Maharashtra Board Class 10 History Chapter 4 History of India Arts PDF Download

History Of India Arts

What Is Art?

It is a natural human instinct to want to share his experience, wisdom, and also emotions. When that instinct results in a beautiful creation, it is acknowledged as 'Art'. The artist's power of imagination, sensibility, state of emotion and his skills are the crucial factors at the root of artistic creation.

Visual Arts And Performing Arts

Artistic creations are of two types, 'Visual Arts' and 'Performing Arts'. The Sanskrit term for the first type is Drik Kala and for the second type, Lalit or Aangik Kala. Many examples of Prehistoric rock art have been discovered at many sites in the world. It proves that the origin of visual arts is as old as the stone-age man.

Folk Arts And Classical Arts

There are two distinct traditions of art, 'Folk Art' and 'Classical Art'. Folk art is a tradition that has continued from the prehistoric times. The expression of folk art is a natural part of people's way of living. Hence its expression is spontaneous. Folk art is created by collective participation of the members of a social group. Classical art, on the other hand, is expressed within an established frame of consistent rules. It needs a prolonged training to master any form of classical art.

Style In Art

Artists tend to have their own method of working. It is known as the style of the artist. When a style is adopted by many artists over a prolonged period of time, it may become a tradition. Such tradition gets established as an 'art style'. Various art styles develop in every culture, which are characteristic of a certain period and region. Such styles are helpful in studying art history.

Teacher's Note

Art is everywhere around us. Even the designs on your school uniform or the rangoli your mother makes at home are forms of art. Art helps us understand how people lived in the past.

Exam Trick

Remember: Visual Arts = you can see them (paintings, sculptures). Performing Arts = you can watch them live (dance, music, theatre).

Points To Remember

Art is when someone shares their feelings and ideas in a beautiful way.
Visual Arts are painting and sculpture that you can see.
Folk Art is made by ordinary people and passed down through families.
Classical Art needs years of practice to learn properly.
Every artist has their own special style of working.

Indian Traditions Of Visual Arts (Drik Kala)

The art of painting and sculpting are visual arts.

Maratha Style Of Painting

Maratha paintings is an example of art style. The style known as Maratha paintings began to develop in the latter half of the 17th century C.E. This style consists of coloured paintings and they occur as murals and also miniatures used in manuscripts. Murals of Maratha style can be seen in the old wadas at places like Wai, Menavali and Satara in Maharashtra. The Maratha style was influenced by the Rajput and European styles of painting.

Painting styles help us in understanding various things about the times in which it was developed such as the life style, attires, customs, etc.

Teacher's Note

You can see Maratha paintings in old buildings in Maharashtra. These paintings show us how people dressed and lived 300 years ago, just like a history book with pictures.

Exam Trick

Remember: Maratha paintings = colorful stories on walls. They tell us about old times through beautiful pictures.

Points To Remember

Maratha paintings started in the 1600s in Maharashtra.
They were painted on walls and in books as small pictures.
These paintings show us how people lived long ago.
Rajput and European styles also influenced Maratha paintings.
Old buildings called wadas in Maharashtra still have these paintings.

Art Of Painting

Paintings are two dimensional, for example, sketches or paintings of nature, objects and individuals. They are done on various surfaces, such as rocks, walls, papers, canvas of different types and earthen pots. The mural of Bodhisattva at Ajanta caves is one of the finest examples of the art of painting.

Folk Styles Of Paintings

Rock paintings dating to stone ages have been discovered in many countries.

In India, there are rock painting sites in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The rock paintings in the caves at Bhimbetka are famous. Bhimbetka is a World Heritage site.

Rock paintings usually depict human, animal and geometric figures. However, the style of rock paintings seems to be changing according to the cultural changes from stone ages to the beginning of agriculture. The change is visible in the depiction of flora and fauna or it may be evident in the style of portraying various figures and also in the colours that were used. Black, red and white colours were used in the rock paintings, which were made from natural substances. With the help of rock paintings we can understand the knowledge of ancient people about their natural surroundings and also the way they exploited available natural resources.

The tradition of folk style of paintings closely resembles the style of rock paintings. Customs such as decorating the house walls and courtyards (Rangawali) by drawing various figures and symbols or using panels of paintings to narrate stories helped to develop regional styles of folk paintings.

The tradition of Chitrakathi is mentioned in 'Manasollas', a book written by the Chalukya king Someshvara in the 12th century C.E. It confirms the antiquity of this tradition. The tradition of narrating stories from Ramayana or Mahabharata with the help of wooden puppets and paintings is known as, Chitrakathi or Pinguli tradition. The people who still practice the art of Pingul live in a village called Pinguli. They belong to Thakar tribal community. It is located in the Konkan region, near Kudal. The Chitrakathi pictures are drawn on a paper and painted in colours made from natural substances. It takes 30-50 pictures to complete the narration of a single story. These pictures are preserved very carefully and handed down from one generation to another. The artists and the government are trying to preserve the tradition, which is on the verge of extinction.

Teacher's Note

Rock paintings at Bhimbetka show animals and hunting scenes made 10,000 years ago. These paintings tell us what ancient people ate and hunted for food, just like reading their old diary.

Exam Trick

Remember: Rock paintings = oldest art in the world. Cave paintings at Bhimbetka = World Heritage site. Warli paintings = still made by tribal people in Maharashtra.

Points To Remember

Rock paintings were made in caves thousands of years ago.
Bhimbetka caves in Madhya Pradesh have very old rock paintings.
Ancient people used black, red, and white colors from nature.
Warli painting and Chitrakathi are folk arts still done today in Maharashtra.
These paintings show us how ancient people lived and what they hunted.

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