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Rajput Miniature Paintings |
Manvar 

The art of Miniature painting was introduced to the land of India
first by the Mughal invaders, who brought the much-revealed art
form from Persia. In the sixteenth century, the Mughal ruler
Humayun had brought artists from Persia, who specialized in the art
form of miniature painting. The succeeding Mughal Emperor, Akbar
built an atelier for them to promote the rich art form in India. These
artists, on their part, used to train Indian artists who produced
paintings in a new distinctive style, inspired by the royal and
romantic lives of the Mughal people. The particular miniature
produced by Indian Rajasthani artists in their own style is known as
Rajput or Rajasthani miniature.

History Of Miniature Paintings

During this time, several schools of miniature painting evolved, such
as Mewar (Udaipur), Bundi, Kotah, Marwar (Jodhpur), Bikaner,
Jaipur, and Kishangarh schools of miniature painting. These
paintings are created with utmost care and in minute details, with

strong lines and bold colours set in harmonious patterns and RESERVE +91 94141 29767
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wooden tablets, leather, marble, cloth and walls for their paintings.
The Indian artists employed multiple perspectives unlike their
European counterparts in their paintings. The colours are made
from plenty of minerals and vegetables,some precious stones,
including pure silver and gold.

The preparing and mixing of the colours is an elaborate process. It
would take weeks, sometimes months, to get the desired results. The
brushes are required to be extremely fine, and to get high-quality
results, brushes even to this very day are made from hair of
squirrels. Traditionally, the Rajput miniature paintings are
aristocratic, individualistic and strong in portraiture, where the
plush court scenes and hunting expedition of royalty are depicted.
Flowers and animals are also recurring images in the paintings. You
can experience Rajasthani miniature paintings in and around our
luxury desert camp in Jodhpur.  

The Rajasthan Schools of Painting from
the 17th century to the 19th century

Mewar school of Painting - By the time Akbar's peace had been
generally accepted by the Rajasthan state the Sisodiya clan
presented a singular front to the foreigners. It finally succumbed in
the year 1614 but their defence gained the esteem and sympathy of
emperor Shah Jahan, who allowed the Sisodiya to recover from the
defeat without losing their precious pride. During the beginning of
the 16th century, the Mewar school had known a precocious but
short-lived brilliance which was ended by the severe defeats
inflicted by the huge Mughal empire. However, with their
submission to the Mughals the Sisodiya forsook the clash of arms for
the delights of pleasure-making and a more pleasure oriented life.

From this first half of the 17th century appeared a series of
miniature paintings which - keeping in mind the historical context -
remained practically untouched by Mughal influence, although they
are closely linked to the contemporary work of their neighbours in
the Malwa region. The coloured pigments are extremely brilliant
and are used in their pure state which are red, saffron-yellow, blue
and green. Each scene stands out with wonderful luminosity against
the monochrome background of the painting. Linear perspective is
not employed at all, the effect of different places being achieved by

the juxtaposition of colours. Elegant, stylised buildings provide RESERVE +91 94141 29767
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added embellishment of luxurious plant ornamentation, treated
fully and vigorously, and later copied by other schools of Rajasthani
miniature painting. Countless details of the rural folk life and the
courtly, chivalrous atmosphere of the palace are introduced into the
mythical subjects of the Bhagavata-Purana and the Ramayana. With
the second half of the 17th century approaching, we have the
beginning of a new period in the development of the Rajput style of
miniature paintings. The new-found peace encouraged a revival of
the arts as Udaipur was extended, marvellous palaces being built on
the outskirts of the city.

Painting became extremely popular and even began to suffer from
over-production. The compositions grew more complex and more
subtle, but at the same time the paintings lost their charm and their
strength and appeal. In the beginning of the 18th century the
summer palace, at some distance from the capital, was decorated
with mural- miniature paintings which still exhibited a sureness and
nobility. The general lines are cleaner and the scenes are bathed in
an aura of sweet serenity from which all superfluous detail is
banished completely. The Galta temple has some remarkable
frescoes painted, with scenes of religious and local interest. One
depicts an extraordinary young man playing the flute and seated by
a lake; it is a harmony of greys and blues, of inexpressible purity and
magical charm extraordinaire. It is as if Mewar, on the eve of a
permanent artistic decadence, had suddenly returned to the poetic
simplicity of its first paintings from back in the day. 

Malwa School of Painting

 The Moslem sultanate of Malva, in the 15th and 16th centuries,
encouraged local artists to produce works of great originality, and,
in the case of the Nimat-Nameh, to fuse both Persian and Indian
traditions together. At the beginning of the 17th century, Malva,
which is included here not as a state but as a region comprising both
Bundelkhand and south-eastern Rajasthan, continued to produce
miniature paintings which shared the same inspiration as Mewar but
which retained traces of the style of the illuminated works painted
in the preceding century. A series of ragmalas (paintings inspired by
music), among many qualities, show a command of technique and a
remarkably astonishing inventiveness.

