The Vijayanagar School and Mysore Painting
In addition to architecture and sculpture, the Vijayanagar emperors were enthusiastic patrons of painting. The Vijayanagar school of painting was renowned for its frescoes of Hindu mythological themes on temple walls and ceilings. The rulers of Vijayanagar encouraged literature, art, architecture, religious, and philosophical discussions. With the fall of the Vijayanagar empire after the Battle of Talikota in 1565 CE, the artists who were under royal patronage migrated to various other places such as Mysore, Tanjore, and Surpur.
Absorbing the local artistic traditions and customs, the Vijayanagar school of painting gradually evolved into many styles of painting in South India, including the Mysore and Tanjore schools of painting. Mysore painting, an important form of South Indian classical painting, developed out of Vijayanagar painting and originated in the southern town of Mysore, in Karnataka, during the reign of the Vijayanagar emperors.
Characteristics of Vijayanagar Painting
Mysore paintings are known for their elegance, muted colors, and attention to detail. Popular themes include Hindu gods and goddesses and scenes from Hindu mythology. The paintings are characterized by delicate lines, intricate brush strokes, graceful delineation of figures, and the discreet use of bright vegetable colors and lustrous gold leaf. More than mere decorative pieces, the paintings are designed to inspire feelings of devotion and humility in the viewer. The painter’s individual skill in giving expression to various emotions is therefore of paramount importance to this style of painting.
The ancient painters in Mysore prepared their own materials. The colors were from natural sources of vegetable, mineral, leaves, stones, and flowers. Brushes were made with squirrel hairs for delicate work, and for superfine lines, a brush made of pointed blades of a special variety of grass was used. Due to the long lasting quality of the earth and vegetable colors used, the original Mysore paintings still retain their freshness and luster even today.
Examples
Wall Paintings
Vijayanagar art includes wall paintings such as the Dashavatara (the Ten Avatars of Vishnu) and the Girijakalyana (the marriage of Parvati, Shiva's consort) in the Virupaksha Temple at Hampi; the Shivapurana murals (the Tales of Shiva) at the Virabhadra temple at Lepakshi; and those at the Kamaakshi and Varadaraja temples at Kanchi.
Painted Ceiling, Virupaksha Temple
15th century painting, depicting scenes from Hindu mythology.
Manuscripts
The most famous of the manuscripts detailing the various nuances of the Mysore school is the Sritattvanidhi, a voluminous work of 1500 pages prepared under the patronage of Mummadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar. This pictorial digest is a compendium of illustrations of gods, goddesses, and mythological figures with instructions to painters on an incredible range of topics concerning composition placement, color choice, individual attributes, and mood. The seasons, eco-happenings, animals, and plant world are also effectively depicted in these paintings as co-themes or contexts.
Other Sanskrit literary sources such as the Visnudharmottara Purana, Abhilasitarthacintamani, and Sivatatvaratnakara also highlight the objectives and principles of painting, methods of preparing pigments, brushes, qualifications of the chitrakar (the traditional community of painters), and the technique to be followed.