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Paintings

India's heritage of painting dates back to the primitive era when man used to live in caves and rock shelters. Painting was initially started so that they could converse with each other by drawing graphics or images. Gradually it took the shape of art, which is evident from the caves in Hoshangabad, Mirazapur and Bimbekta.

Murals

The traditional Mural paintings are found in the Ajanta caves in modern Maharashtra. The inspiration behind this style of painting is the compassionate Buddha. Jataka tales pertaining to Buddhist mythology forms the theme of these paintings. Anonymous artists painted them collectively in gracefully and with sensitive colours.

The paintings found in the Indus Valley may have had extensive mural painting, for the painting on the pottery found here projects vigorous realism.

Manuscript

With the coming of the 11^th century, one saw the degeneration of the murals to the size of a palm leaf strip. One saw the birth of Manuscript paintings here. Bengal and Bihar introduced the manuscript telling Buddhist stories. Manuscript paintings diversified their theme by using symbolism. Symbolism was the spirit of the Indian miniaturists' visual expressions and affiliation with nature. Symbolism beyond the primary function of lines and pigments caught their interest.

The advent of Mughals in India uprooted the stable pictorial style of Indian paintings, which was also influenced by the traditional Persian miniature art. The Mughals were more interested in building empires and thus architecture. Only the great Mughal emperor Akbar patronized art, and he gave re-birth to miniature paintings merging the Persian and Islamic styles. Generally, the artists in Akbar's court painted portraits, courtly life, battle scenes and the nature. But the art received a boost, when emperor Akbar commissioned the rendition and illustration of Indian texts like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Jahangir, Akbar's son also patronized art and his reign also saw art thriving in India. By this time, the artists used other products for painting like malachite, lapis lazuli, gold, silver and 'Peori', a yellow dye extracted from the urine of cows on mango leaves!!

The artists of the Mughal court later constituted the artisans of the Rajput princes. The Rajput paintings presented, in line and colour, the great myths and legends of the land, the story of Rama, of Krishna, of the Bhagavata and the Gita Govinda. The various styles of paintings that reigned the Rajput period are Kotah and Kishangarh painting (Radha-Krishna story). Among the painting that thrived in the hill states set up by the gallant Rajput warriors, Basohli is unique for its intensity of expression, Kulu for its closeness to the folk style and Kangra for both its romanticism and large output. However, the mythical sources of music are depicted in the Tanjore paintings of the South.

Contemporary Art

With the strengthening of the British control in India, creative Indian art suffered a setback. The English engaged Indian artists to paint landscapes in water and oil colour, resulting in loss of originality. Soon the political wave hit the country and what came about was the famous Bengal (revivalist) School. The pioneers of this school were ace painters like Abanindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore and Nandlal Bose. They contributed a lot in re-shaping the Indian art and motivating others for the same. Abanindranath specialised in portraiture, Gaganendranath in cartoonist-critic of social and political mishappenings of that time and Nandlal was an expert in painting epic themes and later graduated to explore Asian art. However, nationalism witnessed some of the painters move towards folklore. Rabindranath Tagore (Nobel Prize winner) gave a charter for free variations on naturalism, abstraction and expressionism. Today, India has a host of world famous painters like Jamini Roy (discovered the virility of the folk tradition and modulated it in many ways), Amrita Sher-Gill (integrated the pictorial idiom of the west and an Indian vision), Binod Mukherjee and Ram Kinkar. New genres of painters who have invaded the old space are M.F Hussain, Krishnan Khanna and Satish Gujral.

Sculpture

Architecture, sculpture, arts and crafts of India have their origin in the deepest channels in the history of civilization. Indian sculpture is primarily realistic and the human forms often have slim waists, supple limbs and a youthful or sensuous poise. Indian sculpture has grounded flora and fauna along with the innumerable deities.

The Great Baths of Mohenjodaro of Indus Valley civilization is the finest example of the ancient sculpture. The engravings in the temples of the Deccan like Kanchipuram, Madurai, Srirangam and Rameswaram and Varanasi in the North are standing examples of the excellent sculpture that thrived in India.

Not only this, the Khajuraho temples in Madhya Pradesh and Sun temple of Konark in Orissa also speak volumes of the excellent work. Even Sanchi Stupa has fabulous sculpture embellishing the surrounding balustrades and the gateways dating from the 3rd century BC. The temple at Mammallapuram, Mauryan stone sculpture in the Lion Capital in the Sarnath Museum (from where the state seal of India has been derived), architectural sculptures of Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda depict the life of Buddha are other examples.

The Hindu cave architecture reached its zenith in Elephanta Caves near Mumbai and so did the Hindu and Jain rock temples of Ellora, especially the Kailasa Temple of 8^th century.

The rich evidences of the art pieces of the past suggest that Indian sculpture once ranked one of the highest in the entire world.