PALA ART AND ARCHITECTURE FOR BPSC MAINS SPECIAL.

PALA ART AND ARCHITECTURE.

The Pala dynasty ruled from 8th century to 12th century CE in the region of bihar and bengal. The development of art  had been in a full fledged manner during the mauryas and Guptas which was further carried by the Pala rulers. Distinctive achievements of the Palas are seen in the arts and architecture, sculpture, terracotta, painting and wall paintings. the pala art came to sudden end after the destruction of the buddhist monastries by the muslim invaders in the first half of the 13th century. some of the monks and artists escaped and fled to nepal and some other places, which helped in the reinforcing the existing art tradition there.

ARCHITECTURE:

Most of the architecture were religious, various mahaviharas, stupas, chaitya, temples, forts were constructed. The 1st two hundred years of the Pala period art were dominated by buddhist art, and the later two hundred years by the hindu arts.

Among various mahaviharas , nalanda, vikramshila, triakutas, devikota, pandita viharas are notable.

Dharmpal build the vikramshila mahavihara(at pathargarh in bhagalpur district of bihar) and Odantpuri vihar in bihar. Somapura and vikramshila vihar were the important learning centre of buddhism. odantpuri mahavihara was so magnificant that it served as the model for first monestry built in Tibet.

ROCK CUT cave temple at kahalgaon dating from 9th century shows the gabled vaulted roof characteristics of the south indian architecture.

somepura mahavihar at paharpur, built by dharmpala shows the excellence of architectural art achievement in the pala period. it is the one of the longest buddhist vihara in the indian sub continent and in the Nalanda inscription of the VIPULASRIMITRA it has been described as "jagatam netraikavishramabhu" i.e. pleasing to the eyes of the world.

The brick shiva temple at konch in gaya district is famous for its curvelinear shikhra and carbelled lancet window.

TERACOTA : artestic and beautiful forms of the terracotta were developed during the pala period for the purpose of decoration. the statues were made on the wall depicting the scenes from religious and general life. for example terracotta plaque records from paharpur recognised as the unique creation of bengal artistics, amply demonstrated the excellence of the art.

SCULPTURE: the guptas tradition of sculptural art attained a new height under the patronage of the pala rulers and it came to be designated as "pala school of sculptural art". the art incorporated lot of local characteristics in bengal under the palas and it continued right up to the end of the 12th century. the sculpture of the stone and bronze were constructed mostly in monestic site of the nalanda, bihar sarif, rajgir, bodhgaya etc.

most of the sculpture of this period drew their inspiration from buddhism apart from buddha, sculpture of god andgoddess of hindu religion like vishnu, ganesh , shiva were also constructed. some of the finest sculpture of this school include a female bust, two standing avalokiteshwara images from nalanda. buddhist sculpture is characterised by a prominent and elaborately carved black slab and lotus seat, frequently supported by lions.

Bronze sculptures are casted in dies. bronze casting was an important feature of the pala art, such sculptures founded from nalanda and kukrihar(near gaya). bronze figures were usually casted by the free flowing movements, almost all figures are of similar size.

PAINTINGS: The earliest examples of miniature painting in india exist in the form of the illustration to the relioious text on buddhism executed under palas of the eaatern india. there are two form  paintings - manuscript and wall paintings.

manuscript were written on palm leaves. in the paintings scenes of the buddha and several god and goddess of mahayan sects are depicted . the impact of the "TANTRICISM" on these paintings are easily visible.

decorative paintings could be seen on the manuscripts depending on the subjects matter. the palas paintings were characterised by sinuous line, delicate and nervous line, sensuous elegance, linear and decorative accent and subdued tones of colour. it is naturalistic style which resembles the ideal forms of contemporary bronze and stone sculpture and reflect some feeling of the classical art of ajanta with sensuous bias of the art of eastern india.

wall paintings has been found in saradh and sarai sthal in nalanda district. we can find flowers of geometric shapes, images of animals and humans. the images have faded now , yet certain images like elephant, horses, dancers, bodhisativas etc. can be noted.