RAJASTHANI PAINTINGS

• The subjects of these miniature paintings relate to Sanskrit and folk literature, many are the subject of love stories.
• Some paintings are from the Vaishnava sect of the Hindu religion and some are from the Jain cult. The paintings of the Vaishanav set are regarding various occasions in the life of Lord Krishna and his gopis.
• Jaideva’s Gita Govinda has been illustrated in this style as well.
• By the sixteenth century, Vaishvanism in the cults of Rama and Krishna had become popular in many parts of western, northern and central India as part of the Bhakti movement that had swept the entire Indian subcontinent.
• Krishna had a special appeal to Bardic legends and other romantic tales, such as Dhola-Maru, Sohni-Mahiwal, Mrigavat, Chaurpanchashika and Laurchanda just to mention a few other favourite themes. Texts, such as the Ramayana, Bhagvata Purana, Mahabharata, Devi Mahatmya and the like were favourites with all schools of painting.
• Moreover, a large number of paintings record darbar scenes and historic moments; depict hunting expeditions, wars and victories; picnics, garden parties, dance and music performances; rituals, festivals and wedding processions; portraits of kings, courtiers and their families; city views; birds and animals

1. Malwa

• The Malwa School flourished between 1600 and 1700 CE and is most representative of the Hindu Rajput courts.
• Its two-dimensional simplistic language appears as a consummation of stylistic progression from the Jain manuscripts to the Chaurpanchashika manuscript paintings
• The mural paintings in the Datia Palace of Bundelkhand defy an obvious Mughal influence, which is contrary to the works on paper that are stylistically inclined towards indigenous two-dimensional austerity paintings on popular themes, such as the Ramayana, Bhagvata Purana, Amaru Shataka, Rasikapriya, Ragamala and Baramasa, among others

2. Mewar

The emergence of Mewar School is widely associated with an early dated set of Ragmala paintings painted at Chawand in 1605 by an artist named Nisardin.

• It is with a set of Ragamala paintings done in 1605 in the mountainous regions of Mewar that we come to the first specific work belonging to this school.
• The Mewar paintings portray incidents mainly from the life of Krishna and his frolic with the gopis, the hero and heroine themes of Hindi poetry and pictorial representations of the Indian musical nodes.
• Illustration from the Bhagvata and the Ramayana.
• Scenes from rural life, marriage ceremonies, processions, dance and music parties and life of the palace are depicted with feeling.
• Portrayal of birds and animals shows their Gujarat origin and Mughal influence can be felt in the realistic treatment of horses and elephants
• The reign of Jagat Singh I is recognized as the period when pictorial aesthetics got reformulated under virtuoso artists Sahibdin and Manohar, who added new vitality.
• Sahibdin painted the Ragamala, Rasikapriya, Bhagvata Purana and the Yuddha Kanda of Ramayana
• Manohar's most significant work is that of Bal Kanda of Ramayana.
• Jagannath painted the Bihari Satsai in 1719. Other texts like Harivamsha and Sursagar were also illustrated in the last quarter of the seventeenth century.
• Attributed to ingenious artist Sahibdin, Yuddha Kanda, the Book of Battles, popularly referred to as Jgat singh Ramayana, here crafted a novel pictorial device that of oblique aerial perspective to impart credibility to the ambitious sale that war pictures encompass.
• Mewar artists prefer a bright colour palette with prominent reds and yellows.
• Paintings theme courtly activities and royal pastime.
• Nathdwara, a town close to Udaipur and a prominent Vaishnava centre also emerged as a school of painting in the late seventeenth century. Large backdrops called pichhwais were painted on cloth for the deity, Shrinathji.

3. Marwar

• Mughal stylistic trends began to recede. After 1750, however, the Rajput elements began to emerge once again,
• The most important Jodhpur illustrations are equestrian portraits of the royal house and the nobility.
• The most important Jodhpur illustrations are equestrian portraits of the royal and the nobility.
• The Jodhpur and Nagaur paintings show very bold types of expression with broad, fish eyes in human faces and highly stylized tree types
• One of the earliest sets painted in Pali is a Ragamala set by artist Virji in 1623.
• A productive period of painting was ushered in by Maharaja Jaswant Singh (1638–1678) in the mid–seventeenth century.
• A trend for documentary painting through portraiture and depiction of court life started under his patronage around 1640 and enjoyed prominence till the advent of photography in the nineteenth century.
• Due to his inclination towards the Vallabha cult of Shrinathji, he patronized many Krishna-related themes with Bhagvata Purana as the most prominent one Durgadas and his heroism were popularly celebrated in poems and court paintings of Ajit Singh’s period.
• Durgadas’s equestrian (horse riding) portraits became popular The last phase of innovation of Jodhpur painting coincided with the reign of Man Singh (1803–1843). Significant sets painted during his time are the Ramayana (1804), Dhola-Maru, Panchatantra (1804) and Shiva Purana. Ramayana paintings are interesting as the artist has employed his understanding of Jodhpur to depict Rama’s Ayodhya. Hence, one gets an inkling of the bazaars, lanes, gateways, etc., of Jodhpur during that period.
• This is true for all schools, wherein, local architecture, costumes and cultural aspects get interwoven with the stories of Krishna, Rama and others, and get depicted in paintings. Man Singh was a follower of the Nath Sampradaya and paintings of him in the company of the Nath gurus survive. Also, a set of Nath Charita (1824) was painted. 

