title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: As a raiding force, the Commandos were not issued the heavy weapons of a normal infantry battalion. The weapons used were the standard British Army small arms of the time; most riflemen carried the Lee–Enfield rifle and section fire support was provided by the Bren light machine gun. The Thompson was the submachine gun of choice, but later in the war the Commandos also used the cheaper and lighter Sten gun. Commando sections were equipped with a higher number of Bren and Thompson guns than a normal British infantry section. The Webley Revolver was initially used as the standard sidearm, but it was eventually replaced by the Colt 45 pistol, which used the same ammunition as the Thompson submachine gun. Another pistol was the Browning Hi Power chambered in 9mm Parabellum by the Canadian manufacturer John Inglis and Company. One weapon specifically designed for the Commandos was the De Lisle carbine. Modelled on the Lee–Enfield rifle and fitted with a silencer, it used the same .45 cartridge as the Thompson and was designed to eliminate sentries during Commando raids. Some were used and proved successful on operations, but the nature of the Commando role had changed before they were put into full production, and the order for their purchase was cancelled. The Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife was designed especially for Commandos' use in hand-to-hand combat, replacing the BC-41 knuckleduster/dagger, although a whole range of clubs and knives were used in the field. Some of the heavier and crew–served weapons used included the Boys anti-tank rifle and the 2-inch mortar for indirect fire support. After 1943, the Projector, Infantry, Anti Tank, known as the PIAT, replaced the now obsolete Boys anti-tank rifle. With the formation of the heavy weapons troops, Commandos were issued the 3-inch mortar and the Vickers machine gun. The issue of the medium Vickers machine gun to Commando units set them apart from typical British Army infantry divisions, who tended to only employ the weapon in specialist machine gun battalions.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: Initially the Commandos were indistinguishable from the rest of the British Army and volunteers retained their own regimental head-dress and insignia. No. 2 Commando adopted Scottish head-dress for all ranks and No. 11 (Scottish) Commando wore the Tam O'Shanter with a black hackle. The official head-dress of the Middle East Commandos was a bush hat with their own knuckleduster cap badge. This badge was modelled on their issue fighting knife (the Mark I trench knife) which had a knuckleduster for a handle. In 1942 the green Commando beret and the Combined Operations tactical recognition flash were adopted.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: As the men were equipped for raiding operations and only lightly armed, they did not carry anti-gas protective equipment or large packs, and the standard British steel helmet was replaced by a woollen cap comforter. Instead of heavy ammunition boots they wore lightweight rubber soled gym shoes that allowed them to move silently. All ranks carried a toggle rope, several of which could be linked together to form longer ropes for scaling cliffs or other obstacles. During boat operations an inflatable lifebelt was worn for safety. The Commandos were the first unit to adopt the Bergen rucksack to carry heavy loads of ammunition, explosives, and other demolition equipment. A battle jerkin was produced to wear over battledress and the airborne forces' camouflaged Denison smock became standard issue for Commando forces later in the war.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: The very first Commando raid – Operation Collar on 23 June 1940 – was not actually carried out by a Commando unit, but by one of their predecessors: No.11 Independent Company. The mission, led by Major Ronnie Tod, was an offensive reconnaissance carried out on the French coast south of Boulogne-sur-Mer and Le Touquet. The operation was a limited success; at least two German soldiers were killed whilst the only British injury was a flesh wound suffered by Lieutenant-Colonel Dudley Clarke, who had accompanied the raiders as an observer. A second and similarly inconsequential raid, Operation Ambassador, was made on the German-occupied island of Guernsey on the night of 14 July 1940 by men from H Troop of No. 3 Commando and No. 11 Independent Company. One unit landed on the wrong island and another group disembarked from its launch into water so deep that it came over their heads. Intelligence had indicated that there was a large German barracks on the island but the Commandos found only empty buildings. When they returned to the beach heavy seas had forced their launch offshore, and they were forced to swim out to sea to be picked up.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: The size of the raiding force depended on the objective. The smallest raid was conducted by two men from No. 6 Commando in Operation J V. The largest was the 10,500 man Operation Jubilee. Most of the raids were scheduled to only last overnight although some, like Operation Gauntlet, were conducted over a number of days. In north west Europe there were 57 raids made between 1940 and 1944. Of these 36 were against targets in France. There were 12 raids against Norway, seven raids in the Channel Islands, and single raids were made in Belgium and the Netherlands. The success of the raids varied; Operation Chariot, the raid against dock installations at St Nazaire, has been hailed as the greatest raid of all time, but others, like Operation Aquatint and Operation Musketoon, resulted in the capture or death of all involved. The smaller raids ended in mid-1944 on the orders of Major-General Robert Laycock, who suggested that they were no longer as effective and only resulted in the Germans strengthening their beach defences, something that could be extremely detrimental to Allied plans.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: The first Commando raid in Norway, Operation Claymore, was conducted in March 1941 by men of Nos. 3 and 4 Commandos. This was the first large scale raid from the United Kingdom during the war. Their objective was the undefended Norwegian Lofoten Islands. They successfully destroyed the fish-oil factories, petrol dumps, and 11 ships, while capturing 216 Germans, encryption equipment, and codebooks.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: In December 1941 there were two raids. The first was Operation Anklet, a raid on the Lofoten Islands by No. 12 Commando on 26 December. The German garrison was in the midst of their Christmas celebrations and was easily overcome; the Commandos re-embarked after two days. Operation Archery was a larger raid at Vågsøy Island. This raid involved men from Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 6 Commandos, a Royal Navy flotilla, and limited air support. The raid caused significant damage to factories, warehouses, and the German garrison, and sank eight ships. After this the Germans increased the garrison in Norway by an extra 30,000 troops, upgraded coastal and inland defences, and sent a number of capital ships to the area.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: In September 1942 men from No. 2 Commando took part in Operation Musketoon, a raid against the Glomfjord hydroelectric power plant. The Commandos were landed by submarine and succeeded in blowing up some pipelines, turbines, and tunnels. This effectively destroyed the generating station and the aluminium plant was shut down permanently. One Commando was killed in the raid and another seven were captured while trying to escape. They spent a short time at Colditz Castle before being transferred to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Shortly after their arrival at Sachsenhausen they were executed. They were the first victims of the secret Commando Order, which mandated the execution of all captured Commandos. The three remaining Commandos managed to reach Sweden and were eventually returned to No. 2 Commando.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: In 1943, the Norwegian Troop of No. 10 (Inter-Allied), No. 12, and No. 14 (Arctic) Commandos assisted the Royal Navy in carrying out anti–shipping raids in Norwegian coastal waters. The Commandos provided extra firepower for the navy Motor Torpedo Boats when they were at sea and acted as a guard force when they were at anchor in the Norwegian fjords. In April 1943, seven men of No. 14 (Arctic) Commando took part in a raid on German shipping near Haugesund code named Operation Checkmate. They managed to sink several ships using limpet mines, but were captured and eventually taken to Sachsenhausen and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps, where they were executed.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: The Germans responded to the numerous raids directed at Norway by increasing the number of troops stationed there. By 1944 the garrison had risen to 370,000 men. In comparison, a British infantry division in 1944 had an establishment of 18,347 men.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: There were seven Commando missions carried out on the Channel Islands. Operation Ambassador, which focused on Guernsey, was the first and largest of these, employing 140 men from No. 3 Commando and No. 11 Independent Company in a night raid on 14 July 1940. Later raids were much smaller; only 12 men of No. 62 Commando took part in Operation Dryad in September 1942, when they captured seven prisoners and located several German codebooks. Operation Branford, a reconnaissance mission that aimed to identify a suitable gun position to support future raids on Alderney, followed only days later. In October of that year 12 men from No.s 12 and 62 Commandos took part in Operation Basalt, a raid on Sark that saw four Germans killed and one taken prisoner.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: All the other Channel Islands raids were less successful. In January 1943, Operation Huckabuck, a raid on Herm, was a failure. After three attempts to scale the islands cliffs the Commandos finally reached the top, but there were no signs of any German occupation troops or of the island's population. The next raids were Operations Hardtack 28 and Hardtack 7 in December 1943. The Hardtack 28 raid on Jersey ended in failure when two men were killed and one wounded after they walked into a minefield. The exploding mines alerted the German garrison and the Commandos had to abandon the operation. In Hardtack 7 the Commandos had returned to Sark, but had to abandon the operation and return to England when they were unable to scale the island's cliffs.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: During 1941, the Middle East Commandos and Layforce were tasked to carry out a campaign of harassment and dislocation against enemy forces in the Mediterranean. At the time that Layforce was raised, the British had the ascendency in the theatre, as they had largely defeated the Italians. It was felt that the Commandos could be employed in the capture of the island of Rhodes. However, the arrival of the Afrika Korps in Cyrenaica and the invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece greatly changed the strategic outlook. By the time Layforce arrived in Egypt in March the situation had become dire. The deployment of forces to Greece meant that the Commandos became the only troops in general reserve. As the strategic situation worsened, it became increasingly difficult to employ them in the manner intended, as they were called upon as reinforcements to the rest of the army.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: In May 1941 the majority of Layforce were sent as reinforcements to the Battle of Crete. Almost as soon as they landed it was decided that they could not be employed in an offensive role and would instead be used to cover the withdrawal route towards the south. They were ill-equipped for this type of operation, as they were lacking in indirect fire support weapons such as mortars or artillery; they were armed mainly with rifles and a few Bren light machine guns. By 31 May the evacuation was drawing to a close and the commandos, running low on ammunition, rations, and water, fell back towards Sphakia. In the end, the vast majority of the commandos were left behind on the island, becoming prisoners of war. About 600 of the 800 commandos that had been sent to Crete were listed as killed, missing, or wounded; only 179 commandos managed to get off the island. In April 1941 men from No. 7 Commando took part in the Bardia raid, but by late July 1941 Layforce had been severely reduced in strength. Reinforcements were unlikely given the circumstances. The operational difficulties that had been exposed during the Bardia raid, combined with the inability of the high command to fully embrace the Commando concept, had largely served to make the force ineffective. The decision was made to disband Layforce.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: In November 1942, No. 1 and No. 6 Commandos formed part of the spearhead for Allied landings in Algeria as part of Operation Torch. Tensions were high between the British and the Vichy French at this time because of a number of clashes like the Attack on Mers-el-Kébir. As a result, the decision was made for the Commandos to be equipped with American weapons and uniforms in an effort to placate the defenders. The Tunisia Campaign followed the Torch landings. No. 1 and No. 6 Commandos were involved in the first battle of Sedjenane between February and March 1943. Both Commando units remained in theatre until April, when the decision was made to withdraw them from the fighting in North Africa. Lacking the administrative support and reinforcements of regular infantry units, the strength of the two units had fallen and they were no longer considered effective.