The forceful drawing, the clarity of the figure painting, the absolute
simplicity of the composition, detract in no way from the ardent

expressiveness of the incredibly beautiful painting. With this total RESERVE +91 94141 29767
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painting. This style provided inspiration for painters until the end of
the century, with illustrations for the Ramayana and the Bhagavata
Purana, and, while they may have lost something of their emotional
shock, they still remain very much alive and seductive.
 

Bundi School of Painting

One of the greatest dynasties of the numerous Rajput dynasties, the
Hara, ruled over Bundi. They were at first vassals of the Sisodiyas,
but they obtained their independence in 1554 and hastily made a
separate peace with the Mughal rulers. From this alliance a school of
miniature painting grew up which merged harmoniously the realistic
and elaborate styles of the Mughal with the intense expression and
luxuriant plant life of the Mewar school of painting. A series of
ragmalas, dating from the first decades of the 17th century,
perfectly demonstrates the assimilation of these two unique styles.
Figures, of a Mewar type, disport themselves in buildings which are
entirely Mughal in spirit, surrounded by animal and plant life which
are essentially Indian in substance and spirit. Colour in painting is
intense like Mewar paintings but was used very subtly like the
Mughals. The works reveal a nervous charm and an austerity which
seems quite foreign to Bundi painters.

In about 1640 AD, the school developed a greater freedom of
expression, as if the artists had made a conscious effort to free
themselves from their traditional models. The colours became
clearer, more brilliant and the classical themes of the Bhagavata-
Purana are treated in a new and original manner, with the addition
of humorous episodes inside them. The women are all of the same
curious type, with small, rounded faces, plump cheeks and pouting
lips. At the end of the 17th century intimate scenes in dwellings
surrounded by gardens were composed in a nearly geometrical
style. Here we have signs of a growing aridity, but, right till the end,
the paintings retain their highly unique nobility.

The town of Bundi is hidden in a narrow, picturesque gorge and has
a palace with 18th-century fresco-paintings till today. The designs
are unimaginative but they are very beautifully executed. Episodes
taken from the life of Krishna have a humour and vivacity which

recall the early Bundi paintings but they have a more formal RESERVE +91 94141 29767
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the palace calls to mind the Ajanta frescoes, and there is a
marvellously lyrical scene of courtly love executed with a masterly
touch in the frescoes. These paintings are all in a huge first-storey
patio. In an interior room of the palace, inside a deep niche, there is
a wonderful portrait of the divine couple, Krishna and Radha, being
carried off by a whirlwind, literally submerged in the ubiquitous
vegetation of the Brindaban forest, made by artists of Bundi. This
example of portrait art is possibly the most intense surviving
example of mystical Krishnaism in the Bundi school of painting. 

Other Rajput Miniature Painting Schools

Kishangarh School of Painting - Kishangarh, a small state to the
north of Rajasthan, produced one of the most attractive of the many
Indian schools of painting during the first half of the 18th century.
The state was founded with the support of the Mughal empire in the
17th century. It had close links with the capital and might easily
have remained a provincial branch of the Delhi school had it not
been for the existence of three interconnected factors which were a
great king, Singh; a great painter, whose name, Nihal Chand, is
known to us this once; and a great love affair. In the years between
1730 and 1760 these factors produced a style of remarkable
painting known widely for its grave beauty and extreme stylisation.

Kotah School of Painting - Kotah, to the south-east of Bundi, once
formed an integral part of the latter state but gained its
independence from Bundi at the beginning of the 17th century. The
two principalities even fought an immense war a hundred years
later. In the second half of the 18th century, at a time when the
schools of Rajasthan were undergoing a decline, Kotah had two
sovereigns whose passion for hunting resulted in a series of
paintings primarily depicting hunting scenes which were of a style all
of their own in its unique nature and appeal. There is a clear Mughal
influence in the fine detail and the sure use of perspective, but the
initial inspiration must be sought from somewhere else. In these
works nature takes pride of place, even enveloping the hunter, who
sometimes disappears almost completely from view behind a clump
of bushes rather extraordinarily and wild animals slink through the
landscape with great ease, supple and powerful.

Marwar School of Painting - The earliest example of the Rajasthani
paintings of Marwar is that of Ragamala, also known as musical
paintings, which was painted in Pali in the year 1623. In the 18th
century, the most common themes included, the portraits of
noblemen on horses and darbar scenes. With the arrival of artists
like Dalchand, Marwar paintings also started reflecting Mughal
influence on their culture and tradition. There is a luxury desert
camp in Jodhpur which is the incredible Manvar Desert Experience
where you can experience Rajasthani miniature paintings in the city
of Jodhpur during an excursion to the city.
Bikaner School of Painting - Rajasthani paintings of Bikaner were
also based on the Mughal tradition and influence. Apart from the
Mughal style, the paintings of Bikaner also reflect the marked
influence of Deccan paintings. During the late 18th century, the city
started showing conservative Rajput styles with smoothness and
different abstractions. However, they were devoid of any pomposity

and flamboyance compared to the other schools of paintings in

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