Doordarshan’s: The Paintings of India

Director: Benoy Behl

1. Roots in Sacred Art (Pala and Jain manuscript paintings)
The Jain and Buddhist traditions of painting are the roots from which many branches of Indian art developed. From the 8th to the 12th centuries, painted manuscripts were made in vast numbers in eastern and western India. The Pala manuscripts depicted the Buddha, Buddhist deities and the Jataka tales of the previous lives of the Buddha. The style was naturalistic and displayed characteristics of the Ajanta style. In western India, the early Jain manuscripts, unlike the Buddhist ones, illustrate accompanying texts, like the Kalpasutra and Kalakacharya and display linear and angular abstractions. The conventions of painting developed in the early period in these manuscripts, continued right through the medieval age in Indian art, namely the Chauraphanchasika style, which was found in early Rajasthani miniatures.

2. Royal Splendor (Paintings under the patronage of Jahangir and Shah Jahan)
The Mughal court presented a marvellous combination of the inspiration of masterly painters and great patrons. Under Jehangir’s keen aesthetic sense a transition to courtly refinement and formality developed. Albums were produced of paintings of bird and animal studies, executed with photographic precision and are excellent botanical and zoological studies. Numerous European paintings were copied assiduously in Jahangir’s ateliers, and various elements like western perspective and naturalistic drapery were incorporated in these miniatures. The art of portraiture developed to great heights under the patronage of Jehangir. The emphasis was on the imperial stature of the king and the court. The rule of Jahangir’s son Shahjahan marks the highest point of opulence and splendour of the Mughal empire. The paintings commissioned by Shahjahan possess a dazzling, jewel-like beauty.

3. Colours of the Desert (Miniatures of Marwar, Bikaner, Amber, Jaipur and Kishangarh)
The tradition of miniature painting in Rajasthan has roots in the ancient culture of the land- in its myths and legends, its poetry and songs. This film presents the schools of painting in Marwar, Bikaner, Amber, Jaipur and Kishangarh in a period, which was fast changing under the impact of new and powerful influences. The proximity of the Mughal court and the dominating culture of that great empire shaped the paintings of Rajasthan. Each court developed a distinct pictorial language; responding to the artistic influences coming from the Mughals and combining these with local subjects and sensibilities.

4. Company Paintings
By the 18th century, representatives of the East India Company were stationed in the courts of the many kingdoms in India. Gradually, as the political and economic power of the local rulers declined, the court artists no longer had the traditional patronage of the rulers. They now turned to the Europeans as their new patrons. In this period, Indian artists adapted their talents and manner of working to suit the tastes of the new patrons, which came to be known as the Company School. The school of painting that thus emerged, was quite different from any in the past, not only in technique but also in spirit, and defined the course that later Indian art was to charter, where teaching models were based upon the academic styles of the West.

December 9 to 10, 2005 | 6.30 pm
Little Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai