Indian painting is immensely varied in its subject matter and in how artists have handled their subjects. The past of painting in India goes back many hundreds of years and given the time span it is no wonder that there is such a great variety both in styles as well as in what has been depicted. Virtually every subject seems to have been covered somewhere in India and by one painter or other. Nevertheless the kinds of topics that have been presented fall into a number of distinct categories. Some of the art is religious in that gods and goddesses appear as objects of veneration while other paintings show them as heroes in stories illustrating the great epics, puranas and other texts. Artists also portrayed those who were not divine but human. Some paintings recount great popular love stories, folk romances of star-crossed lovers; or show ordinary people going about their daily activities. Other pictures relate to time of day or time of year, the appropriate mood of season or month, and the musical modes they reflect. Still others illustrate festivals, celebrations and various entertainments. With the secular paintings what is perhaps the most common subject of all is the depiction of rulers, emperors, maharajas, thakurs and nobles and other great and worthy figures….
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