Miniature painting schools

Where

Buddhist monasteries of Bihar and Bengal, such as Nalanda and Vikramashila

When

11th and 12th centuries; the page shown is from the late 11th century

Who

Mostly Buddhist monks

Made with

Ink and colour on narrow strips of palm leaf

Key works

The Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita (the Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 lines)

Under the Pala kings of eastern India, monks copied Buddhist texts on long, narrow strips of palm leaf and painted small pictures between the lines of writing. The pictures show the Buddha, bodhisattvas and goddesses in smooth, flowing lines and rich colours. Before paper, Indian books were written on palm leaves, or on birch bark in the far north, and the long shape of the leaf decided the shape of the page.

Where

Gujarat and Rajasthan, with Patan as a main centre

When

11th to 16th centuries; the page shown is from about 1472

Who

Painters working for Jain patrons

Made with

Palm leaf at first, then paper; lots of red, gold and blue

Key works

The Kalpasutra (the lives of the Jinas, above all Mahavira) and the Kalakacharya Katha

Jain painters of western India illustrated holy texts, first on palm leaf and later on paper, which kept the long, narrow shape of the leaf. The text painted most often is the Kalpasutra, which tells the life of Mahavira, starting with the fourteen dreams his mother Trishala saw before his birth. Figures have sharp, angular faces, and the far eye sticks out beyond the outline of the face.

When

Joined Humayun around 1550; Abd al-Samad worked for Akbar until the 1590s

Who

Persian painters trained at the court of the Safavid shah of Iran

Key works

Princes of the House of Timur (about 1550 to 1555, British Museum), one of the earliest Mughal paintings

When Shah Tahmasp of Iran lost interest in painting, his court artists looked for new patrons, and the Mughal emperor Humayun took on Mir Sayyid Ali, from Tabriz, and Abd al-Samad, from Shiraz. They trained Indian painters in the Mughal workshop, so Persian fine detail met Indian energy. Mir Sayyid Ali first led the work on the Hamzanama, and Abd al-Samad took over and ran Akbar's workshop from about 1572.

Where

Akbar's court workshop

When

About 1562 to 1577

Who

A large team led first by Mir Sayyid Ali, then by Abd al-Samad

Made with

Colour on cotton cloth; each page is about 70 cm tall

The Hamzanama tells the wild adventures of Amir Hamza, an uncle of the Prophet Muhammad, full of giants, demons, spies and battles. The young Akbar ordered a copy with about 1,400 paintings, each very large and painted on cotton cloth, and the work took about fifteen years. Only part of it survives, scattered across museums around the world.

Where

Akbar's court workshop

When

Basawan was active about 1580 to 1600; Daswanth died in 1584

Key works

Basawan: Akbar Taming the Elephant Hawai, from the Akbarnama (about 1590). Daswanth: pages of the Hamzanama and the Razmnama, the Persian Mahabharata

Akbar's historian Abu'l Fazl praised both men in the Ain-i-Akbari. Basawan was famous for crowded, lively scenes with a real sense of depth, and he learned light and shade from European pictures brought to the court by Jesuit priests; his son Manohar also became a court painter. Daswanth was the son of a palanquin bearer; Akbar noticed him drawing on walls and had him trained by Abd al-Samad, and he became known for bold, imaginative work before his death in 1584.

Where

The courts of Akbar and Jahangir

When

Early 17th century; died 1624

Key works

Peregrine Falcon on a Perch (CSMVS museum, Mumbai), Siberian Crane, and a painting of a dodo

Jahangir was fascinated by animals and plants, and Mansur was his finest painter of nature, honoured with the title Nadir al-Asr. He painted single birds, animals and flowers with every feather and petal in place, on a plain ground with nothing to distract the eye. He was the first to paint the Siberian crane, and made one of the earliest colour pictures of a dodo.

Where

Jahangir's court

When

Born 1589; worked for Jahangir from the early 1600s to the 1620s

Who

Son of the Persian painter Aqa Riza of Herat

Key works

Jahangir Shooting the Head of Malik Ambar (about 1616, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin); Jahangir Embracing Shah Abbas

Abu'l Hasan grew up at the court of Prince Salim, who became the emperor Jahangir and gave him the title Nadir al-Zaman. He is known for portraits and for allegories, pictures with a hidden meaning that show the emperor's wishes as if they had come true. Here Jahangir shoots at the head of Malik Ambar, an enemy general from the Deccan he never managed to capture, while cherubs and a globe show him as master of the world.

Where

The courts of Jahangir and Shah Jahan

When

Active from about 1615 to the 1640s

Key works

Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings (about 1615 to 1618)

Bichitr was a master of formal portraits and painted almost every important person at the courts of Jahangir and Shah Jahan. In his most famous painting, Jahangir sits on an hourglass throne and gives a book to a Sufi saint, ignoring an Ottoman sultan and King James I of England who wait below. Bichitr painted himself into the bottom corner, and later Mughal painters copied the idea.

