From walls to paper

Indian painting goes back to cave art and the Ajanta murals. At first, paintings were always on walls.

Then paper reached India in the 10th or 11th century. Artists began moving their work from walls to paper. That change made the small, detailed miniature painting possible, and paintings could now travel.

The Rajput style flourished from the 15th to the late 19th century. It showed traditional Hindu themes, and its own idea of beauty:

• lotus flowers, banyan trees;
• elephants, cows and peacocks;
• women with large eyes;
• people with different skin colours.

Abul Fazl, Akbar's court historian, wrote in the Ain-i-Akbari about Hindu painters: "Their pictures surpass our conception of things. Few indeed in the whole world are equal to them."

Mughal miniature painting grew as its own style, shaped by Persian art. It showed non-religious (secular) themes:

• landscapes;
• court scenes;
• portraits.

These paintings reached their peak in Akbar's atelier (a big artists' studio).

A Mughal painting was often teamwork:

• one artist drew the outlines;
• another filled in the colours;
• a third added the finishing touches.

Akbar's artists also illustrated the Razmnama, a Persian translation of the Mahābhārata.

The two styles learned from each other. Styles, methods and colours passed between them. Plants, gardens, animals and hunting scenes entered Rajput paintings, as patrons liked.

Some Mughal court painters moved to Bikaner, mixing the styles further, while Rajput paintings of Hindu themes kept flourishing alongside.