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: In May 1943 a Special Service Brigade comprising No. 2, No. 3, No. 40 (RM), and No. 41 (RM) Commandos was sent to the Mediterranean to take part in the Allied invasion of Sicily. The two Royal Marines Commandos were the first into action, landing ahead of the main force. The 2nd Special Service Brigade serving in the Italian campaign was joined in November 1943 by the Belgian and Polish Troops of No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando. The Polish troop captured a German-occupied village on its own when the 2/6th Battalion Queen's Regiment failed to reach a rendezvous on time. On 2 April 1945 the whole of the now named 2nd Commando Brigade were engaged in Operation Roast at Comacchio lagoon in north east Italy. This was the first major action of the big spring offensive to push the Germans back across the River Po and out of Italy. After a fierce three-day battle the Commandos succeeded in clearing the spit separating the lagoon from the Adriatic and secured the flank of the 8th Army. This fostered the idea that the main offensive would be along the coast and not though the Argenta Gap. Major Anders Lassen (Special Air Service) and Corporal Thomas Peck Hunter No. 43 (Royal Marine) Commando were each awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for their actions during Operation Roast.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: There were 36 Commando raids targeted against France between 1940–1944, mostly small affairs involving between 10 and 25 men. Some of the larger raids involved one or more commando units. In March 1942, No. 2 Commando plus demolition experts from seven other Commando units took part in Operation Chariot, also known as the St. Nazaire Raid. The destroyer HMS "Campbeltown", accompanied by 18 smaller ships, sailed into St. Nazaire where "Campbeltown" was rammed directly into the Normandie dock gates. The Commandos engaged the German forces and destroyed the dock facilities. Eight hours later, delayed-action fuses set off the explosives in the "Campbeltown", which wrecked the dock gates and killed some 360 Germans and French. A total of 611 soldiers and sailors took part in Chariot; 169 were killed and 200 (most wounded) taken prisoner. Only 242 men returned. Of the 241 Commandos who took part 64 were killed or missing and 109 captured. Lieutenant-Colonel Augustus Charles Newman and Sergeant Thomas Durrant of the Commandos, plus three members of the Royal Navy, were awarded the Victoria Cross. Eighty others received decorations for gallantry.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: On 19 August 1942 a major landing took place at the French coastal town of Dieppe. The main force was provided by the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division, supported by No. 3 and No. 4 Commandos. The mission of No. 3 Commando was to neutralize a German coastal battery near Berneval-le-Grand that was in a position to fire upon the landing at Dieppe. The landing craft carrying No. 3 Commando ran into a German coastal convoy. Only a handful of commandos, under the second in command Major Peter Young, landed and scaled the barbed wire laced cliffs. Eventually 18 Commandos reached the perimeter of the battery via Berneval and engaged the target with small arms fire. Although unable to destroy the guns, they prevented the Germans from firing effectively on the main assault by harassing their gun crews with sniper fire. In a subsidiary operation No. 4 Commando landed in force along with the French Troop No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando and 50 United States Army Rangers and destroyed the artillery battery at Varengeville. Most of No. 4 Commando safely returned to England. Captain Patrick Porteous of No. 4 Commando was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during the raid.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: During the Normandy landings of 6 June 1944 two Special Service Brigades were deployed. The 1st Special Service Brigade landed behind the British 3rd Infantry Division on Sword Beach. Their main objective was to fight through to the 6th Airborne Division that had landed overnight and was holding the northern flank and the bridges over the Orne River. The Commandos cleared the town of Ouistreham and headed for the bridges, about away. Arriving at the Pegasus Bridge, the Commandos fought on the left flank of the Orne bridgehead until they were ordered to withdraw. The brigade remained in Normandy for ten weeks, sustaining 1,000 casualties, including the brigade commander, Brigadier Lord Lovat. The all Royal Marines 4th Special Service Brigade was also involved in the Normandy landings. No. 48 Commando landed on the left flank of Juno Beach and No. 41 Commando landed on the right flank of Sword Beach and then assaulted Lion-sur-Mer. No. 48 Commando landed in front of the St. Aubin-sur-Mer strong point and lost forty percent of its men. The last 4th Brigade unit ashore was No. 47 Commando, which landed on Gold Beach near the town of Asnells. Five of the Landing Craft Assault carrying them ashore were sunk by mines and beach obstacles, which resulted in the loss of 76 of their 420 men. These losses delayed their advance to their primary objective, the port of Port-en-Bessin, which they captured the following day.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: The Battle of the Scheldt started 1 November 1944, with 4th Special Service Brigade assigned to carry out a seaborne assault on the island of Walcheren. The plan was for the island to be attacked from two directions, with the Commandos coming by sea and the Canadian 2nd Division and the 52nd (Lowland) Division attacking across the causeway. No. 4 Commando landed at Flushing and No. 41 and 48 at Westkapelle. No. 47 Commando was held in reserve and landed after No.s 41 and 48. They were to advance past No. 48 Commando and attempt to link up with No. 4 Commando in the south. On the first day No. 41 captured an artillery observation tower at Westkapelle and cleared the rest of the town. They then moved along the coast and dealt with the coastal defence installations.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: No. 48 Commando quickly captured a radar station and then advanced on a gun battery south of Westkapelle, which was captured before nightfall.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: On 2 November No. 47 Commando advanced through No. 48 Commando to attack a gun battery at Zoutelande. The attack failed, with the unit suffering heavy casualties, including all the rifle troop commanders. The next day No. 47, supported by No. 48 Commando, again attacked the Zoutelande gun battery. This time they managed to continue the advance and link up with No. 4 Commando. The capture of these batteries allowed the navy to start sweeping the channel into Antwerp for mines. On 5 November, No. 41 Commando captured the gun battery north east of Domburg; this left only one battery still under German control. The brigade regrouped and concentrated its assault on the last position. Just before the attack began on 9 November, the 4,000 men in the battery surrendered. This was quickly followed by the surrender of the rest of the island's garrison.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: In January 1945 the 1st Commando Brigade were involved in Operation Blackcock, where Lance Corporal Henry Harden of the Royal Army Medical Corps, attached to No. 45 (Royal Marine) Commando was awarded the Victoria Cross.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: The 1st Commando Brigade next took part in Operation Plunder, the crossing of the Rhine River in March 1945. After a heavy artillery bombardment on the evening of 23 March 1945, the brigade carried out the initial assault under cover of darkness with the 15th (Scottish) Division and the 51st (Highland) Division. The Germans had moved most of their reserve troops to the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen, which had just been captured by the U.S. 9th Armored Division. The Commandos crossed the Rhine at a point west of Wesel. Their crossing was unopposed and the brigade headed to the outskirts of Wesel. Here they waited until a raid of 200 bombers of the Royal Air Force finished their attack, during which over 1,000 tons of bombs were dropped. Moving into the city just after midnight, the Commandos met resistance from defenders organised around an anti-aircraft division. It was not until 25 March that all resistance ended and the brigade declared the city taken.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: During the Burma Campaign in 1944–1945, the 3rd Commando Brigade participated in several coastal landings of the Southern Front offensive. These landings culminated in the battle of Hill 170 at Kangaw. Here Lieutenant George Knowland of No. 1 Commando was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. The Commandos' victory in the 36-hour battle for Hill 170 cut off the escape of the 54th Japanese Division. Further amphibious landings by the 25th Indian Infantry Division and the overland advance of the 82nd (West Africa) Division made the Japanese position in the Arakan untenable. A general withdrawal was ordered to avoid the complete destruction of the Twenty-Eighth Japanese Army. The Commando brigade was then withdrawn to India in preparation for Operation Zipper, the planned invasion of Malaya. The Zipper landings were not needed due to the Japanese surrender so the brigade was sent to Hong Kong for policing duties instead.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: At the end of the Second World War, all the British Army, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, and some Royal Marines Commandos were disbanded. This left only three Royal Marines Commandos and one brigade (with supporting Army elements). As of 2010, the British Commando force is 3 Commando Brigade, which consists of both Royal Marines and British Army components, as well as commando-trained personnel from the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Other units of the British armed forces, which can trace their origins to the British Commandos of the Second World War, are the Parachute Regiment, the Special Air Service, and the Special Boat Service.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: Of the Western nations represented in No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando, only Norway did not develop a post-war commando force. The French troops were the predecessors of the Commandos Marine. The Dutch Troops were the predecessors of the "Korps Commandotroepen" and the Belgian Troops were the predecessors of the Immediate Reaction Cell. The 1st Battalion of the United States Army Rangers were also influenced by the British Commandos. Their first volunteers were from troops stationed in Northern Ireland, who were sent to train at the Commando depot at Achnacarry. However, subsequent Ranger battalions were formed and trained independent of British influence.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: The men serving with the Commandos were awarded 479 decorations during the war. This includes eight Victoria Crosses awarded to all ranks. Officers were awarded 37 Distinguished Service Orders with nine bars for a second award and 162 Military Crosses with 13 bars. Other ranks were awarded 32 Distinguished Conduct Medals and 218 Military Medals. In 1952 the Commando Memorial was unveiled by the Queen Mother. It is now a Category A listed monument in Scotland, dedicated to the men of the original British Commando Forces raised during Second World War. Situated around a mile from Spean Bridge village, it overlooks the training areas of the Commando Training Depot established in 1942 at Achnacarry Castle.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: In the British Army battle honours are awarded to regiments that have seen active service in a significant engagement or campaign, generally (although not always) one with a victorious outcome. The following battle honours were awarded to the British Commandos during the Second World War.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy books on Middle-earth, especially "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Silmarillion", drew on a wide array of influences including language, Christianity, mythology, archaeology, ancient and modern literature, and personal experience. He was inspired primarily by his profession, philology; his work centred on the study of Old English literature, especially "Beowulf", and he acknowledged its importance to his writings.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: He was a gifted linguist, influenced by Germanic, Celtic, Finnish, Slavic, and Greek language and mythology. His fiction reflected his Christian beliefs and his early reading of adventure stories and fantasy books. Commentators have attempted to identify many literary and topological antecedents for characters, places and events in Tolkien's writings. Some writers were certainly important to him, including the Arts and Crafts polymath William Morris, and he undoubtedly made use of some real place-names, such as Bag End, the name of his aunt's home.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Tolkien stated that he had been influenced by his childhood experiences of the English countryside of Worcestershire and its urbanisation by the growth of Birmingham, and his personal experience of fighting in the trenches of the First World War.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Tolkien was a professional philologist, a scholar of comparative and historical linguistics. He was especially familiar with Old English and related languages. He remarked to the poet and "The New York Times" book reviewer Harvey Breit that "I am a philologist and all my work is philological"; he explained to his American publisher Houghton Mifflin that this was meant to imply that his work was "all of a piece, and "fundamentally linguistic" [sic] in inspiration. ... The invention of languages is the foundation. The 'stories' were made rather to provide a world for the languages than the reverse. To me a name comes first and the story follows."