4. Kishangarh, Bundi, Jaipur

This school is essentially Hindu in feeling and was inspired by a rebirth of the popular Hindu culture in the form of Vaishnavism which began to dominate the art and literature of the country around the 15th century.

Kishangarh 

• An offshoot of Jodhpur school, the Kishangarh rose around the personality of Raja Samant Singh, a follower of the Vallabhi set and a devotee of Lord Krishna
• The most famous painter Nihal Chand., developed an extraordinarily mannerist style which exaggerated the slender curves and almond eyes of his figures.
• The most popular subject of the paintings is the love of Krishna and Radha.
• A distinctive style of the state with a general tendency to elongate the human form, making lavish use of green and penchant for depicting panoramic landscapes had evolved by the early eighteenth century during the reign of Raj Singh (1706–1748).
• With Raj Singh getting initiated into the Pushtimargiya cult of Vallabhacharya, Krishna Lila themes became personal favourites for the rulers of Kishangarh and represented a major portion of their court art.
• Sawant Singh’s most celebrated and outstanding artist was Nihal Chand. Nihal Chand worked for Sawant Singh between 1735 and 1757, and composed paintings on Sawant Singh’s poetry that portrayed the theme of divine lovers Radha and Krishna, in courtly surroundings, often appearing tiny in the vastness and minutiae of their panoramic landscape settings. Kishangarh artists revelled in the depiction of vistas in accentuated colours.

Jaipur

• Raslila of Krishna became an earthly erotic amusement
• Although it retained its conventional expressions, the painting became an extravagantly decorative art.
• Sawai Jai Singh. Artists during his reign painted sets based on Rasikapriya, Gita Govinda, Baramasa and Ragamala, where the hero’s figure is in striking resemblance with the king.
• Portrait painting was also popular during his time and an accomplished portrait painter, Sahibram, was part of his atelier. Muhammad Shah was another artist
• Sawai Ishwari Apart from religious and literary texts, he got scenes of his leisure pursuits, such as elephant rides, boar and tiger hunts, elephant fights, and It was only in the eighteenth century, under the aspiration of Sawai Pratap Singh (1779–1803) that the predominant Mughal influence receded and a Jaipur style with reformulated aesthetics, which was a blend of Mughal and indigenous stylistic features emerged.
• This was a second thriving period for Jaipur and Pratap Singh employed around 50 artists.
• He was a scholar, poet, prolific writer and an ardent follower of Krishna. During his time, apart from royal portraits and representations of courtly pomp and splendour, literary and religious themes, such as Gita Govinda, Ragamala, Bhagvata Purana, etc., got renewed stimulus so on.
• Sawai Madho Singh (1750–1767) was attracted towards getting incidents of his court life recorded there was a lavish use of gold. Jaipur preferred large-size formats and produced life-size portraits.

