Indian Painting - Pre History

History and Evolution of Painting in India - An Overview

India has a long tradition of artistic excellence and painting is one of the major mediums that has been used to express it.
There is several evidence suggesting that painting flourished in India since ancient times.
Archaeologists have found wall paintings in parts of India, which suggest that even the early historic man in India was engaged in activities of art and leisure
The history of painting can be traced through the ancient and medieval period where the books were illustrated with paintings
Then came the miniature style that dominated the Mughal and Rajput courts.
With the coming of the Europeans, the art of painting and engraving took a western turn.
Modern painters experimented with styles, colours and designs.
Many Indian painters have gained worldwide recognition and are winning prizes and accolades for their vision.

Principles of Painting

The history of paintings can be known from primitive rock paintings of Bhimbetka, Mirzapur and Panchmarhi.
They were followed by the painted pottery of the Indus Valley Civilisation, but the real beginning of the art of painting began from the Gupta Age.
In the 3rd century AD, Vatsyayana in his book Kamasutra enumerated about six main principles/limbs or Shadanga of paintings. They are:

S.No	Main Principles/Limbs (Shadanga of Paintings)	Meaning
1	Rupabheda	Variety of form (The knowledge of appearances)
2	Pramanam	Proportion of the object or subject (Correct perception, measure and structure)
3	Bhava	Creation of luster and gleam with the colours (Action of feelings on forms)
4	Lavanya Yojanam	Immersion of emotions (Infusion of grace, artistic representation)
5	Sadrisyam	Portrayal of likeliness of the subject (Similitude)
6	Varnika Bhanga	Mixing of colours to resemble the effects of modelling (Artistic manner of using the brush and colours)

There are numerous references to art of painting in the Brahmanical and Buddhist literature. E.g. Lepya Chitra (the representation of the myths and lore on textiles), Dhuli Chitra, Pata Chitra, etc.
Paintings or patas, which are important to understand the different style of paintings and to observe all principles of paintings as facilitated by the play, Mudrarakshasa by Vishakhadutta includes:

Pre Historic Paintings

The prehistoric paintings were generally executed on rocks and these rock engravings
were called Petroglyphs.
The first set of prehistoric paintings were discovered in Bhimbetka caves in Madhya Pradesh.
There are three major phases of prehistoric paintings:

Prehistoric paintings have been found in many parts of the world. We do not really know if Lower Palaeolithic people ever produced any art objects.
But by the Upper Palaeolithic times we see a proliferation of artistic activities.
Around the world the walls of many caves of this time are full of finely carved and painted pictures of animals which the cave-dwellers hunted.
The subjects of their drawings were human figures, human activities, geometric designs and animal symbols.
In India the earliest paintings have been reported from the Upper Palaeolithic times.
Remnants of rock paintings have been found on the walls of the caves situated in several districts of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Bihar.
Some paintings have been reported from the Kumaon hills in Uttarakhand also.
The rock shelters on banks of the River Suyal at Lakhudiyar, bear these prehistoric paintings.

Bhimbetka Cave Paintings

Ajanta Mural

Rajput Miniature Painting

Upper Paleolithic Period (40,000-10,000 BC)

The walls of the rock shelter caves were made of quartzite hence using minerals for pigments.
One of the most common minerals was ochre or geru mixed with lime and water.
To widen their palette, different minerals were used to make colours like red, white, yellow and green, The white, dark red and green were used to depict large animals like bison, elephants, rhino, tigers, etc.
For the human figurines, red was used for hunters and the green mostly for dancers.

Mesolithic Period (10,000-4000 BC)

This period mainly saw the use of red colour.
In comparison to the Upper Paleolithic Period, the size of the paintings became smaller during this period.
One of the most common scenes depicted in these paintings is of group hunting and several other paintings depict grazing activity and riding scenes.

Chalcolithic Period

This period saw an increase in the number of paintings using green and yellow colour.
Most of the paintings seen depict battle scenes.
There are many paintings of men riding horses and elephants.
Some of them even carry a bow and arrow which might indicate preparedness for skirmishes.
Paintings and samples of writing in the Ashokan and Gupta Brahmi scripts ascertain that these cave sites were inhabited in the late historical periods.
The other set of paintings from this period are at Narsinghgarh in Madhya Pradesh.
They have paintings to show skins of spotted deer left for drying that provides credence to the theory that the art of tanning skins was perfected by man for providing shelter and clothing.
Other paintings from this period also have depictions of musical instruments like the harp.
Some of the paintings have complex geometrical shapes like the spiral, rhomboid and circle.
Jogimara Caves in the Ramgarh hills in Surguja district of Chhattisgarh houses some of the paintings from the later period.
Similar paintings can be found in Ghodasar and Kohabaur rock art sites in the district of Koriya.
In Odisha, Gudahandi Rock Shelter and Yogamaatha Rock Shelter are also prominent examples of early cave paintings.

Bhimbetka Rock Paintings

It is located South of Bhopal in Vidhyan ranges of Madhya Pradesh.
The rock shelters have more than 500 rock paintings.
It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.
The oldest paintings are estimated to be 30,000 years old and have survived due to its location deep inside the caves.
The paintings at Bhimbetka belong to Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Chalcolithic, early historic and even medieval period. However, most of the paintings belong to the Mesolithic age.
The paintings generally portray every-day life of prehistoric men often in stick-like human figures.
Various animals like elephants, bison, deer, peacock and snake are depicted.
The paintings also show hunting scenes and war scenes with men carrying weapons like bows, arrows, spears, shields and swords.
Some paintings also have simple geometric designs and symbols.
The other themes of the paintings are dancing, playing music, animal fighting, honey collection, etc.
Social life is well-depicted with the presence of children playing, women making food, community dancing, etc.
Various colours like red ochre, purple, brown, white, yellow and green are used.
Colours were obtained from natural resources, for example, Haematite ores were used for red colour.

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