Table of Contents
Introduction
The Vishnudharmottara Purana is a lesser-known but remarkably comprehensive Sanskrit text, traditionally dated between the 5th and 7th centuries CE, that spans subjects as diverse as religion, philosophy, architecture, music, dance, and the visual arts. Among its most significant contributions is a detailed discourse on painting found in Khanda III (the third section), specifically in the chapters collectively known as the Chitrasutra. Here, painting is not treated as mere decoration, but as a disciplined and intellectual practice, one that requires an understanding of proportion (pramāṇa), colour (varṇa), expression (bhāva), and aesthetic experience (rasa). By situating painting within a broader framework of knowledge and spirituality, the text offers one of the earliest and most nuanced theoretical foundations for Indian art, making it a compelling lens through which to revisit and interpret artistic traditions even today.
Let’s explore some points mentioned in the Vishnudharmottara Purana that can be applied to contemporary Indian art -
The importance of the viewer
The text mentions, “The interest taken in pictures varied with the education of the spectator. The masters praise the rekhā's (delineation and articulation of form), the connoisseurs praise the display of light and shade, women like the display of ornaments, to the rest of the public richness of colours appeals. The artists, therefore, should take great care that the painting may be appreciated by everyone.”
Even today, Indian art has a variety of themes that appeal to various sections of the society. For example, Kalighat paintings.
The Kalighat painting tradition serves as a perfect historical fulfillment of the Chitrasutra’s mandate by skillfully balancing technical mastery with a thematic range that resonates across all layers of 19th-century society. To the Masters and Connoisseurs, it offers the rekhā, consisting of bold, calligraphic brushstrokes that define volume with a single, sweeping motion, along with a unique form of shading that creates a sense of three-dimensional "light and shade" even on flat paper. Beyond technicality, its subject matter is meticulously layered to engage different viewers. It satisfies the religious devotion of pilgrims with iconic depictions of deities like Kali and Shiva, yet it simultaneously appeals to the urban public through sharp social satire.
Depiction of Goddess Kali: Kalighat by Uttam Chitrakar
These satirical works, which often mocked the "Babus" of Calcutta for their vanity or their imitation of colonial habits, acted as a mirror for the common man.
Aristocratic Babu and Biwi In Kalighat by Hasir Chitrakar
The Woman and the Cat: Kalighat painting by Uttam Chitrakar
Lady with cat in Kalighat by Hasir Chitrakar
Reflections of Elegance: A Serene Portrait A Khalighat Painting by Sonali Chitrakar
Types of paintings
The Vishnudharmottara Purana classified the paintings executed in various types : wall paintings, pictures on board and on canvas were equally frequent. The latter were sometimes in the shape of rolls, exhibiting continuous representation. Framed paintings were further divided into subtypes based on shapes and themes.
Even today, we can see these types of paintings, with Gond paintings starting off as Bhittichitra, Warli murals on walls, etc., which are now also done on canvas.
Originating from the Gond community of central India, especially in Madhya Pradesh, Gond painting began as Bhittichitra (wall painting) executed on the mud walls of homes during festivals and rituals. Traditionally made with natural pigments, these paintings depicted animals, trees and local myths, often infused with symbolic meaning and a deep connection to nature.
In its contemporary form, Gond art has seamlessly transitioned onto paper and canvas, yet it retains its distinctive vocabulary with intricate patterns, rhythmic dots and vibrant colour fields that fill the form rather than outline it.
Rather than adhering to classical notions of proportion, Gond painting creates its own internal balance through repetition and movement, offering a compelling counterpoint to the structured frameworks described in the Chitrasutra.
Kothi: The Sacred Granary in Gond by Kailash Pradhan
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Practised by the Warli community of Maharashtra, Warli painting is another example of a living mural tradition that has expanded into new formats. Traditionally painted on the walls of village homes using a white pigment made from rice paste against an ochre background, these works are deeply tied to ritual occasions, especially marriage ceremonies, where the central chowk motif invokes fertility and prosperity.
Warli art is defined by its minimal, geometric visual language - circles, triangles and lines forming human and animal figures. Despite its apparent simplicity, it conveys complex narratives of community life, agriculture and cosmology. Today, Warli paintings are widely created on paper and canvas, adapting to contemporary markets while preserving their symbolic and ritual essence.
