Patna Kalam:Art on Extinction

by pankaj kumar | June 28, 2011 at 10:59 am

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Mughal Emperors in India has impacted the socio-cultural, political and economic life style of the Indians.The influence of Mughal rule was widely observed in art and architecture of the country.The Mughal style of painting is a brightest feature of Indian painting history which matured in the regime of Jahangir which is also known as the known as the golden era of Mughal paintings.

Combination of Persian style with the Indian traditional style has given the a new way of painting.Many Indian schools of paintings were enriched, nourished and flourished afterwards and they were heavily influenced by Mughal paintings.One among these was Patna School of Painting which is popularly known as the Patna Kalam or Company painting.Historically Patna Kalam was an derivative of Mughal painting flourished during early 18th to mid 20th century in Bihar.
During the regime of Aurangzeb Hindu artisans of Mughal painting faced prosecution due to his widely practiced anti-Hindu policy and aversion in art and painting.Hindu painters were taken shelter in Patna and introduced their own school of painting known as Patna Kalam.Although they followed the basic features of Mughal painting but their subject was quite different.Unlike the Mughal painting, that were based on royalty and court scenes, painters of Patna Kalam were deeply influenced by daily life of common man.Their main subjects were local festival,ceremonies bazaar scenes,local rulers, and domestic works as well.Some well acclaimed flag bearers of Patna kalam were Sewak Ram,Hulas Lall, Shiv Lal,Shiva Dayal,Mahadeo Lal and Ishwari Prasad Verma.