Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India

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ART

trend in the development of

painting during the 16th cen-

tury. The

Chaurapanchasika

predates the earlier known

Mughal painting, and they

come from Uttar Pradesh,

Delhi,

Malwa,

Rajasthan

etc. Under the Pala kings

(765-1175) in Bengal, Bud-

dhist manuscripts were il-

lustrated in a style that re-

called Ajanta. The subjects

are scenes from the life of the Buddha and other Buddhist deities.

They were done by the monks of Nalanda and Vikramashila univer-

sities. They depict the Vajrayana form of Buddhism.

In Mandu, the styles were a mix of Gujarati, Jaunpur and Oudh,

Rajput and the Deccan mode from the south.

During the rule of the Khilji dynasty in Mandu, the

Nimat-Nama

(Book of Delicacies), painted during this period, shows a strong

Persian influence of the Turkoman school.

In the 7th and 8th centuries, Arabs kindled by the new faith of

Islam, swept over Syria, Egypt, Persia, Asia Minor and Spain,

turned to India and conquered Sind. After Muhammad Ghori extin-

guished Hindu power in 1192, northern India was ruled by a succes-

sion of Islamic dynasties, namely the Slave dynasty, the Khilji, the

Tughlaqs, Sayyids, Lodis; but these rulers adhered faithfully to the

Islamic ban on the art of painting. However, in Jaunpur (Bihar) un-

der the Sharqi Kugi and Khilji Pathas and Malwa (capital Mandu)

under the Rajput Paramaras developed schools of painting. The

volume on cookery,

Nimat Nama,

was produced (1506). The ro-

mance between Baz Bahadur and Rupamati was a much-loved

theme for the artist. Under the patronage of Baz Bahadur, Mandu

painting flourished using primary colours (yellow, green, red) ap-

propriate to the passions. The women have flowing skirts, narrow

waists, full lips and breasts. They appear in pavilions of chaste

architecture. The drawing is precise and the trees and foliage are

simplified and stylised in a manner soon to be identified with the

painting of South Rajasthan. Mandu painting came to an end with

the overthrow of Baz Bahadur, the style reappearing with modifica-

tions in Malwa and in Mewar (Rajasthan). However, Mandu paint-

ing under the patronage of the Mughals developed greatly.

In the

Nimat Nama,

the dresses are Persian, with shades of

blue, green, orange, golden sky, high horizon, ribbon-shaped Chi-

nese colours, cone-like hills, faces in 3/4 view, flame-like glory,

flowered background although the intense blue background, strident

colours (particularly yellow), symmetrical groups of figures are

new. Spacing is lacking and comma-like stripes at the end of the

landscape are noticeable.

Humayun while in exile in Persia and Afghanistan came in

contact with Persian artists (at the court of Shah Tahmasp). Aga

Mirak, Sultan Muhammad and Muzaffar Ali, who were pupils of the

legendary Bihzad and Mir Sayyid Ali and Abdus Samad accompa-

nied him (and Akbar) to India.

Akbar may be said to be the real founder of Mughal painting.

Having distinguished himself in a synthesis of Rajput Hindu

architecture and Muslim architecture, his patronage to painting was

remarkable. More than a hundred painters (most of them Hindus)

were employed in the royal atelier at Fatehpur Sikhri, who were

instructed by Mir Sayyid Ali and Abdus Samad in the technical

details of Persian miniatures thereby beginning a syncretic school

of painting.

Red, blue and green predominate; the

pink coloured rocks and the vegetation,

plants and blossoming trees are reminis-

cent of Persia. The illustrated epics,

Mahabharata and Ramayana,

were pro-

duced under the Hindu artist, Daswanth

(trained under Persian artists).

Daswanth was the son of a palanquin-

bearer. He was apprenticed to the

painter Abdus Samad and became one of

the most famous painters at the court of

Akbar. His signature appears on about a

dozen of the miniatures for the Razm-

Nama. The Timur-Nama, Babur-Nama

and Akbar Nama are the pictorial sagas of the Mughal rulers.

Mughal painting was neither Persian nor indigenous, but a happy

synthesis of both. The kings preferred the warm colours and fren-

zied style of the

Chaurapanchasika

group to the more subdued pal-

ette and formal decorative art of Persia.

Other famous Mughal painters in Akbar's court were Basawan,

Harbans, Keshavalal, Madhu and Mukund. Basawan collaborated

on the illustration of the Razm-Nama, the Persian translation of the

Mahabharata

commissioned by Akbar. Harbans was a painter

mentioned in the Ain-i-Akbari, written in about 1595 by Abul Fazl,

biographer of the Emperor Akbar. Madhu was a painter known for

his portraits and for several illustrations for the Akbar Nama, a his-

tory of Akbar's reign written by Abul Fazl. Other painters men-

tioned in Ain-i-Akbari are Keshavalal and Mukund.

The themes include the-rulers riding wild elephants. Abul Fazl

tells us that the works were laid before Akbar weekly and he used

to confer rewards according to the excellence of workmanship. He

also encouraged portraiture and he sat for his own portrait. Mughal

painting was a co-operative work in which numerous artists and

craftsmen participated. Junior artists ground the materials for the

pigments and burnished the paper. The thick handmade paper came

into wide usage during Akbar's reign in a factory established at