Tiger God Puja: Warli Painting by Anil Wangad
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Scroll painting traditions of India include Pattachitra, Phad, Cheriyal, etc.
The Pattachitra tradition of Odisha exemplifies the scroll and cloth-based painting category described in the Vishnudharmottara Purana. Painted on treated cloth (patta), these works are known for their intricate detailing, bold lines and mythological themes, especially narratives of Lord Jagannath, Krishna and episodes from the epics.
While many Pattachitra paintings are framed as individual compositions, the tradition also includes scroll formats with sequential storytelling, where the viewer “reads” the painting as it unfolds. The use of natural pigments and strict iconographic conventions reflects a continuity of both material and aesthetic discipline.
Krishna in Vrindavan in Pattachitra by Gitanjali Das
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The Phad tradition of Rajasthan is a striking example of portable scroll painting as performance. Painted on long horizontal cloths, Phads narrate the heroic tales of local deities such as Pabuji and Devnarayan. These scrolls are not merely visual objects but are integral to a performative tradition, where priest-singers (Bhopas) unfurl the painting and recount the story through song.
The composition is continuous, with multiple scenes arranged across the length of the scroll, closely aligning with the idea of “continuous representation” mentioned in the text. Here, painting becomes both narrative medium and sacred object.
Harmony of Rajasthan: A Tapestry of the Life of Pabuji, Phad Painting by Kalyan Joshi
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The Cheriyal scroll paintings of Telangana continue another vibrant scroll tradition rooted in oral storytelling. Painted on khadi cloth and characterised by a distinctive red background, these scrolls depict episodes from epics, Puranic stories, and local caste-based narratives.
Divided into panels yet forming a continuous visual flow, Cheriyal scrolls were traditionally used by itinerant storytellers who would narrate each scene as they progressed along the scroll. The bold colours, simplified figures, and episodic structure make them both accessible and visually striking, reinforcing the enduring relevance of scroll-based storytelling in Indian art.
Bathukamma Telangana Traditional Festival: CHERIYAL SCROLL PAINTING by Sai Kiran
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From the Silparatna, we know that Dhūlichitra or powder-painting, familiar to Bengali ladies as Alpana, was applied as a temporary coating of powdered colours on a beautiful piece of ground.
Alpana, practised predominantly in Bengal, is a form of floor painting traditionally created by women using a paste made of ground rice (often mixed with water). Applied to courtyards, thresholds, and prayer spaces, these designs are closely tied to ritual occasions, such as Lakshmi Puja, weddings, and seasonal festivals.
The visual language of Alpana is both symbolic and rhythmic: lotus motifs, conch shells, rice stalks, and footprints of the goddess Lakshmi are rendered in flowing, often symmetrical compositions. Unlike permanent paintings, Alpana is intentionally ephemeral, it is meant to fade, be erased and redrawn, reflecting cyclical ideas of renewal and auspiciousness.
What resonates strongly with the idea of Dhūlichitra is not just the material (powder/paste), but the performative act of making, the body bending, the hand moving freely and the design emerging directly on the ground without preliminary sketches.
In the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand, Aipan serves a similar ritual function but with a distinct visual and symbolic vocabulary. Created using white rice paste (bisvar) on a red ochre background (geru), Aipan designs are often more structured and diagrammatic, with precise dots, lines, and grids forming sacred motifs known as chowkis.
Each Aipan design is associated with a specific ritual or deity, such as the Lakshmi Chowki, drawn to invoke prosperity, or patterns made during naming ceremonies, thread rituals and festivals. The emphasis here is not just decorative but deeply cosmological, with the designs acting as sacred diagrams that invite divine presence into the domestic space.
Goddess Lakshmi Footprint Aipan Chowki in Aipan by Ruchi Nainwal
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Practised across Rajasthan and parts of Madhya Pradesh, Mandana is another powerful expression of Dhūlichitra, traditionally painted by women on floors, walls and thresholds of homes. Using white chalk or lime (khariya) on a freshly coated red mud surface, Mandana designs mark festivals like Diwali, Govardhan Puja and marriages.
