If you want to appreciate India observe the Indian paintings and if you want to appreciate Indian paintings observe India. The Indian paintings like India are vast, diverse, historic and unique. Be it the murals of Ajanta, Ellora, the Buddhist palm leaf manuscripts, the Jain texts or the Mughal, Deccan and Kangra discipline of miniature painting, there is one common theme between all of them; a showcase of innocence of art, beauty and truth.

Indian painting has evolved from the hinterlands and has remained immortal in the annals of history. The rock painting that was discovered in Bhimbetka and other places are known to exist from pre-historic times. Some of them even go back to the late 5500 BC, while some are even older. The Indian paintings are the great sinews of beauty, art and culture. They further emerged through the pages of history and after more than a few millennia, around in 7th century; India witnessed the magnificent engraved pillars and the fine painting of Ellora in Maharastra state. The Indian paintings portray the plethora of events from the Buddhist literatures including the palaces of kings and the noble class. But these paintings have not survived through the ages. The colours used for these paintings are prepared from minerals. Some traditional paintings like Warli, Madhubani and Patachitra are globally commended.

Around the 16th and 18th century in western India miniature painting spurred up and these paintings were used to demonstrate the theme of the manuscripts in which they were incorporated.

Some Indian paintings like the Madhubani painting have an immortal association with epics of Ramayana. The story goes that King Janak appointed few artists to complete the painting at the occasion of the divine wedding of his beloved daughter Sita and Lord Rama.

The magnificent Rajputana courts in Rajput kingdom patronized a unique style of painting that depicted various subjects of Ramayana and Mahabharata during 18th century. They portrayed pastimes of Lord Krishna, diverse scenery and human figures. Rajput paintings were incorporated in miniatures and more popularly inside the forts, havelies and on the walls of the palaces.The colors used in these paintings were extracted by processing gold, silver and other precious stones and were also extracted from some definite minerals, plant extract and conch shells. Making these paintings was an extensive process and involved the use of very fine brushes.

Mughal Painting
Mughal paintings that emerged during the Mughla Empire (16th -19th centuries) are mainly seen on the books and were illustrated in miniatures.

Mysore painting
Mysore painting evolving from the classical South Indian routes portrays Hindu Gods and Goddess and other mythological themes. These paintings originating from Mysore, Karanataka are well known for their attention to details, classiness and the subdued use of colors.

Tanjore Painting
Tanjore painting dates back to the 9th century and showed illustrations of Hindu Gods and Goddess including the age-old mythological subjects.

The Bengal School of Art was a significant style of art that depicted the egalitarian spirit of Indian nationalism. Modern Indian Painting illustrating the Indian themes had an added western perspective.

Painters of India
Cornificius rightly says that `picture is a poem without words` and the Indian artists are true poets. They have propelled Indian painting into the world of art and culture. Some of the famous Indian painters who not only gained accolades in India but also known internationally are Amrita Shergill, Jamini Roy, Raja Ravi Varma, MF Hussain and Tyeb Mehta. Raja Ravi Varma is one of the greatest Indian painters and his place in Indian painting is etched in gold.

The economic, political and the social scenario inspired the art movement, Samikshavad, which originated in north India in 1974. It was art with an aspiration. The artists behind this movement were Ravindra Nath Mishra, Hridya Narayan Mishra, Santosh Kumar Singh, Virendra Prasad Singh,Ram Shabd Singh, Bala Dutt Pandey, Raghuvir Sen Dhir, Ved Prakash Mishra, Gopal Madhukar Chaturvedi etc.

An Indian painting is far from the depressingly uniform styles of paintings and has gamut of style and customs; from painting on the doorways and interiors to painting on the caves and palaces to the paintings on cloth. They are not only valuable pieces for the connoisseurs of arts, but are also looked as an investment asset and an enticing shopping proposition.

From subtle to the exotic to the outlandish, Indian Paintings come in all styles and themes and employ various mediums like cloth, walls and canvas. The mythological stories are seen in most of the paintings, while legends of Lord Jagannath in Puri Orissa is seen in the unique Patachitra type of paintings.

Indian paintings have diverse reasons for their origin. If paintings like the Pithoro style of folk painting were means of pacifying the Gods the others like Samikshavad paintings were discovered to promote the feelings of nationalism. Indian painting is fathomless and trying to understand it is like trying to measure the ocean. That is why Vlaminck says `Good painting is like good cooking; it can be tasted but not explained`.