Miniature Paintings Manifestation of a Creative Mind

“Miniature painting, a much-revealed art form of Persia, was introduced in India by the Mughals. Humayun, a Mughal ruler, brought artists who were specialized in miniature painting from Persia in the sixteenth century. Later on to promote this form of art, the succeeding Mughal emperor Akbar built an atelier for the artists of miniature painting. Highly influenced by the mural paintings, this art flourished during the time of Mughals, Malwa, and Deccan as well as during Hindu rulers.

These beautiful handmade paintings are small in size yet colorful. The characteristic of this painting is its intricate designs and delicate brushwork that provide a unique identity to the paintings. Ragas are the most common theme of the Miniature painting in India that includes the musical codes of Indian classical music. Indian artists of miniature painting infuse multiple perspectives in their paintings to provide a distinctive feel. Colors used in the paintings are handmade from vegetables, minerals, conch shells, pure gold, silver and precious stones. Color preparation and mixing is an elaborate procedure in miniature paintings and it takes weeks and months to obtain the expected results.

Miniature paintings have minute details and are done with great care with bold colors, strong lines set in harmonious patterns. Paper, ivory panels, marble, cloth, leather and walls are used for this painting by the artists. The brushes used for paintings should be very fine, and to obtain better results brushes are made from squirrels hair. The aristocratic and strongly portrait paintings depict plush court scenes and hunting expedition of erstwhile rulers. Besides, even animals and flowers are common themes of the paintings.

Trained miniature painting artists of Indian created distinctive style of paintings that were inspired from the romantic and royal lives of the Mughals. The miniature painting created by Indian artists in their own style is known as Rajput or Rajasthani style of miniature paintings. This era saw the evolution of several painting schools like Bundi, Kotah, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Jaipur, Bikaner and Kishangarh. Some of the miniature painting schools in India are Jain School, Rajasthani School, Pala School, Mughal School, Orissa School and Nepali School.

Maharajas Express, world’s top luxury train, gives a wonderful opportunity to its guests to have a close experience with this magnificent art in some of their itineraries as an optional excursion. Tourists boarding this train get the opportunity to know in detail about this magnificent art and they also have the option of buying some of the miniature paintings. “