Ancient Indian Architecture and Patna Kalam Painting

Introduction

The cultural heritage of eastern and northern India reflects a continuous evolution of artistic expression across architecture and visual arts. From the pioneering granite cave excavations of the Mauryas and Kalingas to the structural standardisation of the Nagara temple order and the subaltern realism of Patna Kalam painting, these traditions demonstrate deep sociopolitical patronage and aesthetic refinement.

1(a) Development of Caves in Eastern India during Ancient Times

Rock-cut architecture in eastern India laid the foundation for Indian cave traditions, driven by imperial patronage and heterodox sects:

• Mauryan Genesis in Bihar (3rd Century BCE): Emperor Ashoka excavated four rock-cut caves in the hard granite of the Barabar Hills (Jehanabad district) for ascetics of the Ajivika sect: Sudama, Karan Chaupar, Visvakarma, and the celebrated Lomas Rishi cave. Ashoka's grandson, King Dasharatha, continued this tradition by carving three caves in the adjacent Nagarjuni Hills (Gopika, Vadathika, and Vapiyaka).
• Structural and Decorative Hallmarks: These caves transitioned timber prototypes into stone, featuring circular or oval inner sanctums with barrel-vaulted roofs. The façade of the Lomas Rishi cave introduced the horseshoe-shaped Chaitya arch with a bas-relief frieze of elephants circumambulating a stupa motif. Their interior surfaces display the mirror-like glass glaze known as Mauryan polish.
• Post-Mauryan Kalinga Cave Phase (1st Century BCE): In Odisha, the Udayagiri and Khandagiri caves were commissioned during the reign of King Kharavela of the Mahameghavahana (Chedi) dynasty. Unlike the ritual chambers of Barabar, these served as residential shelters (viharas) for Jain monks. Sites such as Ranigumpha (a two-storeyed monastery with sculpted friezes of royal hunts, processions, and dancers) and Hathigumpha (housing Kharavela's seventeen-line epigraph) dispensed with interior polish in favour of open verandas, pillared porticos, and stone ledges serving as beds.
• Gupta and Post-Gupta Vestiges: Bihar retained this tradition through the Sonbhandar Caves at Rajgir, where rock-cut chambers were carved with Jain affiliations and Vairadeva inscriptions between the 3rd and 4th centuries CE.

1(b) Analysis of the Development of Temples in North India during Ancient Times

North Indian structural temple architecture transitioned through systematic stages during the Gupta era, ultimately standardising into the classical Nagara order:

• Stage I (Early Gupta Foundation): Shrines featured flat roofs, square sanctums (garbhagriha), and shallow, pillared entrance porticos (mandapa), resting on low plinths. Prototypical examples include Temple 17 at Sanchi and the Kankali Devi Temple at Tigawa.
• Stage II (Circumambulatory Enclosure): Temples incorporated a covered circumambulatory passage (pradakshina patha) around the sanctum and occasionally added an upper storey, as seen in the Parvati Temple at Nachna Kuthara and the Shiva Temple at Bhumara.
• Stage III (Introduction of the Shikhara): The flat roof gave way to a modest curvilinear spire (shikhara), while the ground plan adopted the cruciform Panchayatana layout (one principal sanctum flanked by four subsidiary shrines). The Dashavatara Temple at Deogarh and the brick temple at Bhitargaon epitomise this transition.
• Stage IV & V (Architectural Experiments): Shrines experimented with barrel-vaulted rectangular superstructures and circular ground plans with projecting cardinal facets, preserved at the Maniyar Math in Rajgir, Bihar.
• Regional Nagara Consolidation: By the post-Gupta period, the mature Nagara style developed tripartite vertical components: Jagati (raised terrace), Garbhagriha crowned by a curvilinear Latina shikhara, Amalaka (fluted disc), and Kalasha.
• The Bihar Benchmark: The Mundeshwari Devi Temple at Ramgarh (Kaimur district, Bihar), authenticated by an inscription to 635 CE, represents an early, fully functional Nagara stone shrine. It features a rare octagonal plan, four entrances, and intricately carved lintels depicting Ganga, Yamuna, and dwarapalas, enshrining both a Chaturmukhalinga and Mahishasuramardini. This evolutionary sequence culminated in regional idioms such as the Kalinga style in Odisha, Chandela shrines at Khajuraho, and Solanki architecture in Gujarat.

2. Main Features of the Patna Kalam Painting

Patna Kalam (Patna School of Painting) emerged during the mid-18th century as a distinct provincial offshoot of the Mughal school, flourishing between 1760 and the early 20th century:

• Origin and Relocation: Consequent to the decline of imperial Mughal patronage under Aurangzeb and the weakening of the Nawab of Bengal following the Battle of Plassey (1757), displaced court artisans migrated from Murshidabad to Patna. Settling in localities such as Lodikatra, Machharhatta, Diwan Mohalla, and Chowk, they found patrons among local aristocrats, wealthy merchants, and East India Company officials, leading the style to also be known as Company School painting.
• Thematic Pivot to Subaltern Realism: Unlike the courtly splendour, darbar assemblies, and mythological epics of imperial Mughal and Rajasthani miniatures, Patna Kalam was the first independent school to focus primarily on everyday life. Paintings depicted artisans, hawkers, washermen (dhobi), water-carriers (bhishti), butchers, bangle-makers, carpenters, bird-sellers, and horse carriages (ekkas), alongside local cultural rituals like Chhath Puja, Holi, and Muharram processions.
• Technical Mastery (Kajli Siyahi): The school's defining technical feature was Kajli Siyahi, an exacting method where artists drew outlines and contours directly using a fine squirrel-hair brush dipped in lampblack ink, completely bypassing any preliminary pencil underdrawing.
• Surfaces and Colour Palette: Artworks were rendered on paper, mica (talc sheets), vellum, and fine ivory slips. Pigments were entirely water-based and derived from natural sources: lampblack for ink, indigo for blue, turmeric and geru (ochre) for yellow and red, and plant resins for fixatives. The colour scheme remained subdued, earth-toned, and realistic, deliberately avoiding opulent gold leaf.
• Stylistic Synthesis: Patna Kalam combined the precise line control of Mughal miniatures with European artistic conventions, such as linear perspective, deep shadows, and subtle gradations of light through java stippling (delicate dotting) and hatching.
• Distinguished Masters: Prominent painters included early masters Sewak Ram and Hulas Lal, followed by Shiv Lal and Shiva Dayal Lal during its peak, and concluding with Ishwari Prasad Verma, whose legacy preserved this visual documentation of 19th-century Bihar.

Conclusion

Together, these three art forms underscore the dynamism of Indian artistic traditions. From the enduring spiritual engineering of Mauryan caves and Gupta temples to the democratic social realism of Patna Kalam miniatures, eastern and northern India served as fertile ground for stylistic innovation across epochs.