• With the rise of Neo Vaisnavism under Sankaradeva, from 16th century onwards, we get a host of concrete examples that can be called painting in its real sense, that flourished until the last part of the 19th century.
• These polychrome paintings, popularly known as manuscript painting, done on sanchipat or tulapat, which also contained written descriptions, have certain independent characteristics of their own and are collectively grouped as The Assam School of Painting .
• Since it was the Satra institution of Sankaradeva which nurtured this school and played a considerable part in its growth, preservation and popularity, the Assam School may also be referred to as the Satriya School of Painting.

Famous Painted Manuscripts

The Earliest Surviving Specimen
Devotees are seen singing the Name of Hari playing on various instruments like cymbals and drums and marching as if in a celebratory procession. The figure in the lead appears to be carrying a copy of the Bhagavata in some sort of a portable book-case. The whole scene is reminiscent of the Bhagavata Bhramana celebration in which the Bhagavata is taken outdoors by the devotees on certain special occasions. The earliest extant example of an illustrated manuscript of the Satriya school is the Bhagavata Book X (Dasama) (the Citra Bhagavata) from the Bali Satra of the Nagaon district. It is dated as 1539 AD. Though sharing some common features with the western India miniatures, it has an independent identity and Dr Moti Chandra lays down the following distinctive features of the said manuscript:

• lyrical draughtsmanship
• simple composition
• dramatic narration
• splendid color

These elements “give the Bhagavata illustrations a charm which distinguishes them from similar Bhagavata paintings from Udaipur and elsewhere.”

Many more illustrated manuscripts covering three centuries including the 19th century have been recovered from different Satras and households of Assam during last seventy years or so. Although the pictorial idiom by and large remains the same with all these works, there are stylistic variations among the artists mainly due to individual comprehension of the text and the ability of the artist in matching the verbal imagery through a parallel pictorial imagery.

The Citra Bhagavata was followed by the execution of the illustrated Bar Kirttana of Kathbapu Satra, the Bhakti Ratnavali executed in 1683 in Kamalabari Satra, the Gita Govinda and the Ananda Lahari seem to have rendered by a sattriya artist in the Ahom court of Rudra Singha (1695-1713 A.D.) and Siva Singha (1713-1744 A.D) (the Ananda-Lahari can be more precisely placed during 1720 A.D. and 1721 A.D), the Ajamilopakhyana of Purana Burka Satra, the Bhagavata VIII of Pubtharia, the Bhakti Ratnavali of Ratnavali-Than in Nagaon and the dated copy of the third transcript of the Bhakti -Ratnavali (1731 A.D) of Karatipar NaSatra in Nagaon . The artist of Bengena-ati-Satra in Majuli rendered paintings in the folios of the Sundarakanda Ramayana in 1715 A.D. In the same year, Visnurama of Chaliha-Bareghar Satra executed the paintings of the Ajamilopakhyana Nat written by the Satradhikara, Sriramadeva of the said Satra. Excluding the Bar-Kirttana, Sundarakanda, Ajamilopakhyana Nat, the other seven illustrated manuscripts stated above are stylistically similar and constitute one group from stylistic consideration.

One of the major contributions to the art of painting in Assam was the Lava Kusar Yuddha. The manuscript is undated. Its pictorial style is developed better than that of the Citra Bhagavata and those executed between 1683 and 1732 A.D.

In 1836 the Ahom prince, Purandar Singha, whom the British company placed on the throne for a very short period after the fall of the Ahom kingdom during the Burmese aggression, commissioned the services of one Durgaram Betha for illumination work in the folios of the Brahmavaivarta Purana (now in the British Library, London). It was a masterpiece of the 19th century. According to J.P. Losty, “this is the last of the great ones, in which the native Assamese style has triumphantly reasserted itself over the desiccated Ahom court style.”

Distinguishing features

• The general composition and layout of the paintings are always horizontal as opposed to the vertical way of contemporary Persia, and Europe. Each painting is divided into two major sections. The background proper is always monochrome red free of any details. The rest of the 'alekhya-sthana' is painted in flat green on which the actual painting appears superimposed. The most characteristic feature of these miniatures is that each human, animal or any other figure is framed by trifoil arches or 'architectural niches'. As a result, the top portion of the background is always of irregular shape, following the contour of the arch or series of arches if the panel is a longer one. The entire area is never broken into foreground, background or horizon, either by changes in their respective colors or by the introduction of symbolic and significant motifs like grass, plants or clouds. The entire composition appears to be in eye level view, all other perspectives being absent here.
• Representations of pouring rain water, rivers and lakes are of a conventional type. Mountains (for example) look like cross sections of them as in a geological diagram. The lack of expression in the faces of human figures are simply compensated by their poses and mudras which are greatly effective. They are all in 'Abhanga', a few in 'Tribhanga' and almost none in 'Atibhanga' poses. In depicting an episode, parts of it are represented on the succeeding folios. But the technique of continued narration is also followed at times. No attempt to depict the sky in a realistic manner is perceptible. Where figures are inserted the background is invariably red but the area between the red background and the rest of the the alekhya-sthana is usually painted in equally flat monochrome green.
• Vegetation though stylised is varied and the Kadamba, the Banana and other willowy trees with flowers are the most common types represented. The usual practice is to fill the crown area in some kind of green and then the leaves and the flowers are picked out in minute details. Cuckoos and other harmless beasts and birds inhabit these trees.
• Human figures and superhuman beings in anthropomorphic forms are all characteristic of the school. In the case of human figures, natural proportions are adhered to but, when, in particular episodes Krishna's personality had to be magnified he is shown far larger in size.
• The last days of the Satriya school were marked by minuteness of details, lavishness of ornamentation and gorgeousness of colors.

Influence on Later (Sub) Schools

• The Satriya school later had many branches and offshoots and new schools came into view but these other schools were deeply influenced by and/or penetrated by ideas and techniques of the Satriya school - the school that Sankaradeva had launched.