Contrasting Art:- Mughal and Rajput.

Origin 

Rajput Art or also known as the Rajasthani Art had its origin dated back to the pre-historic era in the 12th century but from the 15th century the Rajasthani painting style developed independently from Apbhransh style which was prevalent style of Jain Granths.

Mughal paintings emerged from Persian Miniature Painting and was developed in the courts of Mughal Empire of 16th to 18th century. The two famous Iranian painters who started Mughal art were Mir Sayyad Ali and Khwaja Abdus Samad.

Painting Style

The commonly acquired themes of Rajput Paintings were events of EPICS like Mahabharata, Ramayana and depiction of Krishna’s life. The paintings were often politically charged and commented on the social values of those times. The unique Rajput style of painting also include the manipulation of space which includes the inclusion of fuller spaces to emphasize the lack of boundaries and inseparability of characters and landscapes.

The Mughal style of paintings differed from one emperor to another. Akbar, who had married a Rajput, the artists under his reign exhibited an increasing naturalism and detailed observation of the world around them. While Jahangir, his son preferred court scenes, portraits and animal studies. The artist during Jahangir period showcased a sensitive understanding of human nature and an interest in the psychological subtleties of portraiture.

Contrasting Characteristics

• Mughal paintings were practiced amongst the elite. These paintings wouldn’t be framed but instead were made on loose leaves and assembled into an album. Some paintings were bound together to make a book, that is why Mughal art is often referred as Art of the Book due to the Islamic influence and Book paintings.

The Rajput Paintings were not well preserved as much as the Mughal paintings. They were usually piled and wrapped up in a beautiful cloth and put aside in libraries to be brought out on special occasions.

• Mughal perspective and detailing were intricate and finely drawn as their work was heavily influenced by the Persian miniature artwork. 

Rajput artists were bound to make paintings from the scenery or imagination which was in front of them. The artwork was quite two dimensional and flat while Mughal paintings gave a wider perspective in their paintings.

• Rajput paintings used colors extracted from certain minerals, plant sources, conch shells and also by processing of precious stones. The preparation of these colors could almost take 2 weeks of time. Usually the Mughal paintings used colors extracted from natural sources but sometimes even through chemical reactions of copper metal with salt water to produce the verdigris color.

• The color coding of Mughal paintings showcased realism and idealism. The scheme was more natural, muted and consisted of earthly toned colors presenting the natural approach of the human eyes towards the environment.

Rajput paintings highlighted plain boldly colored margins and used intense, bright and warm colors to symbolize the feelings of love and romance. Red was the color of passion, yellow signified the color of sun and blue was the color of the God descending from the sky.

Present Condition

To keep the traditional art of Rajput paintings alive, schools in Mewar, Marwar, Hadoti, Kangra, Kullu and Dhundar are some of the principal institutional heads which still teach the old folk art.

There might be some schools in Lahore which still teach the Mughal painting style but the style is being learnt from generation to generation so as to keep the artform alive.

-Raahil S.

Research: - Aditi Chayani and Raahil S.