Paintings of Uttarakhand :

Uttarakhand is interspersed with lush green trees, towering mountains and a clear blue sky. These things are enough to make someone a poet or an artist. This is just a fraction of the beauty of the hilly territory. Uttaranchal or specifically, Garhwal is home to one of the most beautiful and defining ‘Gharanas’ of miniature paintings known as the Garhwal School of Painting. This is offshoot of the Guler-Kangra (Pahari) School of Painting of Himachal Pradesh. The basic timeline for its development and its peak ranges from 13th -18th Century A.D.

The paintings of Uttarakhand are unique and diverse. Garhwal in Uttarakhand is famed for Mughal style of paintings introduced by a Mughal Prince during the great Mughal regime. The University Museum in Srinagar, Garhwal exhibits a marvelous collection of these paintings along with numerous sculptures and findings from archaeological excavations.

The women folk of Kumaon practice Aipan, a popular art form of Kumaon. Walls, papers and pieces of cloth are decorated by drawing various geometric and other figures of Gods, Goddesses and objects of nature. There is another kind of painting called Peeth, where floor of the seat of Gods and Goddesses is beautified with geometrical designs.

Wall painting is another form of painting, and one of the oldest traditions of the region. Wall painting is generally done on the occasion of domestic ceremonies such as weddings when walls and doors of the house are decorated. Usually two different kinds of paintings are followed for the Kitchen and another for the ceremonial places.

Origin :

In 13th Century the Kumaon region was ruled by the Chand Dynasty (starting 700 AD till mid 19th Century). This long rule resulted in the prosperity of the state and gave people time to cultivate their creative side. This gave rise to the period of learning and development of new styles of painting in the area, collectively called the Pahari School of Painting. In the middle of the 17th Century Suleiman Shikoh, the nephew of Mughal king Aurangzeb, stayed here for a while.
The court painters accompanying him were already experienced with the Mughal Miniature Painting style and were fascinated by the new Pahari Style. The painters stayed behind when Shikoh left and gradually their descendents, experts on their own rights, started what today is known as the Garhwal School of Painting. In 18th Century, a poet cum painter cum statesman called Mola Ram further defined and refined the nuances of this school, giving an identity to it.

Uttarakhand's paintings can be divided into two broad parts, the folk arts of wall paintings and ritualistic paintings and the refined art of the miniaturists. The wonderful wall paintings of the Gurdwara Guru Ram Dai and the royal houses of Karnal and Saharanpur stand as independent memorials of excellence in the tradition of painting in Uttarakhand.

Miniature painting :

Miniature painting of Uttarakhand is one of he major schools of miniature painting in India. Although derived from the style of Mughal miniature paintings, Uttarakhand's miniature paintings developed its individual styles in the subsequent years. Given the wonderful natural beauty of the land, it was natural that artists and poets would be attracted to the state. It was also often a haven for runaways because of its location, hidden from the world in the lap of the mighty Himalayas. The Mughal prince Sulaiman Sukoh came here in exile and brought with him painters and the school of the Mughal miniature painting.

Wall Paintings :

Wall paintings of Uttarakhand has emerged from years of anonymity and has become widely appreciated because of its aesthetic value an decorative splendor. These wall paintings are widely practiced in the Garwhal and Kumaun regions of the state. Wall paintings in Uttarakhand has a rich tradition behind them and were not known to the world. It was only recently that the art connoisseurs of the world took note of the exquisite finesse of these wonderful paintings. Uttarakhand's wall paintings mainly served decorative and ritualistic purposes but their aesthetic values are also high. 

Mughal painting :

Mughal paintings of Uttarakhand is one of the most influential schools of Mughal miniature painting, alongside the Punjab and the Kangra schools. The Mughal paintings in Uttarakhand exhibit a combination of various influences. At the same time, it manages to hold its own as a separate and ingeniousness art form. Mughal miniature painting is one of the most illustrious traditions of miniature paintings in the world. It has its origin in the exile of Humayun, who brought back wonderful artists from Hirat and Persia to illustrate the splendor of the Mughal courts. By the time of Akbar, who was great patron of arts, the greatness of the Mughal miniature was well established. Mughal paintings at Uttarakhand is a comparatively late development.

Masters and Masterpieces :

The credit of reinstating the Garhwal Painting into their original position should go to Mukandi Lal, a barrister by profession. His passion for paintings surfaced in a 1968 book called 'Garhwal Paintings'. It revived and popularized this genre to a large extent. The most famous Garhwal School of Painting artists are Mola Ram, Shyam Das, Har Das, Hiralal, Mangat Ram, Jwalaram, Tejram and Brijnath. The most ‘colorful classics’ known consist of Illustrations of Ramayana (1780 AD), Celebrations of Balarama's Birthday (1780 AD), Series of Raginis, Shiva and Parvati, Utkat Nayika, Abhisarika Nayika, Krishna Painting the feet of Radha, Radha looking into a mirror, Varsha Vihar, Kaliya Daman, Illustrations of Geet Govinda.

Special Features :

The distinctive features of the Garhwal School of Painting consist of extremely beautiful and near perfect women with high arched, thin and delicate looking eyebrows and a captivating nose with a defined nose bridge resting on a supple oval face. The build of the female would usually have a tiny waist emphasized by the greatly developed bosom. This envisioning of the ideal beauty was on metaphorical terms that blended poetry and passion with romance and sometimes religion. It showed the unblemished approach towards finding that unabashed and spiritual love in India at that time.