The motifs range from geometric patterns and grids to stylized depictions of animals, birds, and sacred symbols. Thresholds and courtyards become key sites, as Mandana is believed to protect the home, invite auspiciousness and demarcate sacred space.
While visually bold and often symmetrical, Mandana also carries a strong spatial logic, responding to architecture, entrances and movement through the home. Like Alpana and Aipan, it is transient, renewed with each occasion, and deeply embedded in everyday ritual life.
Auspicious Footsetps: Fishes with Geometrical Shapes in Mandana by Vidya Soni
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The Vishnudharmottara clearly distinguishes between drshța and adrshța paintings, the latter comprising things invisible or rarely to be seen. The drshța, things that are seen easily by ordinary mortals, excel in what we call landscape-painting. The hours of day and night, the seasons are described. There we find a close connection of mood and time, which reached its height in the Ragmālā pictures, where season, hour, emotion and music became fused as painting.
Emerging between the 16th and 18th centuries across regions like Rajasthan and the Deccan, Ragamala paintings translate musical modes (ragas and raginis) into visual form. Each raga is associated with a specific time of day, season, and emotional state (rasa) and artists render these associations through evocative imagery. For instance, Megh Raga is often depicted with dark monsoon clouds, lightning and longing lovers, embodying the atmosphere of the rainy season.
Raag Megh of Raagmala Series in Kishangarh Style of Painting by Shehzaad Ali Sherani
Ragini Bhairavi (Raag Bhairav) of Ragamala Series in Kishangarh Art by Shehzaad Ali Sherani
Dipak Raga is visualised through lamps and fire, evoking heat, intensity and night.
Ragini Kamodi (Deepak Raag) of Raagmala Series in Kishangarh Painting by Shehzaad Ali Sherani
To read more about naturalism in Indian art, give this blog a read -
Equally important is the painter’s understanding of gesture, drawn from the codified systems of dance and performance. Hand gestures (mudras), postures and bodily stances are not incidental, they are precise visual signs that communicate narrative and emotion.
Classical Dancer in Kalamkari by K. Lakshminarayanan
The Vishnudharmottara Purana reveals that Indian painters possessed a sophisticated understanding of modelling and shading (varttana), challenging the common assumption that early Indian art was purely flat or linear. This process was described as threefold, each method offering a distinct way to create depth, texture, and movement.
The first, patraja, involved the use of fine cross-hatched lines, building volume through layered strokes rather than tonal gradation. The second, airika, referred to a technique akin to stumping or blending, where colours were softly merged to create smoother transitions and subtle modelling. The third, vinduja, used dots to articulate form, generating rhythm and surface variation through repetition.
These techniques are not merely historical, they resonate strongly with contemporary practices. The dotted surfaces of Gond and Bhil paintings, the linear density of Madhubani or even the layered washes of miniature traditions echo these approaches, suggesting that what the text codified continues to survive as intuitive visual knowledge across traditions.
Colors and Dots: Donkey In Bhil by Kamlesh Parmar
Colors
Colour, in the Vishnudharmottara Purana, is both material and symbolic, grounded in physical processes yet deeply tied to emotion and meaning. The text identifies a set of primary colours, typically white, red, yellow, black and green (with variations including blue and myrobalan), while allowing the artist creative freedom in mixing and generating countless tonal variations.
Pigments were sourced from a wide range of natural materials: minerals such as red lead and orpiment, organic substances like indigo and lac, and even metals including gold, silver, and copper. Their preparation was meticulous - ground on stone, soaked, filtered and combined with natural binders such as neem resin, transforming raw substances into refined, usable colour.
To know more about natural pigments, give this blog a read
Alongside these pigments, the text also describes the use of metallic colour, particularly gold leaf, which added luminosity and visual richness to paintings. Gold was carefully processed, beaten into fine leaf, ground, purified, and mixed with binding agents before application. This technique was especially significant in depicting divine or royal imagery, where brilliance and radiance were integral to meaning. Even today, traditions such as Pichwai, Tanjore painting, and miniature painting continue to use gold leaf to highlight ornaments, textiles and sacred elements, reinforcing its enduring symbolic association with divinity and abundance.
Divine Opulance: Shrinathji Amidst the Lotus Grove in Pichwai by Naveen Soni
