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Introduction: The heritage of Indian painting is very rich as it covers a wide range ofthemes, colors, techniques, artists and regions. The story of colors also is not lessinteresting as they have been prepared of a number of resources extending fromdifferent vegetational colors to innumerable minerals. Not only this but Indianpaintings are drawn on a variety of materials too like cotton, silk, paper, canvas, cave

walls, wooden flat surfaces and on many other places.

Types of Ancient Indian Paintings:Patachitra Painting:

Patachitra refers to the folk painting of the state of Orissa, in the eastern region ofIndia. The painting is done on cloth which the artists prepare themselves by coating itwith a mixture of chalk and gum made from tamarind seeds to give the surface a kindof a leathery finish on which the artists paint with earth and stone colors.

The tradition of Pattachitra is closely linked with the worship of Lord Jagannath andclaims a distinct place of its own because of its exquisite workmanship. Apart from thefragmentary evidence of paintings on the caves of Khandagiri and Udayagiri andSitabhinji murals of the Sixth century A.D., the earliest indigenous paintings fromOrissa are the Pattachitra done by the Chitrakars (the painters are called Chitrakars).

Warli Painting:

The Warli carry on a tradition stretching back to 2500 or 3000 BC. Their muralpaintings are similar to those done between 500 and 10,000 BC in the Rock Sheltersof Bhimbetka, in Madhya Pradesh.

Their extremely rudimentary wall paintings use a very basic graphic vocabulary: acircle, a triangle and a square. The circle and triangle come from their observation ofnature, the circle representing the sun and the moon, the triangle derived frommountains and pointed trees. Only the square seems to obey a different logic andseems to be a human invention, indicating a sacred enclosure or a piece of land. Theirprecarious equilibrium symbolizes the balance of the universe, and of the couple, andhas the practical and amusing advantage of animating the bodies.

The Warli use only white for their paintings. Their white pigment is a mixture of ricepaste and water with gum as a binding.

Thanjavur Painting:

Thanjavur paintings basically signify paintings created using a style and technique,which originated in Thanjavur during the maratha period in the 16th century.

A typical Thanjavur painting would consist of one main figure, a deity, with a well-rounded body & almond shaped eyes. This figure would be housed in an enclosurecreated by means of an arch, curtains etc. The painting would be made by the gildedand gem-set technique - a technique where gold leaves & sparkling stones are used to

highlight certain aspects of the painting like ornaments, dresses etc.

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The painting would be bright & colourful and breathtakingly beautiful. The impact in adarkened room is that of a glowing presence. While most of the paintings would depictthe Child Krishna and his various pranks, paintings of other deities were also created.

Kalamkari Paintings:

Kalamkari paintings have a tradition of 3000 years and are one of the major art formsthat originated in Andhra Pradesh. Kalamkari is an ancient and exquisite art work ofpainted and printed fabrics. Kalam means pen. It literally means pen work. This artform is hand painted and block printed with the use of vegetable dyes. This Indian arthas evolved in the last 3000 years and this legacy has been handed down fromgeneration to generation.

Kangra paintings:

The pictorial art of Kangra originated in a small hill state Guler in the LowerHimalayas in the first half of the eighteenth century when a family of Kashmiripainters trained in Mughal Style of painting sought shelter at the court of Raja DalipSingh (r. 1695-1741) of Guler. The new arrivals mingled with the local artists and weregreatly influenced by the atmosphere of the hills.

Kangra paintings influenced by the Bhagavad Purana portrayed incidents from the lifeof the young Krishna, against the Brindavan forest or river Yamuna. The other popularthemes were the stories of Nala and Damayanti, and those from Keshavdas'sBaramasa. One striking feature of the ancient Indian Kangra paintings is the verdant

greenery it depicts.

Phads and Pichwais

The ancient tradition of scroll painting survives to this day in Rajasthan. This art isknown as Phad. A typical Phad is a long rectangular coarse cloth with paintingsillustrating the life and heroic exploits of the two popular folk heroes Pabuji and DevNarain. It displays much of the tradition in narrative form. Phads are painted by the

Joshis of Shahpura, near Bhilwara, based on subjects like Bhagavad purana or otherpopular folk stories.

The Pichwais are refined works of art, created to be used as backdrops in the Srinathjiat Nathdwara. They contain the figure of Srinathji (attired with a variety of costumes)and scenes of Nathdwara festival. These could be painted, printed with hand blocks,woven, embroidered or decorated in appliqu form.

Ragamaala Paintings:

Ragamala Paintings are a series of illustrative paintings from medieval India based on

Ragamala or the 'Garland of Ragas', depicting various Indian musical nodes, Ragas.

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They stand as a classical example of the amalgamation of art, poetry and classicalmusic in medieval India.

In these painting each raga is personified by a colour, mood, a verse describing astory of a hero and heroine (nayaka and nayika), it also elucidates the season and the

time of day and night in which a particular raga is to be sung; and finally mostpaintings also demarcate the specific Hindu deities attached with the raga.

The six principal ragas present in the Ragamala are Bhairava, Dipika, Sri, Malkaunsa,Megha and Hindola and these are meant to be sung during the six seasons of the year- summer, monsoon, autumn, early winter, winter and spring.