India · Painting / Miniature Art
कांगड़ा चित्रकला (Kangra Chitrakala)
Kangra miniature painting is the most refined school of Pahari (hill) miniature painting, developed under the patronage of the Kangra Rajas in the 18th century — particularly under Sansar Chand (r. 1775–1823), whose court is considered the high point of the tradition. Characterized by an exquisitely lyrical line, luminous natural pigment colors, delicate landscape backgrounds (often with specific Kangra valley topography), and subjects drawn from the Bhagavata Purana, Gita Govinda, Ramayana, and Ragamala series, Kangra painting represents one of the peaks of Indian pictorial art. The technique uses hand-ground mineral and organic pigments on prepared paper or cloth, applied with brushes made from squirrel tail hair — some as fine as a single hair. The tradition was nearly destroyed by the 1905 Kangra earthquake, which killed most court artists; revival has been partial and sustained by a small number of families in Kangra town.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Not inscribed; GI Tag applied
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