CBSE Class 12 Fine Arts — NCERT Solutions

Manuscript paintings are pictorial translations of verses from epic, religious, literary, bardic, or music texts written on manuscripts. Usually, the text is written in a demarcated space on the top of the painting or on the reverse side, and the paintings are arranged as sets of folios.

Two places where this tradition was prevalent are:

• Western India, especially Gujarat
• Eastern India, especially the Pala centres such as Nalanda and Vikramsila

The Western Indian manuscript painting tradition guided Rajasthani miniature painting in several ways:

• It established the use of handmade paper manuscripts and the idea of painting on waslis or layered paper sheets.
• The tradition encouraged flat, two-dimensional treatment of space, with emphasis on outline, simple compositions and bright colours.
• Rajasthani painters continued the habit of illustrating religious and literary texts such as the Ramayana, Bhagvata Purana, Gita Govinda, Rasikapriya and Ragamala.
• It also influenced the tendency to make paintings as narrative illustrations, where scenes from a text are shown clearly and often with labels or verses.
• The chapter also shows that Malwa paintings appear as a continuation of stylistic progress from Jain manuscripts to later manuscript paintings.

Thus, the Western Indian manuscript tradition provided the material basis, format, and narrative style for later Rajasthani miniature schools, even though each school later developed its own regional character.

The chapter describes several Rajasthani schools of painting, each with its own style:

• Malwa School: Flourished between 1600 and 1700 CE. It is known for a two-dimensional, simplistic language and strong indigenous austerity. Example: the illustrated Amaru Shataka dated 1652 and a Ragamala painting by Madho Das (1680).
• Mewar School: Known for bold, direct compositions, vibrant colours and later refined style. Example: Ragamala painted at Chawand in 1605 by Nisardin; also Sahibdin’s Yuddha Kanda of Ramayana (1652).
• Bundi School: Famous for unblemished colour sense, excellent formal design, lush vegetation, wildlife and picturesque landscapes. Example: Bundi Ragamala (1591); Raga Dipak; Baramasa paintings.
• Kota School: Developed from Bundi and became known for hunting scenes, spontaneous execution, marked shading and strong rendering of animals. Example: Maharaja Ram Singh I of Kota hunting lions at Mukundgarh (1695).
• Bikaner School: Influenced by Mughal elegance and a subdued colour palette, with refined workmanship and documented artists. Example: Krishna supporting Mount Govardhan by Shahadin (1690).
• Kishangarh School: Highly stylised, with elongated forms, arched eyebrows, lotus-shaped eyes and elegant faces. Example: Krishna and Radha in a pavilion by Nihal Chand (1750) and Bani Thani.
• Jodhpur School: Retained a strong indigenous folkish style though influenced by Mughal portraiture. It produced many Ramayana, Dhola-Maru and court scenes. Example: Dhola and Maru (1810).
• Jaipur School: Influenced by Mughal art but later developed its own refined style, with large formats, portraits and literary themes. Example: The Hour of Godhuli (1780).

So, each school is identifiable by its colour, composition, subject matter, and regional taste, and the chapter gives many examples to support these traits.

Humayun invited two Persian artists to his court: Mir Sayyid Ali and Abd us Samad. The chapter says both were especially famous for their skill in portraiture and were brought to establish a studio in the Mughal court.

• Abd us Samad is linked with the early masterpiece _Princes of the House of Timur_ (1545–50). The painting is described as an opaque watercolour on cotton, notable for its large size, complex structure, and historical portraits. It became a prized imperial possession, and portraits of later Mughal rulers such as Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan were painted over earlier ones. Its format and colour palette are largely Persian.

• Mir Sayyid Ali was one of the two masters who helped Humayun found the Mughal painting tradition in India. The chapter especially connects him to the early Mughal atelier and the beginning of the great manuscript project _Hamza Nama_, which was later continued under Akbar. His importance lies in bringing the Persian miniature tradition to the Mughal court and helping create the Indo-Persian style.

