The Kashmir school of painting is an obscure topic in the otherwise scholarly field of Indian art history, although much has been written about the ancient Kashmiri architecture and sculpture in recent times. It is true that Kashmir yields no archaeological remains of paintings nor do we know anything regarding the painting to reorganise the chronological history of painting in Kashmir. This paucity of archaeological material, of course, poses a severe lacuna in reorganisation and interpretation of the history of painting of Kashmiri people in early days but nevertheless it means that painting was an unknown or omitted discipline of fine arts to the Kashmiri society. An advanced culture like Kashmir that had well organised style of architecture, sculpture and other arts would never ignore the art of painting as it has been a most expressive and lively medium of human feelings and creative impulse. However, paintings being fragile in nature have completely disappeared from Kashmir on account of its unsuitable climatic conditions and ravages of wars. But the paintings created by the medieval artists of Kashmir have fortunately survived in the Trans-Himalayan region where climate preserved them. The earliest surviving examples of Kashmiri painting come from Gilgit which date from about 8th century A. D. Paintings discovered from Gilgit represent a highly developed style which did not appear overnight. Kashmiri craftsmen, long-famed in the North Western Indian peninsula, used to be invited to Central Asia and Tibet to decorate Buddhist monasteries. All the earliest monasteries of Tibet and Western Tibetan provinces used their services and their artifacts were in ever greater demand.

References of paintings in ancient Kashmir literature are very limited and scattered. It is only by piecing together the literary references and combining them with sculptural index a picture emerges of plausible form of painting which corresponds to the paintings that are preserved in the Buddhist temples of Ladakh and Western Tibet. Ancient Tibetan chronicles register clear evidences pertaining to the school of painting in medieval Kashmir. Biography of the great Tibetan scholar Rinchen Sangpo (950 - 1055 A . D.) registers an important reference that he visited Kashmir three times from Guge to obtain the services of Kashmiri craftsmen and teachers to reorganise and re-establish Buddhism in the Tibetan world. He is credited to have built one hundred and eight temples in Western Tibet with the help of seventy five skilled Kashmiri craftsmen and painters. In certain stances, name of particular artist is found. Some of the temples of this epoch have survived which still preserve the markmanship of those artists who were invited to build and decorate the temples. Another important information is recorded by the 16th century Tibetan polygrapher, Lama Taranath who writes in his "History of Buddhism in India " that when the kings Dharmapala and Devapala (8th-9th century) were ruling in Eastern India, there flourished two art schools namely, the Eastern Indian School established by Dhiman and the Madhyadesha school established by Pritipal son of the former. At the same time, Kashmir had its own distinct school of painting and metal casting under Hasuraja. Lama Taranath further comments that the school of Kashmiri art was influenced by the Madhyadesha school upto some degree. There was another school localised in Marwar established by Sringadhari which spread its influence far away in Kashmir, Punjab and in the northwestern provinces, of India. ... More ...

Source: Kashmir School of Painting by Dr. A. K. Singh

Source of most of the paintings: Koshur Samachar

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