Introduction to South Asian art: Art History 101
The early art of India, Pakistan, and beyond
“South Asia” primarily refers to the areas of modern-day India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka (Ceylon), the Maldives, and some smaller areas. That’s what we’ll cover in today’s article. There are other regions within South (Southeast) Asia like Indonesia and Vietnam, but we’ll leave those for another day.
Ancient era
As humans (and Denisovans) spread out from Africa, they entered South Asia between 75,000 and 30,000 years ago, possibly around the time of the hypothesized Toba eruption. Like all other cultures, art began with cave paintings [PDF] and rock carvings; including those at the Bhimbetka rock shelters, dating as far back as 8,000 BC.
Agriculture began around 7,000 BC. Early cultures included the Mehrgarh and Hakra Ware; they created baskets, simple tools, jewelry, terracotta figurines, pottery, and copper goods, with houses built from mud bricks.
Upon entering the Bronze Age, India’s main culture was that of the Indus Valley Civilization (Harappan culture) lasting about 3300-1300 BC. Unusually, they had less interest in art than other civilizations around the world, such as the Egyptians and Minoans. They didn’t create vast works like pyramids, palaces, or megaliths. Still, they had advanced cities for the time. This included wells, drainage systems, early sewers, warehouses, metallurgy, a system of weights and measures, and grid-based urban planning.
The Indus Valley peoples may have developed an early writing system, but as it remains undeciphered, we aren’t sure if it’s language or merely groups of symbols.
Their art remained relatively simple and small-scale, with some Mesopotamian parallels.
By 1300-1200 BC, the Indus Valley civilization had largely collapsed, with most of the population migrating to the east. It’s thought that drought, and perhaps a decline in trade with the Near East, contributed to this collapse. Indo-European migrations coincide with this time as another factor in cultural evolution.
Vedic era
Iron Age India, also known as the Vedic period, lasted approximately 1500-300 BC (exact time frame varies by region, source, and classification). This era isn’t well-known for its art, and anthropomorphic depictions don’t exist at all. The region was dominated by small competing kingdoms with their own ideas of how things should go. The Iron Age here is most important as the origin of Hinduism (the Vedas), Jainism, and the caste system.
We don’t know much about post-Indus Valley art. Archeology has uncovered very little, so South Asian cultures either dropped art as something important to them, or they moved to wood and textiles. Possibly both—the Indus Valley civilization already established a precedent for giving art a low importance in life. We can basically skip the entire early Iron Age, up to the Buddhist Era.
Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) is thought to have lived around 566-400 BC; all written records of his life came long after his death, so getting to specifics is tricky. In any case, the founding of Buddhism soon had a massive impact on world history and art.
Indo-Aryan migrants began settling the island of Ceylon (later called Sri Lanka) in the 400s, although it could’ve had a strong human presence as early as 600 BC.
Art picked up with India’s first major empire, the Mauryan Empire (322-185 BC), which came directly after Alexander the Great introduced Greek and Persian ideas to the region in 326 BC. Hellenistic art and culture had the greatest impact on Northern India, while the Mauryan government was based partly on Persian systems. Significant stonework was taken up, including rock-cut architecture like Barabar Caves, although not much has survived to the present day.
The Mauryan Empire, in some ways, cemented an “Indian” style of depicting the world. You can see its influence on later works.
Also see: the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and Indo-Greek Kingdom.
After King Ashoka the Great converted to Buddhism around 260-250 BC, it spread widely across Asia, and Buddha statues eventually became commonplace. He promoted both art and science under what some consider a Golden Age. After Ashoka’s death though, the empire went into decline. It fell in 185 BC after the assassination of its last king. India then fragmented into regional dynasties like the Shunga (185-72 BC) and Satavahana (100 BC - 200 AD).
Nature spirits (Yakshas) became a popular theme in art around this time. Cult images included large statues, usually about seven feet tall. (Side note: an early decimal system was also developed, which spread to the Islamic world before later entering the West).
Classical era
As we move from BC to AD, we enter India’s “Classical Age,” which is usually given as 250-500 AD. The era included various empires and dynasties:
Gupta Empire (c. 320–650 CE) which is also the “Golden Age” of India
Later Gupta dynasty (c. 490–750 CE)
Vakataka Empire (c. 250–500 CE)
Pallava Empire (c. 275–901 CE)
Kadamba dynasty (c. 345–1347 CE)
Western Ganga dynasty (c. 350–1024 CE)
Vishnukundina Empire (c. 420–624 CE)
Maitraka dynasty (c. 475–776 CE)
Rai dynasty (c. 489–632 CE)
Sculpture picked up and early Hindu temples began construction. There may have been other art forms which were equally popular, but few to no examples have survived to the present day. India also remained fragmented for a long time, with different regional styles and preferences developing over time, so there isn’t any one style to point to.
The Gupta period is regarded as especially notable, including the Ajanta and Udayagiri caves. Both would’ve taken countless hours to carve from the earth, and may have taken decades.
The Gupta period is sometimes called “the Golden Age of classical Hinduism.”
Medieval and Modern era
India’s Medieval period began after this “classical age,” around 600 AD, and ended with the establishment of the Mughal Empire in 1526. That same year, Sikhism was founded by Guru Nanak (a Sikh Empire later existed from 1799-1839). But first:
The Chola Empire was established around 850 AD, leading to a Golden Age of Tamil culture with strides in literature and architecture. They conquered Sri Lanka in 1017-1019 AD and their empire’s influence was at its greatest extent soon after, extending as far as modern-day Malaysia.
Also see: the intricate art of the Chaulukya dynasty (940-1244 AD) of Western India.
Islamic forces took an interest in South Asia throughout most of India’s Medieval era. First as trade partners and in small communities, then intermittent military campaigns. Things picked up around 1000-1200 and regional sultanates were eventually established. The Delhi Sultanate (1206-1526) was one of the most influential of these. For example, construction of Qutb Minar, and the tallest minaret in the world.
The earliest sultans had an uneasy rule—most of their power was concentrated in small areas, rebels struck back, and the next sultan was often decided by force. Almost half of the Delhi Sultanate’s rulers were assassinated and even slaves took the throne. India eventually returned to a state of several warring kingdoms, which created a window of opportunity for the Mughals. New technology—gunpowder and cannons—inflicted great losses on Indian forces, like in the 1527 Battle of Khanwa.
Mughal art is best known for the world-famous Taj Mahal completed in 1654. Other accomplishments included switching to a new solar calendar (the Muslims had a lunar calendar) and the Red Fort at Delhi.
The Mughal Empire began declining around 1712, facing internal power struggles and competition from the rising Maratha Empire (among other issues). Colonial powers had also taken great interest in South Asia. The British East India Company in particular had a strong presence, and began taking control of Mughal areas in 1757-1773. This ended after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, although India remained under British rule until after World War II. Mahatma Ghandi was assassinated in 1948 and India became a republic in 1950.
Islam’s influence can still be seen in South Asian art and architecture. Culturally, it’s especially strong in modern-day Pakistan, which was split from British India in 1947.
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