For many years, art has provided people with a means of devotion. From the ultra-portable Kavads of Rajasthan to the extremely popular religious lithographs of the Ravi Varma Press, people strive to make objects of faith accessible.
All legendary beings are born this way. First, a whisper, a fleeting mention of a fabled appearance. Then, the questions appear. ‘Who is this creature?’ ‘Who can tell me more about her?’ The artist, the poet, and the thinker take inspiration from obscure parts of history, and fill in the gaps with their imagination. The Buraq in Indian art evolved from a nondescript beast to a unique cultural symbol over the span of several centuries.
Like the phoenix, we all wish to rise from the ashes. We wish to find victory even after tasting bitter defeat. The mythical bird is an irreplaceable part of modern culture and mythological narratives. But did you know that there are different versions of the phoenix? Some say that the legendary Simurgh is a predecessor of the phoenix. In this blog, we will look at the Simurgh in Indian Miniatures.
Baroda, or Vadodara, is known as ‘The Jewel of Western India’, and rightly so. The city has a long and rich history of cultural engagement, which will be highlighted through this article.
With the rising influence of the Mughal Empire as not merely a local stronghold but a powerful ruling dynasty, it was inevitable that its people would soon come into contact with cultures far beyond their wildest dreams. In the second part of this two-part series, we will examine European symbols and how they affected the art of the Mughal Empire.
Floor art paintings have existed since the beginning of time, and not undergone much change since. Different cultures and civilizations are centred around these paintings, although they go by several names. These designs have both religious and spiritual meanings attached to them.
Once upon a time, Gods, demons, and spirits were said to have roamed the wild and breathtaking expanse of the Indian subcontinent. Tales of this unknown, fantastical existence differ in each group, each community, and each culture of humanity. In this very land were born the three most ancient religions still in practice: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.
Art represents a medium of expression, a space where the human mind can represent its purest, most unfiltered self without feeling the need for words to convey meaning.
To the artist, it is a boundless canvas, it is a flag of identity, it is a marker of solidarity. It can be anything that its creator wishes it to be.
Persia and India have a unique cultural link that is centuries old. Persia had a huge influence on Indian languages, culture, food and even art! In this fast-paced world, we sometimes forget what a unique melting pot of cultural antiquity our country is. Just as today’s quaint Irani cafes sell fragrant Irani ‘chai’, the Miniature paintings of the Mughal era represent a unique style of Indo-Persian art that was a synthesis of two artistic and cultural traditions.
Long before paper made its way to southern India, artists were using engraving techniques to create art on palm leaves. These palm leaf manuscripts of the past tell many local stories in innovative ways. Manuscript making was quite popular in Odisha, which is where the ‘Romance of Chandrabhanu and Lavanyavati’ originates from.
