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The art of painting has a long history in India from prehistoric cave paintings to the modern abstract works of art. We have examples of painted pottery from the Harappan culture of the chalcolithic period, Ajanta murals glorifying the Buddha, Pallava and Chola wall paintings in temples, manuscript paintings of Jain scriptures, Moghul miniatures, miniatures of Christian themes, Kangra paintings and common calendar pictures. When it comes to design, threshold designs called kolam or rangoli are practised in South India for decorating the floor.
Rules on painting are given in texts called the Silpa Sastras. The Ajanta murals are painted in the tempora style, using the dry technique. A base is prepared on the rough walls and then covered with a coating of lime plaster. Paint is applied on a dry background. On the other hand the paintings at the Kailasanatha Temple at Kanchi, the Big Temple at Tanjore and the cave temple at Sittannavasal belong to the true fresco style. Paint is applied to a thin wet surface of lime plaster. Once the paint dries new paint cannot be applied on it as in the tempora technique. At Tanjore, paintings depict mostly Hindu themes, whereas, the Sittannavasal paintings depict Jaina themes. There are some later Jaina paintings on the ceiling of a Mandapa of a Jain temple at Kanchipuram.
Unlike Greek and Roman sculpture, Indian sculpture does not show musculature. Except for Gandhara art which was influenced by the Greeks in northwestern India, dress in Indian art is not depicted with heavy folds. Natural flexions of the human body are shown along with different hand poses or mudras. Each gesture has a specific meaning.
Ancient and medieval art manuals contain information on iconography and iconometry. Relief sculptures were called ardha chitra painted all over to look like paintings.
Sculptures were made of not only stone but also of copper, bronze, terracotta, wood and ivory. Canons of iconometry prescribe the same proportions for both sculpture and painting. Art manuals prescribe that the length of the face should be 12 angulas (an angula is a proportional unit equal to the width of a finger). The total height of a figure is also given in terms of angulas. The classical system prescribed that the gods must be made with dasa tala proportion which is ten times the face length or the nava tala proportion which is nine times the face length. To make ganas or dwarfs appear short they prescribed pancha tala proportion which is five times the face length with disproportionately large face. Slowly a second system of proportions crept into the texts, in which the nava tala proportions were maintained for most of the figures but were made in different sizes depending on the total height. For instance, an 84 (7 by 12) angula figure may be made with a face length much smaller than 12 angulas.
One historian of the University of Pennsylvania has recently worked on his Ph.D. degree based on the measurements of Indian sculptures. At Tambaram, S. Govindaraju and M. Bagawandas obtained their Ph.D. degree working on the statistical analysis of the proportions of South Indian sculptures. They found for instance that the Pallava sculpture of the time of Rajasimha did not follow closely any of the canons that have come down to us. The facial proportions of Pallava sculptures were different from the sculptures of Kalugumalai of Pandava country and the sculptures of the Chola period.
The proportions of most of the Mahabalipuram sculptures are different from sculptures of Kanchipuram of Rajasimha period. The Rajasimha sculptures have extra long noses and long and narrow eyes.
References
Benjamin Rowland, The Ajanta Caves, Collins, 1963.
K. Hirsh, Sources for the Figural Sculpture of Mahabalipuram, Ph.D. Dissertation, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 1986.
G. Siromoney, "Mahabalipuram: Costumes and Jewellery", Madras Christian College
Magazine, Vol. 39,
pp. 75-83, 1970.
G. Siromoney, S. Govindaraju and M. Bagavandas, "Temple Carvings of Southern
India", Perspectives in Computing, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 34-43, 1985.
K.R. Srinivasan, The Dharmaraja Ratha and its Sculptures, Mahabalipuram, Abinav Publications, New Delhi, 1975.
P.R. Srinivasan, Bronzes of South India, Madras, 1963.
Richard W. Taylor, Jesus in Indian Paintings, Madras, 1975.
Panorama of Indian Painting, Publications Division, New Delhi, 1971