composed about thousands of words related to Radha-Krishna. Kirtivas Ramayan was composed in the 15th century by Kirtivas Ojha which is as popular as the Ramcharitamanasa of Tulsidas.   The tradition of modernity in Indian languages emerged first in Bengali literature because the British first came there and infused English with the Bengali. William Kaire translated Bible into the Bengali and also contributed in the composition of English-Bengali dictionary. The epic star, Michael Madhusudan, composed the famous epic Meghnad Badha on the line of Homer, Dante and Virgil.   Bankim Chandra is known for his Durgesh Nandini, Anand-math, Vish Vriksha etc., while Sharat Chandra is still remembered for his Charitrahin, Srikanta, and Badi Didi etc. The Bengali literature got international recognition when Gitanjali of Rabindranath Tagore was awarded Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. The Pather Panchali of Vibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhaya and Ganadevta of Tarashanker Bandopadhaya were the other historical works. Oriya Literature: Oriya is basically originated from the Magadhi dialect and it is very close to the Assamese. During the 13th and 14th centuries, the entire literary tradition was greatly influenced by the Buddhism and Bhakti (devotional) tradition and philosophy of Hinduism. Sharla Das, Balram Das, Jagnnath Das, Yashwant Das etc. contributed a lot to this devotional and cultic [...]