Rajasthani Painting and Folk Arts: Rajasthan has had a very rich tradition of painting. Here, various schools of painting flourished. Diverse surfaces were used for paintings – papers, clothes, walls of temples and havelis.
The drawings of the primitive man found in rock shelters at Alnia, Dara (Kota), Bairath (Jaipur) and Dar Barahna (Bharatpur) represent the earliest tradition of painting in Rajasthan. Moreover, V.S Vakankar in 1953 discovered rock shelters in the Chambal Valley and Darra in Kota, Kalisindh valley in Jhalawar and at Mount Abu and Idar in the Aravalli ranges. On the other hand, the earliest available example of illustrated text is Audh Niryukti Vritti and Das Vaikalika Sutra Choorni, composed in 1060 A.D., now conserved in the Jaisalmer archive.
Read more: Rajasthan General Studies | General Knowledge of Rajasthan
Also, check: Rajasthan Current Affairs in Hindi and English
Rajasthani Painting and Folk Arts
We may accept circa 1500 A.D. to be the time of the origin of Rajasthani painting. Medpat (Mewar) is the birthplace of Rajasthani painting, which is influenced by the Ajanta School of Painting. In the beginning, Rajasthani painting exhibits influences of the Jain, Gujarat and Apabhramsa styles, but later on, it came to be influenced more and more by the Mughal style.
The first scientific classification of Rajasthani painting was presented by Anand Kumar Swami in his book Rajput Paintings in 1916. Along with Kumar Swami, O.C. Ganguli and Havell have named it Rajput Painting. W.H Brown in his work Indian Paintings has termed the painting of this region as Rajput Art. Raikrishna Das refuted this nomenclature and renamed it ‘Rajasthani Painting’.
Schools of Rajasthani Painting
Various styles of Rajasthani Painting have been classified under four sub- categories on geographical and cultural basis:
1. Mewar School:
- Chavand style,
- Udaipur style,
- Nathdwara style,
- Deogarh sub style,
- Savar sub style,
- Shahpura substyle and
- Art of Thikanas like Banera, Bagore, Begun and Kelwa.
2. Marwar School:
- Jodhpur style,
- Bikaner style,
- Kishangarh style,
- Ajmer style,
- Nagore style,
- Sirohi style,
- Jaisalmer style and
- Thikana styles of Ghanerao, Riyan, Bhinay and Juniyan.
3. Hadoti School:
- Bundi style,
- Kota style and
- Jhalawar sub style.
4. Dhundhar School:
- Amer style,
- Jaipur style,
- Shekhawati style,
- Alwar style,
- Uniara sub-style and
- Thikana art of Jhilai, Isarda, Shahpura, and Samod.
Rajasthani Painting and Folk Arts PDF Download