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Tolkien was an expert on Old English literature, especially the epic poem "Beowulf", and made many uses of it in "The Lord of the Rings". For example, "Beowulf"s list of creatures, , "ettens [giants] and elves and demon-corpses", contributed to his creation of some of the races of beings in Middle-earth, though with so little information about what elves were like, he was forced to combine scraps from all the Old English sources he could find. He derived the Ents from a phrase in another Old English poem, "Maxims II", , "skilful work of giants"; The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey suggests that Tolkien took the name of the tower of Orthanc ("orþanc") from the same phrase, reinterpreted as "Orthanc, the Ents' fortress". The word occurs again in "Beowulf" in the phrase , "[a mail-shirt, a] cunning-net sewn, by a smith's skill": Tolkien used "searo" in its Mercian form "*saru" for the name of Orthanc's ruler, the wizard Saruman, incorporating the ideas of cunning and technology into Saruman's character. He made use of "Beowulf", too, along with other Old English sources, for many aspects of the Riders of Rohan: for instance, their land was the Mark, a version of the Mercia where he lived, in Mercian dialect "*Marc".


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Several Middle-earth concepts may have come from the Old English word "Sigelwara", used in the "Codex Junius" to mean "Aethiopian". Tolkien wondered why there was a word with this meaning, and conjectured that it had once had a different meaning, which he explored in detail in his essay "Sigelwara Land", published in two parts in 1932 and 1934. He stated that "Sigel" meant "both "sun" and "jewel"", the former as it was the name of the sun rune *sowilō (ᛋ), the latter from Latin "sigillum", a seal. He decided that the second element was "*hearwa", possibly related to Old English "heorð", "hearth", and ultimately to Latin "carbo", "soot". He suggested this implied a class of demons "with red-hot eyes that emitted sparks and faces black as soot". Shippey states that this "helped to naturalise the Balrog" (a demon of fire) and contributed to the sun-jewel Silmarils. The Aethiopians suggested to Tolkien the Haradrim, a dark southern race of men.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: In 1928, a 4th-century pagan cult temple was excavated at Lydney Park, Gloucestershire. Tolkien was asked to investigate a Latin inscription there: "For the god Nodens. Silvianus has lost a ring and has donated one-half [its worth] to Nodens. Among those who are called Senicianus do not allow health until he brings it to the temple of Nodens." The Anglo-Saxon name for the place was Dwarf's Hill, and in 1932 Tolkien traced Nodens to the Irish hero "Nuada Airgetlám", "Nuada of the Silver-Hand".