So, the two master artists were Mir Sayyid Ali and Abd us Samad, and their contribution was foundational to the early Mughal school of miniature painting.

One of Akbar’s most remarkable projects was _Hamza Nama_. It was a huge illustrated manuscript based on the heroic deeds of Hamza, the uncle of Prophet Muhammad. The chapter says it took nearly 15 years to complete, consisted of 14 volumes and about 1400 illustrations, and was supervised by Mir Sayyid Ali and Abd us Samad.

What I like most about this work is its scale and storytelling. The paintings were made on a large cloth base with paper at the back, so that the narrator could read the text while the viewers saw the images clearly. The scenes are full of movement, action, bright colours, and dramatic compositions. In _Spies Attack the City of Kaymar_, for example, the space is sharply divided to help visual reading of the story, and the strong colours make the action lively.

I also like this work because it shows how the Mughal painters combined Persian storytelling, Indian natural elements, and teamwork by many artists. It reflects Akbar’s interest in both literature and painting and shows how miniature painting became a grand imperial art under him.

The popular themes in Deccani painting were royal portraits, court scenes, Ragamala paintings, musical themes, romance, Sufi subjects, hunting and hawking, and symbolic diagrams.

Some examples from the chapter are:

• Court and royal scenes: rulers seated on thrones or *diwan*s, often surrounded by attendants and dancers.
• Ragamala paintings: paintings based on musical modes, with beautifully dressed women, musicians, and graceful, stylised figures.
• Yogini: a solitary female figure shown in a spiritual, contemplative mood, with flowing scarves and a vertical composition.
• Sufi and devotional subjects: such as Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya and Amir Khusrau, showing music and religious devotion.
• Hawking and hunting scenes: such as Sultan Ibrahim Adil Shah II Hawking, full of movement and energy.
• Symbolic and fantastic compositions: like Composite Horse and The Throne of Prosperity.

These themes often used rich colours, dense composition, and a romantic, sensuous mood.

Nature appears so often in Pahari miniature paintings because the Pahari schools developed in the hilly western Himalayas, where artists were surrounded by forests, mountains, rivers and valleys. The chapter also says that Pahari artists were especially attracted to naturalism and to the beauty of the landscape. In the Kangra style, artists acutely observe the landscape and represent it naturalistically. Nature was therefore not just a background but an important part of the painting language, helping artists create mood, beauty, and emotional depth in themes from Krishna stories, Ramayana, court scenes, and love poems.

The Bengal School artists were important because they helped create a national style of art that was Indian in subject matter and style. They reacted against the colonial Art Schools and the European taste imposed on Indians. Instead of following Company Painting or academic realism, they turned to Mughal and Pahari miniatures, Indian themes, and Indian techniques.

Abanindranath Tagore and E. B. Havell played a leading role in this movement. They also encouraged art education that included Indian traditions. At Kala Bhavana in Shantiniketan, Nandalal Bose and other artists carried this vision forward by using folk forms and making art that reached ordinary people.

Thus, the Bengal School helped Indian artists recover their artistic heritage and laid the foundation of modern Indian painting with a strong nationalist identity.

Pata Chitra is a traditional audio-visual storytelling form in which pictures and songs/narration work together to tell a story. It usually conveys well-known myths, legends, or community stories in a direct and easily understood way.

The Baroda artists since the 1980s used a different kind of storytelling. Artists like Gulam Mohammed Sheikh and Bhupen Khakhar made paintings that combined fact and fiction, autobiography and fantasy, and often mixed personal memory with history. Their narratives were not simple linear stories like Pata Chitra; instead, they used many images, symbols, and references from miniature painting, folk art, calendar art, and even foreign art traditions. Their works often showed ordinary life, city lanes, old bazaars, or social experiences, so the viewer had to read the clues and make sense of the story.

So, while Pata Chitra tells a traditional, direct story through images and oral performance, Baroda narrative art tells a modern, layered story through visual experimentation, multiple references, and personal as well as social themes.