References of paintings
in ancient Kashmir literature are very limited and
scattered. It is only by piecing together the
literary references and combining them with
sculptural index a picture emerges of plausible
form of painting which corresponds to the
paintings that are preserved in the Buddhist
temples of Ladakh and Western Tibet. Ancient
Tibetan chronicles register clear evidences
pertaining to the school of painting in medieval
Kashmir. Biography of the great Tibetan scholar
Rinchen Sangpo ( 950 - 1055 A . D. ) registers an
important reference that he visited Kashmir three
times from Guge to obtain the services of Kashmiri
craftsmen and teachers to reorganise and
re-establish Buddhism in the Tibetan world. He is
credited to have built one hundred and eight
temples in Western Tibet with the help of seventy
five skilled Kashmiri craftsmen and painters. In
certain stances, name of particular artist is
found. Some of the temples of this epoch have
survived which still preserve the markmanship of
those artists who were invited to build and
decorate the temples. Another important
information is recorded by the 16th century
Tibetan polygrapher, Lama Taranath who writes in
his "History of Buddhism in India " that
when the kings Dharmapala and Devapala (8th-9th
century) were ruling in Eastern India, there
flourished two art schools namely, the Eastern
Indian School established by Dhiman and the
Madhyadesha school established by Pritipal son of
the former. At the same time, Kashmir had its own
distinct school of painting and metal casting
under Hasuraja. Lama Taranath further comments
that the school of Kashmiri art was influenced by
the Madhyadesha school upto some degree. There was
another school localised in Marwar established by
Sringadhari which spread its influence far away in
Kashmir, Punjab and in the northwestern provinces,
of India.
The foregoing and a brief
survey of Kashmiri sculpture makes clear that the
genesis and evolution of Kashmiri art was not an
isolated phenomenon rather possessed an unified
character with the mainstream of Indian culture.
To interpret the Kashmiri painting it would be
necessary to consider certain factors like
geographical, social and political, which in fact
determine the whole personality of a culture and
its art. Kashmir being north-western frontier
province of India, enjoyed a melting-pot position
where various cultural cross currents from East
and West happened to mingle together and influence
the development of contemporary art which appears,
basically, eclectic in character. From or even
earlier to the time of Mauryan Emperor Ashoka
Kashmir was intimately associated with Gandhara
and had cultural and political relationship with
Afghanistan, Central Asia and Southern India.
From 7th-8th century
onwards the school of Kashmiri art acquired
distinct features when Kashmir emerged as a
powerful kingdom in northern India. Before this
period, the whole region from Kashmir and Gandhara
to Bamiyana, Central Asia and Southern peripheries
of Iran was under an unbroken chain of tradition
which interlocked all the flourishmg centres of
trade and Buddhism contemporaneous to each other.
The stucco figures found in the ancient sites of
Ushkur, Akhnoor ( in Kashmir ), Hadda, Taxila,
Baniyan, Fardukistan, Begram, Shoforak, Adzitepe,
Fayaztepe, Airtam, Yarkand, Kizil, Dandan uilik,
Khotan, Kashgar etc. display a striking affinity
in their style which points to a common artistic
tradition that overwhelmed the whole region. These
stucco figures approximately date from 5th-6th to
8th century and present a beautiful synthesis of
the Gandharan and the Gupta Indian tradition.
Similarly fragmentary examples of paintings
survived from Baniyan, Fondukistan, Balewatse,
Dandanuilik etc., stylistically appear to be
analogous to the stucco figures. The Indian
influence crystallised into the art of Central
Asia may be attributed to have transmitted through
the medium of Kashmir as then Kashmir was one of
the greatest centres of Buddhist learning and art
which played a key role in the spread of Buddhism
in Central Asia and Far East.
With the discovery of
Gilgit manuscript paintings, the interpretation of
the Kashmiri painting gets an authentic base line.
The Gilgit manuscript paintings are assigned to
the Kashmir school of the 9th century but
stylistically, they may date even earlier in the
7th-8th century as their nearest parallels are
found in the Kashmiri stone sculptures dated to
the 8th century from Pandrethan. Well organised
style of the paintings of Gilgit manuscript
appears to be the result of a chronological
evolution to which Kashmiri painting underwent.
Painted figures of Boddhisattva Padmapani from
Gilgit demonstrates the mingling of the Gandharan
and the Gupta Indian mannerism with certain local
elements. Physiognomy of the figures in the
paintings from Gilgit is characterised by muscular
and sturdy-built bodies; the faces are typical
Gandharan while the iconography and spirit are
purely Indian. This whole combination may be
called the basic characteristic of medieval
Kashmiri art which is very well demonstrated in
the sculptures produced in the period of King
Lalitaditya ( 925-56 ).