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Shippey thought this "a pivotal influence" on Tolkien's Middle-earth, combining as it did a god-hero, a ring, dwarves, and a silver hand. The "J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia" notes also the "Hobbit-like appearance of [Dwarf's Hill]'s mine-shaft holes", and that Tolkien was extremely interested in the hill's folklore on his stay there, citing Helen Armstrong's comment that the place may have inspired Tolkien's "Celebrimbor and the fallen realms of Moria and Eregion". The Lydney curator Sylvia Jones said that Tolkien was "surely influenced" by the site. The scholar of English literature John M. Bowers notes that the name of the Elven-smith Celebrimbor is the Sindarin for "Silver Hand", and that "Because the place was known locally as Dwarf's Hill and honeycombed with abandoned mines, it naturally suggested itself as background for the Lonely Mountain and the Mines of Moria."


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Tolkien was a devout Roman Catholic. He once described "The Lord of the Rings" to his friend, the English Jesuit Father Robert Murray, as "a fundamentally religious and Catholic work, unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision." Many theological themes underlie the narrative, including the battle of good versus evil, the triumph of humility over pride, and the activity of grace, as seen with Frodo's pity toward Gollum. In addition the epic includes the themes of death and immortality, mercy and pity, resurrection, salvation, repentance, self-sacrifice, free will, justice, fellowship, authority and healing. Tolkien mentions the Lord's Prayer, especially the line "And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil" in connection with Frodo's struggles against the power of the One Ring. Tolkien said "Of course God is in "The Lord of the Rings". The period was pre-Christian, but it was a monotheistic world", and when questioned who was the One God of Middle-earth, Tolkien replied "The one, of course! The book is about the world that God created – the actual world of this planet."