Where

Chawand and Udaipur, Rajasthan

When

From 1605; Sahibdin worked in the mid 17th century

Who

Nisardin; Sahibdin, for Maharana Jagat Singh I (ruled 1628 to 1652)

Key works

Chawand Ragamala (1605); the Mewar Ramayana (1649 to 1653)

Mewar is one of the oldest Rajasthani schools, and its earliest dated set is a Ragamala, a series of paintings of musical modes, painted at Chawand in 1605 by Nisardin. Under Maharana Jagat Singh I, the painter Sahibdin led a huge illustrated Ramayana, parts of which are now in the British Library. Mewar pictures use bright red, yellow and blue in flat areas, with simple figures and lively stories.

Where

The Hadoti region of south-east Rajasthan

When

Bundi from the late 16th century; Kota from the 17th century; the page shown is from about 1680

Key works

The Chunar Ragamala (1591), linked to the Bundi rulers; the Kota hunting scenes

Bundi painting grew from close links with the Mughal court: a Ragamala of 1591, painted at Chunar by Mughal-trained artists, is linked to the Bundi rulers. Bundi pictures are known for rich greens, dense trees, lotus ponds and dark rain clouds, with graceful women and princes. Kota was carved out of Bundi in the 17th century, and its painters became famous for exciting scenes of kings hunting tigers and lions through the jungle.

Where

Kishangarh, near Ajmer, Rajasthan

When

Mid 18th century; Bani Thani is from about 1750

Who

Nihal Chand (1710 to 1782), for Raja Savant Singh

Key works

Radha (Bani Thani), National Museum, New Delhi

Raja Savant Singh of Kishangarh was a devotee of Krishna and wrote poetry under the name Nagari Das. His chief painter, Nihal Chand, painted Radha and Krishna with the faces of the king and Bani Thani, the singer he loved; her name means "the lady all dressed up". The portrait known as Bani Thani is often called India's Mona Lisa, and it appeared on an Indian stamp in 1973.

Where

Jodhpur, Rajasthan; Bikaner and Kishangarh are often counted in the same family of styles

When

17th to 19th centuries; busiest under Maharaja Man Singh (ruled 1803 to 1843)

Key works

Maharaja Abhai Singh Watching a Dance by Dalchand (about 1725); Man Singh's paintings of the Nath yogis

Marwar painting comes from the desert kingdom ruled from Jodhpur. Its court artists painted kings, festivals and music in bold colours, with sturdy figures and large almond-shaped eyes. Maharaja Man Singh, a follower of the Nath yogis, paid for more than a thousand paintings of the Nath saints and their teachings.

Where

Basohli, Kathua district, Jammu and Kashmir

When

Late 17th century; the Rasamanjari is from about 1695

Who

Devidasa, for Raja Kirpal Pal

Key works

The Rasamanjari of Bhanudatta, a Sanskrit poem about lovers

Basohli is the earliest major Pahari (hill) style. Its paintings blaze with flat yellows, reds and greens, with strong outlines and big eyes, and painters stuck tiny pieces of shiny green beetle wing onto the jewellery to look like emeralds. Its best-loved theme is the Rasamanjari of Bhanudatta, which Devidasa painted for Raja Kirpal Pal in about 1695.

Where

Guler, in the Kangra area of Himachal Pradesh, and Jasrota in Jammu

When

About 1700 to 1778

Who

Pandit Seu and his sons Manaku (about 1700 to 1760) and Nainsukh (about 1710 to 1778)

Key works

Manaku's Gita Govinda (1730); Nainsukh's paintings of Raja Balwant Singh of Jasrota (about 1740 to 1763)

The painter Pandit Seu of Guler had two gifted sons. Manaku painted Krishna stories, including a Gita Govinda of 1730, while Nainsukh moved to Jasrota around 1740 and painted the daily life of his patron, Raja Balwant Singh, listening to music, smoking a hookah or looking at a painting, as here. Nainsukh brought Mughal realism into hill painting, and his family's workshop led the way to the Kangra style.

Where

Kangra, Himachal Pradesh

When

Late 18th and 19th centuries; the page shown is from about 1825

Key works

Gita Govinda and Bhagavata Purana sets

Kangra painting grew out of the Guler style and flourished under Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra, a great patron of painters. It is the gentlest of the Pahari styles, with cool greens and blues, graceful women with delicate faces, flowering trees, rivers and moonlit nights. Its favourite subject is the love of Radha and Krishna, from poems such as the Gita Govinda.

Where

The sultanates of Bijapur, Golconda and Ahmadnagar in the Deccan

When

Late 16th to mid 17th centuries, with a revival in Hyderabad in the 18th century

Key works

Tarif-i Husain Shahi (Ahmadnagar, about 1565); paintings for Ibrahim Adil Shah II of Bijapur (ruled 1580 to 1627)

When the Bahmani kingdom broke up, the new sultans of the Deccan set up their own painting workshops, with their own links to Persia rather than to the Mughals. Deccani painting cares less about true likeness and more about mood: glowing colours, plenty of gold, tall women with small heads, and dreamlike gardens. Ibrahim Adil Shah II of Bijapur, a poet and musician, was one of its greatest patrons.