Development of arts in Medieval India

Medieval India witnessed growth of various art forms these art forms are an outcome of inter mixing of different cultures

Painting

Another area which was influenced by Islamic culture was painting. Humayun had spent more than twelve years in Persia as a refugee. He brought painters with him to India when he became the ruler of Delhi once again in 1555. Famous among them were Mir Sayid Ali and Abdus Samad who nurtured the tradition of painting manuscript. An example of it is Dastan-e-Amir Hamza, which has nearly 1200 paintings.

The period also witnessed the flowering of portrait and miniature paintings. However, what is amazing is that some of these painters tried to paint the classical ragas, thereby giving form and colour to such abstract conceptions as music. Seasons or baramasa paintings were similarly given artistic forms. Can you ever estimate the creativity of these artists? Nowhere else in the world except perhaps in China, artists have tried to paint music or seasons.

Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan continued to give patronage to these artists and as a result, the Mughal school of painting continued to flourish. Akbar as a liberal ruler extended his patronage to painting. He also employed a large number of Hindu painters like Daswant and Basawan Lal. Consequently, there was a fusion of Persian and Indian styles (of painting) during his period. The European influence on Indian painting too was noticed.

The Mughal school of painting reached its zenith under Jahangir who was a famous painter. His court was adorned with famous painters like Ustad and Abul Hasan. Mansur was famous for his miniature painting. However Aurangzeb due to his orthodox views and political preoccupations, stopped patronising music and painting. Like their masters, some princes also extended patronage to painters.

Thus, besides the Mughal school, the Rajput and the Pahari schools of painting also received encouragement. Even the upper classes in society started patronising painters. As a result, the havelis (big mansions) of the rich and temples were profusely embellished. These havelis in Rajasthan attract a large number of tourists even today. You can visit these havelis if you find an opportunity to visit Rajasthan.

The Mughal school of painting from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century gave rise to the Indo-Persian school of miniature art. The Mughal court painters introduced landscape together with human figures and costumes. When they came in touch with the traditional Indian styles, they became more natural. Signing on the miniatures as a tradition also started. Artists were now employed on monthly salaries. They illustrated such important works as the Changeznama, Zafarnama and the Ramayana.

Folk arts

The rural masses got opportunities to display their creative skills in many fields. Several occasions associated with agricultural operations, for example the tilling of soil, sowing of saplings, picking of cotton, pulling out the weeds and many other social functions provided opportunities for singing and dancing. Does this sound familiar to you? Yes, the festivals and rituals you perform today have continued from the past with necessary changes in keeping with time.

The advent of rains became occasions for dancing and merry-making. The gods were invoked and special pujas offered in the temples. It was also an occasion for enjoying the swings. Similarly, ladies on their spinning wheels accompanied by other ladies would sit together and sing till late into the night. This was a common sight in almost all the villages in India. It is important to note that almost every region developed its own peculiar dance form with a local flavour.

Thus Garba, Kalbella, Bhangra, Gïddha, Bamboo dance, Lavani and innumerable other dance forms, came into existence. Today, some of these are performed during the Republic Day celebrations as well as on other festive occasions. Formal education was not considered very important for women but this did not prevent them from showing their talent in various other fields. They displayed their creativity in needlework. In Rajasthan, girls came up with beautiful designs on odhanis, shirts and ghagras.

The Rajasthanis also created beautiful designs of tie and dye work in fabrics used both by women and men. Even today, we find the people of Rajasthan as the most colourfully dressed in India. Their lavishness could be seen in the way they decorated their animals (horses, bullocks, camels and even elephants). In Punjab, the girls created beautiful phulkaris. In and around Lucknow, came up the chikan work on shirts, salwars, odhanis and even sarees.

It appears that the dramatists about whom Bharata mentions in his Natyashastra (fifth century AD) had not completely disappeared. The tamasha and the lavani forms of dance drama were developed in Maharashtra; the Pandavanis in central India and Merasis in northern India applied such art forms with slight modifications.

So also the puppeteer, the bard and the mime moved from place to place, entertaining people in various ways. The acrobat and the juggler also could be seen moving from place to place. In some areas the martial arts were developed, while wrestling has been popular all over India since time immemorial.

Music

The Mughal emperors Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan, patronised several musicians. Tansen, who adorned the court of Akbar, not only sang the classical ragas but also composed new ones. It is said that Shah Jahan himself was quite a good singer. These musicians entertained the emperors at different times of the day and in different seasons with appropriate ragas. During the Turko-Afghan rule in India, a synthesis of Indo Iranian music had started.

During the Mughal rule, it developed further. It is interesting to note that Aurangzeb was against music, but the largest number of books on classical Indian music in Persian were written during his time. In the North, a distinct school known as the Hindustani school of music came into being and its speciality lay in producing sweet and rapturous melodies to suit different moods of life.

The ragas and the raginis were personified accordingly. Khayal, Thumri and Ghazal were also elaborated during this period. Tansen, was in a sense the pioneer of this school. However, ordinary people retained the flair for folk music and folk songs to commemorate their local chiefs like Alha-Udal, Dulla-Bhatti, Jaimal-Phatta etc.

Indo-Mughal Culture

The Mughal rulers discarded the Afghan titles of Sultan and styled themselves as Badshah (emperor) and Din-e-Panah (protector of faith). Further, to evoke reverence among the subject for the emperor, they started the practice of jharokha darshan or making public appearances through specially built windows. They also encouraged the court practice of sijda (low prostration before the kings) and concentrated religious and political power more firmly in their hands.