The Manuscript Painting Tradition
The foundation of Indian painting lies in ancient texts that established a set of rules or canons for artists. These principles, followed for centuries, created a common artistic language across different regions and time periods.
The most important sourcebook is a chapter called Chitrasutra from a fifth-century text, the Vishnudharmottara Purana. This chapter details the art of making images, known as pratima lakshana. It provides a complete guide for painters, covering everything from techniques, tools, and materials to understanding perspective and creating three-dimensional figures.
The Chitrasutra outlines six key principles or "limbs" of painting:
These canons became the basis for all major styles and schools of painting in India.
During the medieval period, a popular form of painting emerged known as miniature paintings. The name comes from their relatively small size, which meant they were designed to be held in hand and viewed up close. This is in sharp contrast to mural paintings, which were large artworks painted directly onto the walls of mansions.
A large number of these miniatures are specifically manuscript illustrations. They served as visual translations of poetic verses from important texts like the Ramayana, Bhagavata Purana, Mahabharata, and Gita Govinda.
Key features of manuscript illustrations:
The most crucial folio in any manuscript set was the colophon page. This page acted like the credits section of a modern book or film. It contained vital information such as:
Reconstructing the history of these paintings is a difficult task for scholars.
Because of these challenges, scholars often assign a hypothetical timeframe to undated paintings based on stylistic features and other circumstantial evidence.
This school of painting flourished mainly in western India, with Gujarat as its primary center, along with southern Rajasthan and western Central India. This region was a hub of trade, which brought great wealth and prosperity to merchants, traders, and local chiefs, who became powerful patrons of the arts.
The merchant class in western India was largely represented by the Jain community. As a result, they became major patrons of art related to Jainism. This specific tradition within the Western Indian School is known as the Jain School of Painting.
Patronage was further encouraged by the concept of shaastradaan, or the donation of books. Donating illustrated manuscripts to monastery libraries, called bhandars, was considered an act of great charity and righteousness.
Commonly Illustrated Jain Texts:
The period from about 1350-1450 is considered the most creative phase for Jain paintings, where artists began including more decorative elements like figures in dance poses and musicians in the margins.
Alongside the Jain tradition, a parallel "indigenous style" of painting existed among feudal lords and wealthy citizens. This style, sometimes called pre-Mughal or pre-Rajasthani, focused on illustrating Hindu and other secular texts like the Mahapurana and Chaurpanchashika. It developed its own distinct features, such as depicting transparent fabrics and formalised ways of showing water, flora, and fauna, which later influenced Rajasthani painting.
Furthermore, with the rise of Sultanate rule in northern, eastern, and western India, a new hybrid style emerged, known as the Sultanate School of Painting. This was not a formal school but a style that blended:
A prime example of this style is the Nimatnama (Book of Delicacies), a book of recipes painted in Mandu during the reign of Nasir Shah Khalji (1500-1510 CE).
Developing in eastern India, the Pala School of Painting represents the earliest examples of manuscript illustration in India, alongside the Jain tradition. Flourishing during the Pala period (750 CE to the mid-twelfth century), this era is considered the last great phase of Buddhist art in the country.
Great monasteries like Nalanda and Vikramsila were major centers of Buddhist learning and art. Here, numerous manuscripts on palm leaves were illustrated with Buddhist themes, especially images of Vajrayana Buddhist deities.
The Pala style is distinctly different from the Jain school.
Students and pilgrims from all over South East Asia came to study at Nalanda and Vikramsila. They took back examples of Pala art, such as illustrated manuscripts and bronze statues, which led to the dispersal of the Pala style to Nepal, Tibet, Burma, Sri Lanka, and Java.
A famous example of this school is the Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita, or "Perfection of Wisdom," painted at Nalanda during the reign of King Ramapala in the late eleventh century.
The Pala art tradition came to an end in the first half of the thirteenth century when Muslim invaders attacked and destroyed the great monasteries, which were the heart of this artistic production.
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