The Kashmiri artistic
tradition of Lalitaditya's period seems eclectic
in nature synthe sizing the Gupta Indian, the
Gandharan, the Central Asian, the Iranian and the
byzantine traditions. Lofty fame and prosperity of
Lalitaditya's monarchy attracted many more traders
and artists to settle in Kashmir from far afield.
At the same time, Arabic hoardes in Egypt, Syria,
Central Asia and Iran compelled the craftsmen and
Buddhist community to take refuge in peaceful
Kashmir who in turn enriched the art and culture
of the age.
In Lalitaditya's time,
Roman, Syrian and Central Asian artists were
available in Kashmir. On this basis, afflnity of
Kashmiri architecture with western architecture
can be explained while sculptures of the same
construction remained Indian in spirit.
After Lalitaditya,
Kashmiri style appears to have changed slightly
and in its new get-up it sustained till 10-11th
century. This phase is supposed to be the most
developed stage of Kashmiri art style when its
fame spread in the remote Himalayas and before
facing decay in Kashmir due to lack of patronage
and religious upheavel, it was grafted into Tibet
for further flowering.
Roerich has designated
the Kashmir school of art of the 9th century as
Avantipura school as the best examples of Kashmir
art are found at Avantipura complex built by King
Avantivarman (855-883 A. D.) of Kashmir who was a
great lover of fine arts. This new style of
Avantivarman's time is an amalgam of various
earlier prevalent forms like Gandharan, Greaco-Roman,
Sarcarenian, Chinese, Central Asian and over-all
Indian. Best representation of this style is found
in the good numbers of Kashmiri bronzes dated to
9th to 11th century cast by Kashmiri craftsmen for
Tibetan patrons. The style of such bronzes
presents a ramarkable affinity to that of wall-patintings
dating to 10-11th century decorated in the
Buddhist temples of Western Tibet. In this
connection, Roerich opines that the act of
Avantipura school strongly influenced the
development of art tradition of Western Tibet in
10-11 century.
The wall paintings of
Mang nang and manuscript painting of Thaling
discovered by Prof. Tucci in Western Tibet are
great breakthrough in the field of Kashmiri art.
Tucci believes that the paintings of Mang nang are
created by Kashmiri painters of the 10th -11th
century and are the best examples of Kashmiri
painting and same is the case with Thaling
manuscripts. They are dated as 11th century.
Stylistically speaking, the paintings of Mang nang
and Thaling appear to be pictorial translation of
contemporary Kashmiri bronzes. Style of paintings
of Mang nang and Thaling represent a successive
stage of development of tradition next to what was
characterised in the paintings from Gilgit.
The characteristic
features of the Kashmiri paintings represented in
the paintings of Mang nang lie in naturalistic
colour modelling which is very prominently carried
out in the female figures with the help of tonal
variation of body hues to produce an impression of
volume. In the female figure, the artists have
applied the aesthetic canon following the standard
characterised in medieval sculpture of Indian
mainland. Female figures appear voluptuous having
a balanced proportions and sensuous limbs. A
unique feature of physiognomy equally observed in
Kashmiri paintings and sculptures is the treatment
of abdominal portion. It depicts slightly pouched
sensuous lower belly and tight abdominal muscles
around navel which divide the abdomen in four
compartments. The facial type is marked with
ovaloid face, fleshy cheeks, double chin,
acquiline nose and full lips, highly arched eye
brows and almond shaped eyes. Another
characteristic feature lies in the depiction of
eyes in case of three fourthprofile faces where
one eye projects in outer space which reminds of
Western Indian paintings. The paintings present a
rich variety of costumes used by the contemporary
society. In the treatment of costumes and
ornaments, the artists have meticulously executed
the finest details of diaphenous and embroidered
garments and intricate design of ornaments.
The colour scheme of
Kashmiri paintings is very attractive as lapis
lazuli blue and malachite green dominate the
palette. The colours are used in various shades
and tones but all very soothing and soft unlike
Estern Indianand Nepalese school. The Kashmiri
colourpalette resembles that of Central Asian.
The wall paintings
identical to Mang nang are found in the 10th-11th
century Buddhist monasteries of Western Tibet,
Ladakh, and Spiti such as Alchi, Mongyu, Tsaparang
Thaling, Twang, Tabo etc., All were built during
the period of revival of Buddhism in Western Tibet
with the help of Kashmiri craftsmen commissioned
by Rinchen Sangpo. These wall paintings present a
final stage of progression of the Kashmiri style
which reminds something related to the distant
Ajanta.
The story of Kashmiri
painting does not end here. In fact, at the time
of its culminnation it was shifted into western
Tibet where it played a formative role in the
genesis of Guge school of painting and later so
called Tibetan painting. After the 11th century,
art in Kashmir gradually lost patronage and
degenerated and with the advent of Islam it
suffered considerably. Nevertheless, it was not
completely forgotten. With the socio-religious and
polit