Indian religious paintings: Three inevitable entities

Religious paintings are always important for all the civilizations as this particular domain speaks about the belief or the ideology that a community should have in order to communicate to the Almighty. In any temple, mosque, church or monastery you can find different artworks that describe the acts of deities or the pioneers of the religions. These artworks are really valuable to create a sustaining impression of the religious values and that’s why you can see a lot of stories depicted through those paintings. We all know that beautiful stories are easy to remember and religious stories are simply divine.

Indian especially he Hindu mythological stories are also great and these are perfectly connected to the artworks. Allow me to take you through three majestic icons that are the main sources of inspiration for Indian art.

Lord Krishna

The most eminent character of Indian mythology. Krishna was born to destroy Kangsha, his maternal uncle who was a savage ruler and famous for his tortures. Krishna killed him and made all the sufferers happy. Lord Krishna has one hundred and eighty names to be called by and various incarnations. In Indian mythology or the Hindu Purana the incarnations are considered as Avatar, the same word used in the movie made by James Cameron. Lord Krishna is associated with his lady-love Radha. In Sanskrit, Hindi and Bengali, Krishna means black. Ideally you can find two different versions of the idols. Black and blue. Mostly, when you see Lord Krishna with Radha, the icon is black and when he is alone, he is blue. The reason is love. When they are together, Krishna is a normal lover holding her hands and that’s why the color is the same as usual. When he is alone and thinking about Radha, he is blue. We all know the fact that the pain of love turns a person blue. You can find various paintings and frescoes that depict the heroic saga of Lord Krishna. These artworks will touch your soul and you would definitely feel a great peace.

Lord Ganesha

The God of prosperity and fulfillment. Probably the most popular hero of Indian mythology, The illustrious son Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati, the cutest deity amongst all. Ganesha enjoys a head that is similar to an elephant and of course a beautiful trunk. Most of the idols you see, would be having the trunks aligned in the left side of the body but there are exceptions too. The idols that have got the rightward alignment of the trunks are the most precious ones. People firmly believe that those are the luckiest mascots. You can see a cute, beautiful Lord Ganesha in my profile picture. The unframed painting on the wall behind me.

Lord Budhha

Peace, enlightment and sublimity. Lord Budhha was born in Kapilabastu, Nepal and when he started his journey, India became the most sought-after choice to promote his noble thoughts. Budhhism is very much famous in India and there is a complete Budhhist circuit in India which is a fantastic tourism destination. You can see various wall paintings in the monasteries and the pagodas and also he is a great inspiration to our Indian artists who create magic on canvas and papers. If you visit the North-Eastern part of India, you can be amazed by the paintings of Lord Budhha depicting the stories related to him. That would give you the idea regarding the history of Budhhism. He showed the way of commitment and peace and still we all are following the same because end of the day our lives deserve to be fulfilled and sublime.

Indian Art

India has always been an opulent country regarding art and culture.Since the ancient age, the art movement has been enriching the country in various ways.One can easily find the magnificence of ancient art in our famous caves like Ajanta,Ellora and Elephanta and the temples in the different parts of India.If we go by the Hindu mythology,India has got more than thirty three crores of Gods and Goddesses to worship and that's why you can find a temple in every corner of the country and in the temples you would see a unique,sublime icon as the Almighty.Just think about the creators of these magnificent stone-carved icons.They are simply stunning and you would feel real joy and peace by seeing them.They are age-old and beautiful,magestic.If you visit the famous Jagannath temple of Puri which is situated in the Indian state of Orissa,a question might tickle your brain regarding the architecture and the sculptures.How it was created when there was no crane to lift the stones.Frankly,crane was not invented that time.

In West Bengal, you can find a place called Bishnupur.You can see a lot of temples out there that are made of Terra-Cottah, the burnt clay. These temples speak about a different architectural grandeur but everywhere you can find a lot of stories depicted on the wall through that architectural efficiency.

Rajasthan enjoys a good number of palaces, forts and castles.If you want to know the life-styles of the rajput Kings you would come accross various beautiful paintings and sculptures in their court-yards.A lot of forts have been converted onto deluxe hotels and they have created eye-catching,royal galleries to exhibit the things.

Art is always connected to the religious belief and the cross-cultural impact. Indian history shows that the country had witnessed the rulers of almost all the religions like Hindu,Muslim even Christians at the British time and the art and culture evolved everytime.That's why Indian art is a blend of all the beautiful things that a creator can ever think about.It has age-old genuinity and an open door towards learning different things from all the impacts.Truely,it's a global culture that has generated a sublime fusion that speaks about the beautiful life.