Page 12 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

PAINTING 9

size these paintings display the expansiveness and qualities of wall paintings. These
paintings can also justifiably be called tiny wall paintings. Consequently, it has been
supposed that the artists of Pala paintings were probably also the artists of wall
paintings or painters in both the media.
The pictorial style of Bengal’s Pala manuscript paintings was probably directly inspired
by the classical pictorial tradition of the wall painting of the Gupta Age. Taking the
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cue from this statement it is required that the judgment and analysis of the method and
style of Pala painting should be based on the background of pre-Pala Indian fine arts.
In India the development of the art of painting and sculpture reached its finest stage in
the Gupta Age (320-575 AD). This period is renowned as the Classical Age in the
history of Indian art and civilization. In the field of painting the mural paintings of
Ajanta are the best examples of this age. However, in the classical artistic ideal the
presence of two different parallel pictorial ideals can be seen. Firstly, in the modeling
oriented method with the use of different shades of colors and lines of different
thickness the primary objective was creating a completely rounded image, this is well-
known as the ‘classical’ type. In the other method, clear and sharp lines were used
especially with the absence of modeling in application of color and is known as the
‘mediaeval’ type. This second method of painting developed in the western Indian
Jaina manuscripts. In the discussion of the evolution of Indian art the influence of the
two above-mentioned styles of painting are especially important. The discussion of
Pala painting too is considered within this context.
Pala painting originated at the beginning of the ninth century AD and the early stage
lasted for nearly two hundred years, till the end of the tenth century. However, there are
no extant examples of paintings of this initial stage. It is, however, possible to form a
notion about this unknown style of painting in the light of the sculptures executed
during that period. The sculptural art of the Pala era developed following the ideals of
the classical sculptural idiom of the Gupta age. Consequently, in the initial stages of
Pala painting it seems that it was the western Indian classical style of Ajanta that was
followed. Moreover, although manuscript paintings are examples of Pala paintings, in
the recent past examples of mural paintings of the Pala age have been discovered. In a
ruined Buddhist temple of Nalanda, paintings in many different colors nearly destroyed
by the ravages of time are observable. ‘Yet from what can be seen of the faint paintings,
it can undoubtedly be said that, these mural paintings and the manuscript paintings of
the Pala era are expressions of the same style.’ [Trans.]
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Formally, Pala painting is primarily linear and ornamental. It should be mentioned that
in mediaeval Indian painting linear ornamentation was the prominent feature. On the
other hand, although lines have been used in Indian classical art, the primary intention
behind this was the creation of modeling. However, though the foundation of Pala
painting is based on linear representation yet it never became ornamental in character.
For it is to be noticed that, with the intention of expressing reality and weight of
objects the artists in most cases made the lines thick, thin or faint through applying the