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CHAPTER V PAINTING Visnudharmottara, the encyclopaedia of fine arts in ancient India, has praised the art of painting as the best of all the fine arts - "Painting is the best of all arts, conducive to 'dharma', and emancipation. It is very auspicious when placed in a house. As Sumeru is the best of mountains, Garuda, the chief of birds, and the king (lit. the lord of the earth), the most exalted among men, so is painting the best of all arts. 軔, Naturally painting in ancient India was of great importance in the life of the citizen. It is not possible to determine the exact period of the origin of this art. But this art must have become famous before the Kamasutra of Vatsyayana 1.e. 4 th Century A.D. The art of painting must have originated with the rise of the culture of citizens. Especially in the golden age of the Guptas, painting was of great value in the life of the Nagaraka. Vatsyayana in his Kamasutra, mentions that every cultured man had in his house a drawing board, and a vessel for holding brushes and other requisites of painting." It is stated in the Visnudharnottara, "The interest taken in pictures varied with the education of the spectator. The masters praise the rekhas (delineation and articulation of form) the connoisseurs praise the display of light and shade (Vartana), women like the display of ornaments, to the rest of the public richness of colour appeals. 2

243 The origin of painting in India is related in legends. We get one such story in Citralaksana. There was a pious king named Bhayajit. Once a Brahmin came to him and asked him to bring back to life his dead son. The king demanded the Brahmin's son from the god Yama. Yama refused it. Then god Brahma told the king to draw a picture of the Brahmin's son. The king did so. Brahma put life in that picture and told the king that this was the first picture in the world and asked him to go to the divine Silpin Visvakarman for the complete knowledge of the Citravidya. We get a different story about the origin of the art Sage Markandeya said of painting in the Visnudharmottara. that the two sages Nara and Narayana were engaged in penance. The apsarasas came to cause hindrance to their penance. The sage Narayana, in order to put the apsarasas to shame, created the most beautiful nymph Urvasi by drawing her outline with mango juice. Having seen her, the apsarasas went away in shame. We get ample references in ancient literature about the art of painting. In connection with the story given above about the origin of painting, we come to remember an appropriate story in the Mahabharata. The princess Usa dreamt that beautiful youth appeared before her and she fell in love with him. She told this to her intimate friend Citralekha who had a natural gift for painting. She painted the portraits of all the deities and great men of the time. As soon as Usa saw the likeness of Aniruddha, the grandson of Krsna, the youth of her

- 244 dream was revealed to her. In 5 The Jataka literature, Sanskrt dramas and Kavyas like Ratnavali, Raghuvamsha, Abhijnana sakuntala, Uttara-Ramacarita etc. mention the secular use of the art of painting. Bhasa's (3 rd or 4 th Cen. A.D.) 'Svapnavasavadatta' we find that king Udayana and princess Vasavadatta though absent, were married by their parents by drawing the portraits of the two. There is a touching incident in Bhavabhuti's 'Uttara-Ramacarita'. Laksmana showed to Ramachandra the pictures which represented some incidents in his life. The pictures were so realistic that on seeing them Ramacandra recollected the incident of the separation of Janaki and he abruptly exclaimed - vatsetasmad virama viramatah param na samo'smi | pratyavrttah punarapi sa me janaki viprayogah || G Banabhatta (7 th Cen.A.D.) mentions the mural paintings in the city of Ujjayini. We get many references about the Citrasalas (Art-gallaries) in early literature. Scenes portrayed from Damayanti's life are described by Sriharsa. In the 'Malavikagnimitra', the queen enters the Citrasala, gazes at the picture representing the harem with its retinue, and admires the painter. A beautiful picture of the painter at is given work in the 'Mrcchakatika'. When Dusyanta, in Kalidasa's 'Sakuntala', recalls the memory of Sakuntala, he draws a picture of her and gives it to his friend Maitreya who gets a chance of having a glance at it. Kalidasa in his 'Kumarasambhava

- 245 compares the charm of Parvati to a picture infused with life. Thus the art of painting in India, judging from the literary 7 references, must have flourished from very early times. The art of painting was made use of in the earliest Buddhist period for diffusion of religion. The Buddhist missionaries were using the art of painting as the vehicle of their teaching. The series of pictures enumerating the doctrines of the great Gautama Buddha were used by his disciples in other countries like Nepal, Tibet and China. Dr. Stella Kramrisch has mentioned the great Hall built by the Bodhisatva according to the Maha-Ummaga - Jataka, painted with beautiful pictures, and the subterranean palace of the same Jataka with the stucco-coated walls, bearing paintings. From the Vinaya Pitaka (3 rd Cen.B.C.) we know that king Prasenjit, as Dr. Kranrisch observes, could boast of a picture gallary where the Bhikkhunis were forbidden to go. 8 Besides this literary evidence, we find the remains of artistic specimens of painting dating back to very remote times. The prehistoric cave paintings in India give us a picture of the life of the primitive man. These few remains are interesting. When man was living in rocky cave-shelters he painted drawings on the walls of the caves which are known as rock-paintings. These drawings are in a red pigment which represents man and wild animals. Dr. V.S.Agrawala has given a clear exposition of these rock-paintings. There are four centres where such paintings have been discovered namely, 9