Bundi

• Bundi Ragamala dated 1591, assigned to the earliest and formative phase of Bundi painting has been painted at Chunar in the reign of Bhoj Singh (1585–1607), the Hada Rajput ruler.
• The Bundi school blossomed under the patronage of two rulers Rao Chattar Sal (1631–1659), who was made the governor of Delhi by Shahjahanand his son Rao Bhao Singh (1659–1682 Amongst the surviving few folios of the Chunar set are Raginis Khambavat Bilaval, Malashri, Bhairavi, Patmanjari and few others Raga Dipak is portrayed in a night setting, seated with his beloved in a chamber that is warmly illuminated by flames from the four lamps; two lamp holders are innovatively shaped like ornate human figures.
• The sky is glittering with innumerable stars and the moon is turning yellow One may observe in this painting that the finial on the domical structure of the palace protrudes into the yellow patch reserved for writing Baramasa is a popular theme of Bundi paintings.
• As mentioned earlier, it is an atmospheric description of the 12 months by Keshav Das that is part of the tenth chapter of Kavipriya written for Rai Parbin, a celebrated courtesan of Orchha.
• It concentrates on court scenes under Rao Chattar Sal and Bhao Singh and many scenes of nobles, lovers and ladies in palaces were produced throughout the 17 and 18 centuries.
• Painting activity entered its most accomplished phase albeit for a short time during the long reign of Budh Singh’s son, Umed Singh (1749–1771), where it acquired refinement in the minuteness of details.
• Bundi's paintings during the eighteenth century appear to have imbibed Deccani aesthetics, such as a love for bright and vivid colours.
• Umed Singh’s successor Bishen Singh (1771–1821) ruled Bundi for 48 years and was a connoisseur of art.
• He had a keen interest in hunting, and hunting wild animals frequently figures in the paintings of his period.
• Under his successor Ram Singh (1821–1889), the chitrashalain of the Bundi palace was decorated with mural paintings of royal processions, hunting scenes and episodes of Krishna’s story.
• The last stages of painting at Bundi are best exemplified by several wall paintings in the palace A distinct feature of Bundi and Kota School is a keen interest in the depiction of lush vegetation; picturesque landscapes with varied flora, wildlife and birds; hills and thick jungles; and water bodies.
• It also has a series of fine equestrian portraits. The drawing of elephants is, particularly, unsurpassed in both Bundi and Kota. Bundi artists had their own standards of feminine beauty women were petite with round faces, receding foreheads, sharp noses, full cheeks, sharply pencilled eyebrows and a ‘pinched’ waist Bundi’s earliest phase of painting, Bundi Ragamala bears an inscription in Persian that dates back to 1591, mentions names of its artists Shaykh Hasan, Shaykh Ali and Shaykh Hatim, who introduce themselves as pupils of master artists, Mir Sayyid Ali and Khwaja Abddus Samad of the Mughal court.

5. Kota

• This school became renowned for the superb hunting scenes painted in the 18th century competent court paintings continued to be done even during 19 th century.
• Kota artists seem to have been the first to render landscape as the real subject of compositions.
• Umed Singh occupied himself with wildlife and gaming from an early age and spent most of his time on hunting expeditions. Paintings served as flattering records of his exploits.
• Kota painting of this period reflects obsession with the chase, which became a social ritual, in which even women of the court participated.
• Kota paintings are characteristically spontaneous, calligraphic in execution and emphasize on marked shading, especially, the double–lid eye.
• The last great patron Rao Ram Singh II, was an ebullient ruler who commissioned several well-drawn and finely detailed scenes of worship at the shrine of his family deity, as well as more conventional hunt,dubar and processional scenes.

6. Bikaner 

• As a result of its long association with the Mughals, Bikaner developed a distinctive language of painting that was influenced by the Mughal elegance and subdued colour palette.
• In the reign of Anup Singh, Ruknuddin (whose ancestors came from the Mughal court) was the master artist, whose style was an amalgamation of the indigenous idiom with Deccani and Mughal conventions.
• He painted significant texts, such as the Ramayana, Rasikapriya and Durga Satpsati. Ibrahim, Nathu, Sahibdin and Isa were other well-known painters in his atelier. A prevailing practice in Bikaner was to set up studios called Mandi, where a group of artists worked under the supervision of a master artist.
• From inscriptions, it can be gathered that Ruknuddin, Ibrahim and Nathu managed some of these professional studios. Several Mandis existed
• The custom of having portraits of artists is unique to the Bikaner School and most of them are inscribed with information regarding their ancestry.
• They are referred to as Ustas or Ustad. Ruknuddin painted exquisite works in soft colour tones. Ibrahim’s works have a misty dreamlike quality. His figures are dainty with heavily modelled faces. His studio appears to be most prolific as his name occurs on different sets of Baramasa, Ragamala and Rasikapriya

7. Bhagavata Purana

This folio from Bhagvata Purana is a typical example of Malwa style, where the space is carefully compartmentalized with each section narrating different scenes of an episode. One observes scenes of celebration and festivities in the house of Nanda and Yashoda after the birth of Krishna. Men and women are singing and dancing (lower left and upper middle section); overjoyed parents — Nanda and Yashoda — are involved in charitable activities and are seen donating cows and calves to Brahmins and well-wishers (middle left and extreme right); a lot of delicious food is being prepared (central section); women are hovering over baby Krishna to safeguard him from the evil eye (upper left section) and the narrative concludes with Krishna toppling, and thus, liberating the cart demon, Shakatasura, with a gentle kick

8. Maru Ragini

The initial part of the inscription found on the painting, representing Maru Ragini classifies Maru as the ragini of Raga Shri and describes her physical beauty and its effect on her beloved Maru is accommodated as the consort of Raga Shri because of the popular appeal of the Dhola-Maru ballad that is deeply entrenched in the folklore and oral tradition of the region. It is the story of a prince named, Dhola, and Princess Maru, who had to undergo numerous struggles to finally be together. The trials and tribulations, the evil relatives, battles, tragic accidents, etc., form the plot of the narrative. Here, they are depicted escaping together on a camel.

