Rajasthan Rajputana Paintings

Rajasthan's role in the devolopment of Indian art has been very important. The decoration of dwellings and other household objects was but one aspect of the creative genius of the Rajasthani -- the world of miniature paintings is perhaps the most fascinating and the distinctive styles that have existed here are renowned the world over. From the 16th century onwards there flourished diffrent school of paintings like the Mewar school, The Bundi-Khota kalam, the Jaipur, Biakner, Kishangarh and Marwar schools.

Influenced by the surroundings these medieval paintings have their own styles -- the hills and valleys, deserts, places and forts, gardens, court scenes, religous processions and those highlighting scenes from the life of Lord Krishna were the recurrent themes of these paintings. It could be argued that in fact all art is the product of the medium, the artist and his or her surroundings, from a novel on Partypoker players to a watercolour of the Nile. The Raagmala paintings and those based on Geeta Govinda are treasures of Rajasthan. It is widely believed that the miniature artists of Rajasthan were practicing and perfecting their art as early as the beginning of the 16th century and were later employed by the Mughal courts, specially by the great Mughal emperor Akbar.

The colors used by miniature artists were made from minerals, vegetables, precious stones indigo, conch shells, pure gold and silver. The preparing and mixing of color was an elaborate process and it took weeks, sometimes months, to get the desired results. Very fine, specially created brushes were made for different kinds of paintings. The colors used were more varied paintings were done on paper and plain leaf to illustrate manuscripts, and on the walls of palaces and the inner chambers of forts, havelies and paintings were done on cloth. But the importance of miniatures has never diminished - even after all these years. Pure Rajput paintings and those influenced by the Mughal court provide an interesting insight into the lifestyles of the centuries and continue to fascinate the scholars to this day.