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: The Bible and traditional Christian narrative also influenced "The Silmarillion". The conflict between Melkor and Eru Ilúvatar parallels that between Satan and God. Further, "The Silmarillion" tells of the creation and fall of the Elves, as "Genesis" tells of the creation and fall of Man. As with all of Tolkien's works, "The Silmarillion" allows room for later Christian history, and one version of Tolkien's drafts even has Finrod, a character in "The Silmarillion", speculating on the necessity of Eru Ilúvatar's eventual incarnation to save Mankind.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: A specifically Christian influence is the notion of the fall of man, which influenced the Ainulindalë, the Kinslaying at Alqualondë, and the fall of Númenor.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Tolkien was influenced by Germanic heroic legend, especially its Norse and Old English forms. During his education at King Edward's School in Birmingham, he read and translated from the Old Norse in his free time. One of his first Norse purchases was the "Völsunga saga". While a student, Tolkien read the only available English translation of the "Völsunga saga", the 1870 rendering by William Morris of the Victorian Arts and Crafts movement and Icelandic scholar Eiríkur Magnússon. The Old Norse "Völsunga saga" and the Old High German "Nibelungenlied" were coeval texts made with the use of the same ancient sources. Both of them provided some of the basis for Richard Wagner's opera series, "Der Ring des Nibelungen", featuring in particular a magical but cursed golden ring and a broken sword reforged. In the "Völsunga saga", these items are respectively Andvaranaut and Gram, and they correspond broadly to the One Ring and the sword Narsil (reforged as Andúril). The "Völsunga saga" also gives various names found in Tolkien. Tolkien's "The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún" discusses the saga in relation to the myth of Sigurd and Gudrún.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Tolkien was influenced by Old English poetry, especially "Beowulf"; Shippey writes that this was "obviously" the work that had most influence upon him. The dragon Smaug in "The Hobbit" is closely based on the "Beowulf" dragon, the points of similarity including its ferocity, its greed for gold, flying by night, having a well-guarded hoard, and being of great age.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Tolkien made use of the epic poem in "The Lord of the Rings" in many ways, including elements like the great hall of Heorot, which appears as Meduseld, the Golden Hall of the Kings of Rohan. The Elf Legolas describes Meduseld in a direct translation of line 311 of "Beowulf" ("líxte se léoma ofer landa fela"), "The light of it shines far over the land". The name Meduseld, meaning "mead hall", is itself from "Beowulf". Shippey writes that the whole chapter "The King of the Golden Hall" is constructed exactly like the section of the poem where the hero and his party approach the King's hall: the visitors are challenged twice; they pile their weapons outside the door; and they hear wise words from the guard, Háma, a man who thinks for himself and takes a risk in making his decision. Both societies have a king, and both rule over a free people where, Shippey states, just obeying orders is not enough.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: The figure of Gandalf is based on the Norse deity Odin in his incarnation as "The Wanderer", an old man with one eye, a long white beard, a wide brimmed hat, and a staff. Tolkien wrote in a 1946 letter that he thought of Gandalf as an "Odinic wanderer". The Balrog and the collapse of the Bridge of Khazad-dûm in Moria parallel the fire jötunn Surtr and the foretold destruction of Asgard's bridge, Bifröst.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: The "straight road" linking Valinor with Middle-Earth after the Second Age further mirrors the Bifröst linking Midgard and Asgard, and the Valar themselves resemble the Æsir, the gods of Asgard. Thor, for example, physically the strongest of the gods, can be seen both in Oromë, who fights the monsters of Melkor, and in Tulkas, the strongest of the Valar. Manwë, the head of the Valar, has some similarities to Odin, the "Allfather". The division between the Calaquendi (Elves of Light) and Moriquendi (Elves of Darkness) echoes the Norse division of light elves and dark elves. The light elves of Norse mythology are associated with the gods, much as the Calaquendi are associated with the Valar.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Some critics have suggested that "The Lord of the Rings" was directly derived from Richard Wagner's opera cycle, "Der Ring des Nibelungen", whose plot also centres on a powerful ring from Germanic mythology. Others have argued that any similarity is due to the common influence of the "Völsunga saga" and the "Nibelungenlied" on both authors. Tolkien sought to dismiss critics' direct comparisons to Wagner, telling his publisher, "Both rings were round, and there the resemblance ceases." According to Humphrey Carpenter's biography of Tolkien, the author claimed to hold Wagner's interpretation of the relevant Germanic myths in contempt, even as a young man before reaching university. Some researchers take an intermediate position: that both the authors used the same sources, but that Tolkien was influenced by Wagner's development of the mythology, especially the conception of the Ring as conferring world mastery. Wagner probably developed this element by combining the ring with a magical wand mentioned in the "Nibelungenlied" that could give to its wearer the control over "the race of men". Some argue that Tolkien's denial of a Wagnerian influence was an over-reaction to statements about the Ring by Åke Ohlmarks, Tolkien's Swedish translator. Furthermore, some critics believe that Tolkien was reacting against the links between Wagner's work and Nazism.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Tolkien was "greatly affected" by the Finnish national epic "Kalevala", especially the tale of Kullervo, as an influence on Middle-earth. He credited Kullervo's story with being the "germ of [his] attempt to write legends". He tried to rework the story of Kullervo into a story of his own, and though he never finished, similarities to the story can still be seen in the tale of Túrin Turambar. Both are tragic heroes who accidentally commit incest with their sister who on finding out kills herself by leaping into water. Both heroes later kill themselves after asking their sword if it will slay them, which it confirms.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Like "The Lord of the Rings", the "Kalevala" centres around a magical item of great power, the Sampo, which bestows great fortune on its owner, but never makes clear its exact nature. Like the One Ring, the Sampo is fought over by forces of good and evil, and is ultimately lost to the world as it is destroyed towards the end of the story. The work's central character, Väinämöinen, shares with Gandalf immortal origins and wise nature, and both works end with the character's departure on a ship to lands beyond the mortal world. Tolkien also based elements of his Elvish language Quenya on Finnish. Other critics have identified similarities between Väinämöinen and Tom Bombadil.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Influence from Greek mythology is apparent in the disappearance of the island of Númenor, recalling Atlantis. Tolkien's Elvish name "Atalantë" for Númenor resembles Plato's Atlantis, furthering the illusion that his mythology simply extends the history and mythology of the real world. In his "Letters", however, Tolkien described this merely as a "curious chance."