Raja Aniruddh Singh Hara

The equestrian portrait of Aniruddha Singh by artist Tulchi Ram was painted in 1680. It epitomizes an artist’s perception of speed and a horse in motion which he accomplished by completely negating the rendering of the foreground. The horse is seen galloping so high in the air that the ground is not visible. The value of such paintings is that they turn still portraits into narratives. 

Chaugan Players

This painting, depicting a princess playing Polo (Chaugan) with companions, by artist Dana represents Jodhpur's painting of Man Singh’s reign. It may or may not be from the main court as it betrays the stylistic influence of many schools, such as Mughal in the way women are depicted, Deccani in the way horses are depicted, Bundi and Kishangarh in the depiction of facial features, and the flat green background is suggestive of the indigenous preference for flat surfaces. The painting is inscribed with a line on the upper portion that is translated as, “beautiful maidens on horsebacks, playing”.

9. Krishan Swinging and Radha is in a Sad Mood 

Painted in 1683 by artist Nuruddin, who worked in the court of Bikaner from 1674 to 1698, it presents a stark and simple composition with minimal and suggestive representation of architecture and elements of landscape. Nuruddin has ingeniously employed the device of the soft undulating mound in the centre to divide the painting into two sections. It operates as a pictorial prop that transforms an urban setting into a tree-laden countryside and vice versa. An architectural pavilion in the upper part of the painting pictorially qualifies that space as the ‘palatial interior’, while few trees on the green grassland suggest an ‘outdoors and pastoral’ landscape. Hence, one understands the movement of the narrative from top to bottom as a progression of activities from indoors to outdoors. Appearing in the upper section of the painting, Krishna seated on a swing seems to be enjoying himself in the company of a Gopi at her dwelling. On learning about his rendezvous a jilted Radha, stricken with grief, disappears into the countryside and finds herself alone under a tree. Guilt-ridden Krishna, on learning of Radha’s sorrow, follows her but there is no truce happening. Meanwhile, Radha’s sakhi (friend) gets to know of the fallout and takes on the role of a messenger and pacifier. She comes to Krishna and tells him of the misery and plight of Radha, and implores him to appease her

10. Bani Thani

• She was an attendant of Raj Singh’s wife and a gifted poetess, singer and dancer. Bani Thani was Sawant Singh’s muse for the poetry he wrote, celebrating the love of Radha and Krishna.
• He writes about her in a poem Bihari Jas Chandrika, which became the basis for Nihal Chand’s painting of Bani Thani, thus, representing a blending of poetry and painting.
• The exaggerated facial type of Kishangarh, which becomes the distinctive and salient stylistic feature of the Kishangarh School, is believed to have been derived from the attractively sharp facial features of Bani Thani.
• Artist Nihal Chand is attributed with the credit of contriving this exquisite and characteristic Kishangarh physiognomy that is perceived in figures of Sawant Singh and Bani Thani is always represented as Krishna and Radha in brilliantly coloured, panoramic landscapes.
• Radha’s face in Bani Thani Radha is unique in her deeply curved eyes, exaggerated arch of the eyebrows, pointed nose, serpentine curl of hair spiralling down the cheek, thin lips and pronounced chin. 

Rama Meets Members of his family at Chitrakut

• S. Artist Guman begins the narrative from the left and ends it on the right. According to the Ramayana, Bharat was away when Rama was sent to exile.
• After the passing away of Dashratha, overcome with grief and filled with remorse, Bharat along with the three mothers, sage Vasishtha and courtiers visits Rama to persuade him to return to Ayodhya.
• Set in Chitrakut, the story in the painting begins with the three mothers along with the wives of the princes proceeding towards the thatched dwellings. On seeing the mothers, Rama, Lakshmana and Sita bow down in reverence. Bereaved
• Kaushalya rushes to her son Rama and gathers him in her arms. Rama is, then, seen respectfully greeting the other two mothers —Sumitra and Kaikeyi.
• He, then, dutifully acknowledges the two sages and sits down to talk to them. When the sage breaks the news of Dashratha’s death, Rama is seen collapsing in anguish.
• Sumanta is seen devotedly standing behind the sages. The three mothers and the wives of Lakshmana, Bharat and Shatrughana are depicted talking to Sita.