- 246 - (1) Mahadeva Hills round Panchamadhi in Madhya-pradesh. (2) Raigarh paintings of Singhanpur and Kabra Pahar in Madhya Pradesh (3) Mirzapur area in the Kaimur Range (4) Manikapur in Banda District. At Panchamadhi and iioshangabad in the Mahadeva Hills there are no less than fifty rock shelters depicting hunting and pastoral scenes, some of them known as Dorothy Deep, Monte Rosa, Mahadeva, Jambudvipa etc. The scenes of the subjugation of two wild animals in a Monte Rosa and a Monkey playing the flute at Panchamadhi are very interesting as observed by 10 Dr. C.Sivaramamurti. Dr. Agrawala has analysed these paintings in four series. In the first series there are schematic figures only. They show conventionalised human and animal figures in red and cream colours. These are square shaped bodies with triangular heads, the bust being filled by zig-zig or wavy lines. The later stage shows stick-like figures with a triangular head. In the second series the figures have elongated necks, wavy hair, generally featureless heads, thin legs and fringed skirts. Some kind of grouping begins to appear and also bows and arrows which were scarce in the first series. The people were hunters hunting wild beasts. In the next two series the primitive hunter is changed into well-armed warrior and mounted horseman in battle scenes where archers and swordsmen are engaged in fierce action. The Singanpur paintings though crude in technique

247 represent pictures of hunting. In a well-presented scene there is the hunt of a bison and a sambhar. The paintings are in dark red colour. Square shaped men are seen along with wild oxen. one of the animals at Singanpur represents a barking dog, rushing forward at a terrific speed. The human figures are conventionalised. In Mirzapur District there is a scene of a stag hunt where harpoons and spears are depicted in action. In a remarkable painting we see a wounded wild boar with its mouth open in pain. The paintings in Banda district show horsemen, archers and a man seated in a wheel-less bullock cart. The most ancient paintings are to be found on the walls of the Jogimara Cave of the Ramagarh Hill in Sirguja State. These frescoes are of the period of the first century B.C. Mr. Percy Brown describes them as a 'crude but well intentioned effort.11 The thirty rockshelters in village Mori, District Mandsore, Matsya Purana , show the ceiling and walls of the shelter decorated with paintings in red ochre, depicting animals, dancing human figures, and pastoral scenes. The first stage of development in the history of Indian painting can be traced in the early Buddhist period. The spread of Buddhism was remarkable for the growth of Indian pictorial art. The early history of this cult lends itself to

248 illustration by pictures. The scrolls of pictures illustrate scenes from the life of Bhagvan Buddha and his previous lives, comprising the Jatakas and Avadanas. During this period some Buddhist caves were excavated in the living rock, for example Nasik, Bedsa, Bhaja, Karla etc. The earliest caves at Ajanta are also of this period, The paintings in caves 9 and 10 at Ajanta closely resemble the early sculptures at Bhaja, Amaravati, Sanchi etc. The paintings cover the walls, pillars and ceilings. We find three important styles of this period namely the 'Deva' style which was current in Magadha, the 'Yaksa' style of the period of Asoka and the 'Naga' style of the period of Nagarjuna in the 3 rd Century, A.D. The Universities of Nalanda and Taksasila were also teaching the art of painting besides other arts. The second and very important stage of the art of painting in India is to be found in the period of the Guptas. The Gupta emperors were great patrons of art and literature. This period (4 th Cen. A.D. to 6 th Cen. A.D.) has been called the Golden Age of Art in India. Novel specimens of this period are found at the caves of Ajanta, Ellora, Badami and Sittavasana. The subject of the paintings is generally Buddha, Bodhisattva, and the Jataka-kathas. The phase of the Gupta art is also illustrated in the caves, close to village Bagh in the former Gwalior State. The caves of Ajanta show unique specimens of the art of painting. The pictures are marvellous. This art of supreme perfection is the pride of India. We

- 249 experience the remarkable vision of the superb emotions here and we feel that the painter is only incapable of giving the strength of speech to his pictures. The paintings cover the walls, pillars and ceilings at Ajanta. The paintings in caves 16, 17, 1 and 2 are of a later date and show more maturity and perfection. The Ajanta caves have been classified into the following periods of time. (1) Caves 9 and 10 - Circa A.D. 100 (2) Pillars in cave 10 (3) Caves 16 & 17 (4) Caves 1 & 2 A.D. 350 A.D. 500 A.D. 626 - 628 12 Though the subjects of the Ajanta paintings are religious, there are also representations of ordinary and court life, mingled with mythological figures, animals and plants. The ceilings are decorated with floral and animal 13 motifs.