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Greek mythology colours the Valar, who borrow many attributes from the Olympian gods. The Valar, like the Olympians, live in the world, but on a high mountain, separated from mortals; Ulmo, Lord of the Waters, owes much to Poseidon, and Manwë, the Lord of the Air and King of the Valar, to Zeus.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Tolkien compared Beren and Lúthien with Orpheus and Eurydice, but with the gender roles reversed. Oedipus is mentioned in connection with Túrin in the "Children of Húrin", among other mythological figures:


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Fëanor has been compared with Prometheus by researchers such as Verlyn Flieger. They share a symbolical and literal association with fire, are both rebels against the gods' decrees and, basically, inventors of artefacts that were sources of light, or vessels to divine flame.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: The extent of Celtic influence has been debated. Tolkien wrote that he gave the Elvish language Sindarin "a linguistic character very like (though not identical with) British-Welsh ... because it seems to fit the rather 'Celtic' type of legends and stories told of its speakers". Some names of characters and places in "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" have Welsh origin; for instance, Crickhollow in the Shire recalls the Welsh placename Crickhowell. while the hobbit name Meriadoc has been suggested as an allusion to a legendary king of Brittany, though Tolkien denied any connection. In addition, the depiction of Elves has been described as deriving from Celtic mythology.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Tolkien wrote of "a certain distaste" for Celtic legends, "largely for their fundamental unreason", but "The Silmarillion" is thought by scholars to have some Celtic influence. The exile of the Noldorin Elves, for example, has parallels with the story of the Tuatha Dé Danann. The Tuatha Dé Danann, semi-divine beings, invaded Ireland from across the sea, burning their ships when they arrived and fighting a fierce battle with the current inhabitants. The Noldor arrived in Middle-earth from Valinor and burned their ships, then turned to fight Melkor. Another parallel can be seen between the loss of a hand by Maedhros, son of Fëanor, and the similar mutilation suffered by Nuada Airgetlám / Llud llaw Ereint ("Silver Hand/Arm") during the battle with the Firbolg. Nuada received a hand made of silver to replace the lost one, and his later appellation has the same meaning as the Elvish name "Celebrimbor": "silver fist" or "Hand of silver" in Sindarin ("Telperinquar" in Quenya).


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Other authors, such as Donald O'Brien, Patrick Wynne, Carl Hostetter and Tom Shippey have pointed out similarities between the tale of Beren and Lúthien in "the Silmarillion", and "Culhwch and Olwen", a tale in the Welsh "Mabinogion". In both, the male heroes make rash promises after having been stricken by the beauty of non-mortal maidens; both enlist the aid of great kings, Arthur and Finrod; both show rings that prove their identities; and both are set impossible tasks that include, directly or indirectly, the hunting and killing of ferocious beasts (the wild boars, Twrch Trwyth and Ysgithrywyn, and the wolf Carcharoth) with the help of a supernatural hound (Cafall and Huan). Both maidens possess such beauty that flowers grow beneath their feet when they come to meet the heroes for the first time, as if they were living embodiments of spring.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: The "Mabinogion" was part of the "Red Book of Hergest", a source of Welsh Celtic lore, which the "Red Book of Westmarch", a supposed source of Hobbit-lore, probably imitates.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: The Arthurian legends are part of the Celtic and Welsh cultural heritage. Tolkien denied their influence, but critics have found several parallels. Gandalf has been compared with Merlin, Frodo and Aragorn with Arthur and Galadriel with the Lady of the Lake. Verlyn Flieger has investigated the correlations and Tolkien's creative methods. She points out visible correspondences such as Avalon and Avallónë, and Brocéliande and Broceliand, the original name of Beleriand. Tolkien himself said that Frodo's and Bilbo's departure to Tol Eressëa (also called "Avallon" in the Legendarium) was an "Arthurian ending". Such correlations are discussed in the posthumously published "The Fall of Arthur"; a section, "The Connection to the Quenta", explores Tolkien's use of Arthurian material in "The Silmarillion". Another parallel is between the tale of Sir Balin and that of Túrin Turambar. Though Balin knows he wields an accursed sword, he continues his quest to regain King Arthur's favour. Fate catches up with him when he unwittingly kills his own brother, who mortally wounds him. Turin accidentally kills his friend Beleg with his sword.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: There are a few echoes of Slavic mythology in Tolkien's novels, such as the names of the wizard Radagast and his home at Rhosgobel in Rhovanion; all three appear to be connected with the Slavic god Rodegast, a god of the sun, war, hospitality, fertility, and harvest. The Anduin, the Sindarin name for The Great River of Rhovanion, may be related to the Danube River, which flows mainly among the Slavic people and played an important role in their folklore.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: The Battle of the Pelennor Fields towards the end of "The Lord of the Rings" may have been inspired by a conflict of real-world antiquity. Elizabeth Solopova notes that Tolkien repeatedly referred to a historic account of the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields by Jordanes, and analyses the two battles' similarities. Both battles take place between civilisations of the "East" and "West", and like Jordanes, Tolkien describes his battle as one of legendary fame that lasted for several generations. Another apparent similarity is the death of king Theodoric I on the Catalaunian Fields and that of Théoden on the Pelennor. Jordanes reports that Theodoric was thrown off by his horse and trampled to death by his own men who charged forward. Théoden rallies his men shortly before he falls and is crushed by his horse. And like Theodoric, Théoden is carried from the battlefield with his knights weeping and singing for him while the battle still goes on.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Tolkien was also influenced by more modern literature: Claire Buck, writing in the "J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia", explores his literary context, while Dale Nelson in the same work surveys 24 authors whose works are paralleled by elements in Tolkien's writings. Postwar literary figures such as Anthony Burgess, Edwin Muir and Philip Toynbee sneered at "The Lord of the Rings", but others like Naomi Mitchison and Iris Murdoch respected the work, and W. H. Auden championed it. Those early critics dismissed Tolkien as non-modernist. Later critics have placed Tolkien closer to the modernist tradition with his emphasis on language and temporality, while his pastoral emphasis is shared with First World War poets and the Georgian movement. Buck suggests that if Tolkien was intending to create a new mythology for England, that would fit the tradition of English post-colonial literature and the many novelists and poets who reflected on the state of modern English society and the nature of Englishness.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Tolkien acknowledged a few authors, such as John Buchan and H. Rider Haggard, as writing excellent stories. Tolkien stated that he "preferred the lighter contemporary novels", such as Buchan's. Critics have detailed resonances between the two authors. Auden compared "The Fellowship of the Ring" to Buchan's thriller "The Thirty-Nine Steps". Nelson states that Tolkien responded rather directly to the "mythopoeic and straightforward adventure romance" in Haggard. Tolkien wrote that stories about "Red Indians" were his favourites as a boy; Shippey likens the Fellowship's trip downriver, from Lothlórien to Tol Brandir "with its canoes and portages", to James Fenimore Cooper's 1826 historical romance "The Last of the Mohicans". Shippey writes that Éomer's riders of Rohan in the scene in the Eastemnet wheel and circle "round the strangers, weapons poised" in a way "more like the old movies' image of the Comanche or the Cheyenne than anything from English history".


