Art and Craft Works by Sumathi Krishna Butter Pot

The Rajasthani School of painting is securely rooted in the Indian traditions, taking inspiration from Indian epics, religious texts like the Puranas, love poems in Sanskrit and other Indian languages, Indian folk-lore and works on musical themes.

This school of painting had influence in Rajasthan and parts of Madhya Pradesh in the present time, such as Mewar, Bundi, Kota, Jaipur, Bikaner, Kishangarh, Jodhpur (Marwar), Malwa, Sirohi and other such principalities largely betwixt the sixteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Salient features of Rajasthani paintings

• This style of painting is deeply rooted in Indian traditions
• The cults of Vaishnavism, Saivism and Saktiexercised tremendous influence on the pictorial fine art of this schoolhouse
• Various cults of Krishna provided a very rich field to the painter who with his artistic skill and devotion made a significant contribution to the development of Indian painting.
• The Rajasthani Schoolhouse of painting is marked by assuming drawing, strong and contrasting colors.
• The handling of figures is flat without any attempt to bear witness perspective in a naturalistic manner.
• Sometimes the surface of the painting is divided into several compartments of different colours in order to separate one scene from another.
• Mughal influence is seen in the refining of drawing and some chemical element of naturalism introduced in figures and copse.
• Apart from depicting stories from the Ramayana and the royal lifestyle of kings and queens were also depicted
• They too portrayed social values and the changes introduced past kings for the betterment of guild. The background of the paintings formed a special feature of the Rajasthani School.
• Newspaper, ivory and silk was used as their canvas in this school of painting

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Bundi schoolhouse of painting

• This style of painting is dated back to 1625 AD
• A painting showing Bhairavi Ragini, in the Allahabad Museum is one of the primeval examples of Bundi painting.
• Themes from the life of Krishna is a major theme in this schoolhouse of painting
• Case for the above is, Rasikapriya of the late 17th century, which has a scene which represents Krishna trying to collect butter from a Gopi, just finding that the pot contains a piece of cloth and some other objects and no butter he rea1ises that he has been duped by the Gopi. In the background are trees and in the foreground is a river indicated with wavy lines. In the river are seen flowers and a pair of aquatic birds. The painting has a edge in bright cerise colour.

Effigy: Bundi School of painting

• The salient characteristic of this schoolhouse of painting is the rich and glowing colours, the rising lord's day in golden color, reddish-ruby-red horizon, overlapping and semi-naturalistic trees
• The Mughal influence is visible in the refined cartoon of the faces and an element of naturalism in the treatment of the copse. The text is written in black confronting yellowish background on the top.

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Malwa School of painting:

It flourished between 1600 and 1700 CE and is most representative of the Hindu Rajput courts. Different the specificity of Rajasthani schools that emerged and flourished in precise territorial kingdoms and courts of their respective kings, Malwa School defies a precise centre for its origin and instead suggests a vast territory of Central India. This conservative style disappeared after the shut of the 17th century.

Salient features of this form of painting

• Malwa paintings show a fondness for rigorously flat compositions, black and chocolate-dark-brown backgrounds, figures shown against a solid colour patch, and compages painted in lively color.
• The school's almost appealing features are a archaic charm and a elementary childlike vision.
• The earliest work in this style is an illustrated version of theRasikapriyā(1634), followed past a serial illustrating a Sanskrit poem called theAmaru Śataka (1652).
• In that location are also illustrations of the musical modes (Ragamala), theBhagavata-Puraṇa, and other Hindu devotional and literary works.

Figure: Ravana begging sita for Alms, Malwa, Rajasthan School of painting

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Mewar school of painting

Mewar painting is one of the most important schools of Indian miniature painting of the 17th and 18th centuries. It is a school in the Rajasthani style and was adult in the Hindu principality of Mewar (in Rajasthan state).

Salient features of this school of painting

• The works of the school are characterized by simple vivid color and direct emotional appeal.
• The earliest example of Mewar painting is a serial of theRagamalapainted in 1605 CE at Chawand, a small place most Udaipur, by Misardi.
• Virtually of the paintings of this series are in the collection of Shri Gopi Krishna Kanoria.
• The expressive and vigorous style connected with some variations through 1680 in the region, after which fourth dimension Mughal influence became more apparent.
• An increasing number of paintings were concerned with portraiture and the life of the ruler, though religious themes were popular

Figure: A painting depicted in the style of Mewar Schoolhouse of painting

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Source: https://www.insightsonindia.com/indian-heritage-culture/indian-paintings/rajasthani-school-of-painting/

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