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: When interviewed, the only book Tolkien named as a favourite was Rider Haggard's adventure novel "She": "I suppose as a boy "She" interested me as much as anything—like the Greek shard of Amyntas [Amenartas], which was the kind of machine by which everything got moving." A supposed facsimile of this potsherd appeared in Haggard's first edition, and the ancient inscription it bore, once translated, led the English characters to "She"s ancient kingdom, perhaps influencing the "Testament of Isildur" in "The Lord of the Rings" and Tolkien's efforts to produce a realistic-looking page from the "Book of Mazarbul". Critics starting with Edwin Muir have found resemblances between Haggard's romances and Tolkien's. Saruman's death has been compared to the sudden shrivelling of Ayesha when she steps into the flame of immortality.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Parallels between "The Hobbit" and Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth" include a hidden runic message and a celestial alignment that direct the adventurers to the goals of their quests.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Tolkien wrote of being impressed as a boy by Samuel Rutherford Crockett's historical fantasy novel "The Black Douglas" and of using it for the battle with the wargs in "The Fellowship of the Ring"; critics have suggested other incidents and characters that it may have inspired, but others have cautioned that the evidence is limited. Tolkien stated that he had read many of Edgar Rice Burroughs' books, but denied that the Barsoom novels influenced his giant spiders such as Shelob and Ungoliant: "I developed a dislike for his Tarzan even greater than my distaste for spiders. Spiders I had met long before Burroughs began to write, and I do not think he is in any way responsible for Shelob. At any rate I retain no memory of the Siths or the Apts."


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: The Ent attack on Isengard was inspired by "Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane" in Shakespeare's "Macbeth". Charles Dickens' "The Pickwick Papers" has likewise been shown to have reflections in Tolkien.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: A major influence was the Arts and Crafts polymath William Morris. Tolkien wished to imitate the style and content of Morris's prose and poetry romances, and made use of elements such as the Dead Marshes and Mirkwood. Another was the fantasy author George MacDonald, who wrote "The Princess and the Goblin". Books by the Inkling author Owen Barfield contributed to his world-view, particularly "The Silver Trumpet" (1925), "History in English Words" (1926) and "Poetic Diction" (1928). Edward Wyke-Smith's "Marvellous Land of Snergs", with its "table-high" title characters, influenced the incidents, themes, and depiction of Hobbits, as did the character George Babbitt from "Babbitt". H. G. Wells's description of the subterranean Morlocks in his 1895 novel "The Time Machine" parallel Tolkien's account of Gollum.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Some locations and characters were inspired by Tolkien's childhood in rural Warwickshire, where from 1896 he first lived near Sarehole Mill, and later in Birmingham near Edgbaston Reservoir. There are also hints of the nearby industrial Black Country; he stated that he had based the description of Saruman's industrialization of Isengard and The Shire on that of England.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: The name of Bilbo's Hobbit-hole, "Bag End", was the real name of the Worcestershire home of Tolkien's aunt Jane Neave in Dormston.


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: On publication of "The Lord of the Rings" there was speculation that the One Ring was an allegory for the atomic bomb; Alan Nicholls wrote that "The closeness of its analogy to the human situation gives it a dreadful reality and relevance. It is a prose-poet's rendering of the mental twilight of the modern world, darkened as it is by the black power ... of the atom bomb". The poet and novelist Edwin Muir disagreed, writing that it could not directly equated with the hydrogen bomb, as it "seems to stand for evil itself". Tolkien insisted that the book was not allegorical, and pointed out that he had completed most of the book, including the ending, before the first use of atomic bombs. However, in a 1960 letter, he wrote that "The Dead Marshes [just north of Mordor] and the approaches to the Morannon [an entrance to Mordor] owe something to northern France after the Battle of the Somme", and, in the foreword to "The Lord of the Rings", that the First World War was "no less hideous an experience" for its young participants than the Second. In September and October 1916, Tolkien took part in the Battle of the Somme as a signals officer, before being sent home with trench fever. Tolkien scholars agree that Tolkien responded to the war by creating his Middle-earth legendarium. Commentators have suggested multiple correspondences between Tolkien's wartime experiences and aspects of his Middle-earth writings. For example, the metallic dragons that attack the Elves in the final battle of "The Fall of Gondolin" are reminiscent of the newly-invented tanks that Tolkien saw. Tolkien's fellow-Inkling C. S. Lewis, who fought in the 1917 Battle of Arras, wrote that "The Lord of the Rings" realistically portrayed "the very quality of the war my generation knew", including "the flying civilians, the lively, vivid friendships, the background of something like despair and the merry foreground, and such heavensent windfalls as a cache of tobacco 'salvaged' from a ruin".


title: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

text: Tolkien was a core member of the Inklings, an informal literary discussion group associated with the University of Oxford between the early 1930s and late 1949. The group shared in Colin Duriez's words "a guiding vision of the relationship of imagination and myth to reality and of a Christian worldview in which a pagan spirituality is seen as prefiguring the advent of Christ and the Christian story." Shippey adds that the group was "preoccupied" with "virtuous pagans", and that "The Lord of the Rings" is plainly a tale of such people in the dark past before Christian revelation. He further writes that what Tolkien called the Northern theory of courage, namely that even total defeat does not make what is right wrong, was "a vital belief" shared by Tolkien and other Inklings. The group considered philosophical issues, too, which found their way into Tolkien's writings, among them the ancient debate within Christianity on the nature of evil. Shippey notes Elrond's Boethian statement that "nothing is evil in the beginning. Even [the Dark Lord] Sauron was not so", in other words all things were created good; but that the Inklings, as evidenced by C. S. Lewis's "Mere Christianity", book 2, section 2, to some extent tolerated the Manichean view that Good and Evil are equally powerful, and battle it out in the world. Shippey writes that Tolkien's Ringwraiths embody an Inkling and Boethian idea found in Lewis and Charles Williams, that of things being bent out of shape, the word wraith suggesting "writhe" and "wrath", glossed as "a twisted emotion"; even the world became bent, so men could no longer sail the old straight road westwards to the Undying Lands. All the same, Shippey writes, Tolkien's personal war experience was Manichean: evil seemed at least as powerful as good, and could easily have been victorious, a strand which can also be seen in Middle-earth. At a personal level, Lewis's friendship greatly encouraged Tolkien to keep going with "The Lord of the Rings"; he wrote that without Lewis "I should never have brought The L. of the R. to a conclusion."


title: Indian painting

text: Indian painting has a very long tradition and history in Indian art, though because of the climatic conditions very few early examples survive. The earliest Indian paintings were the rock paintings of prehistoric times, such as the petroglyphs found in places like Bhimbetka rock shelters. Some of the Stone Age rock paintings found among the Bhimbetka rock shelters are approximately 10,000 years old.


title: Indian painting

text: India's ancient Hindu and Buddhist literature has many mentions of palaces and other buildings decorated with paintings ("chitra"), but the paintings of the Ajanta Caves are the most significant of the few ones which survive. Smaller scale painting in manuscripts was probably also practised in this period, though the earliest survivals are from the medieval period. A new style emerged in the Mughal era as a fusion of the Persian miniature with older Indian traditions, and from the 17th century its style was diffused across Indian princely courts of all religions, each developing a local style. Company paintings were made for British clients under the British raj, which from the 19th century also introduced art schools along Western lines. This led to modern Indian painting, which is increasingly returning to its Indian roots.


title: Indian painting

text: Indian paintings can be broadly classified as murals, miniatures and paintings on cloth. Murals are large works executed on the walls of solid structures, as in the Ajanta Caves and the Kailashnath temple. Miniature paintings are executed on a very small scale for books or albums on perishable material such as paper and cloth. Traces of murals, in fresco-like techniques, survive in a number of sites with Indian rock-cut architecture, going back at least 2,000 years, but the 1st and 5th-century remains at the Ajanta Caves are much the most significant.


title: Indian painting

text: Paintings on cloth were often produced in a more popular context, often as folk art, used for example by travelling reciters of epic poetry, such as the Bhopas of Rajasthan and Chitrakathi elsewhere, and bought as souvenirs of pilgrimages. Very few survivals are older than about 200 years, but it is clear the traditions are much older. Some regional traditions are still producing works.


title: Indian painting

text: It seems clear that miniature painting, often illustrating manuscripts, has a very long history, but Jain miniatures from about the 12th century, mostly from West India, and slightly earlier Buddhist ones from the Pala Empire in the east are the oldest to survive. Similar Hindu illustrations survive from about the 15th century in the west, and 16th century in East India, by which time the Mughal miniature under Akbar was also sometimes illustrating translations into Persian of the Hindu epics and other subjects.


title: Indian painting

text: The great period of Mughal court painting begins with the return of Humayun from exile in Persia 1555, bringing Persian artists with him. It ends during the reign of Aurangzeb who rather disapproved of painting for religious reasons, and disbanded the large imperial workshop, by perhaps 1670. The artists dispersed to smaller princely courts, both Muslim and Hindu, and the "post-Mughal" style developed in many local variants. These included different Rajasthani schools of painting like the Bundi, Kishangarh, Jaipur, Marwar and Mewar. The Ragamala paintings also belong to this school, as does the later Company painting produced for British clients from the mid-18th century.


title: Indian painting

text: Modern Indian art has seen the rise of the Bengal School of art in 1930s followed by many forms of experimentations in European and Indian styles. In the aftermath of India's independence, many new genres of art developed by important artists like Jamini Roy, M. F. Husain, Francis Newton Souza, and Vasudeo S. Gaitonde. With the progress of the economy the forms and styles of art also underwent many changes. In the 1990s, Indian economy was liberalised and integrated to the world economy leading to the free flow of cultural information within and without. Artists include Subodh Gupta, Atul Dodiya, Devajyoti Ray, Bose Krishnamachari and Jitish Kallat whose works went for auction in international markets. Bharti Dayal has chosen to handle the traditional Mithila painting in most contemporary way and created her own style through the exercises of her own imagination, they appear fresh and unusual.


title: Indian painting

text: The pre-historic paintings were generally executed on rocks and these rock engravings were called petroglyphs. These paintings generally depict animal like bison, bear and tigers etc. The oldest Indian paintings are rock art in caves which are around 30,000 years old, such as the Bhimbetka cave paintings.


title: Indian painting

text: There are many important dedicated Indian treatises on painting, traditionally called "chitra". Some of these are chapters within a larger encyclopedia-like texts. They date between the 4th and 13th-century CE. These include:


title: Indian painting

text: These and other texts on painting discuss the Indian ideas, theory and practice of painting, its relationship to other arts, methods of preparing the canvas or wall, recipes to make color pigments and other topics.


title: Indian painting

text: The history of Indian murals starts in ancient and early medieval times, from the 2nd century BC to 8th – 10th century AD. There are known more than 20 locations around India containing murals from this period, mainly natural caves and rock-cut chambers. These include the caves of Ajanta, Bagh, Sittanavasal, Armamalai Cave (Tamil Nadu), Kailasanatha temple in Ellora Caves, Ramgarh and Sitabinji.


title: Indian painting

text: Murals from this period depict mainly religious themes of Buddhist, Jain and Hindu religions. There are though also locations where paintings were secular. This includes the oldest known painted cave and theatre in Chhattisgarh – the Jogimara and Sitabenga Caves – dated to between the 3rd to 1st century BCE.


title: Indian painting

text: Early survivals of portable Indian paintings are all miniatures from texts (the great majority) or painted objects such as boxes. Despite considerable evidence that larger paintings on cloth (known as "pata") existed, and indeed surviving texts discussing how to make them, not a single medieval Indian painting on cloth is known to survive, unless some Buddhist ones have been taken as Tibetan, or from Central Asia. Some of the images recovered there by Sir Aurel Stein are Indian paintings, most being Buddhist and some with Hindu deities such as Ganesha and Shiva. According to Blurton, such early paintings did not survive largely because of the deleterious climate of India, as well as due to the "added problem of Muslim iconoclasm" in the centuries that followed.


title: Indian painting

text: The pattern of large scale wall painting which had dominated the scene, witnessed the advent of miniature paintings during the 11th and 12th centuries. This new style figured first in the form of illustrations etched on palm-leaf manuscripts.


title: Indian painting

text: In eastern India, the principal centres of artistic and intellectual activities of the Buddhist religion were Nalanda, Odantapuri, Vikramshila and Somarpura situated in the Pala kingdom (Bengal and Bihar). Miniature painting from this region survives from the 10th century. These miniatures, depicting Buddhist divinities and scenes from the life of Buddha were painted on the leaves (about 2.25 by 3 inches) of the palm-leaf manuscripts as well as their wooden covers. Most common Buddhist illustrated manuscripts include the texts "Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita", "Pancharaksa", "Karandavyuha" and "Kalachakra Tantra". The earliest extant miniatures are found in a manuscript of the "Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita" dated in the sixth regnal year of Mahipala (c. 993), presently the possession of The Asiatic Society, Kolkata. This style disappeared from India in the late 12th century.


title: Indian painting

text: The influence of eastern Indian paintings can be seen in various Buddhist temples in Bagan, Myanmar particularly Abeyadana temple which was named after Queen consort of Myanmar, Abeyadana who herself had Indian roots and Gubyaukgyi Temple. The influences of eastern Indian paintings can also be clearly observed in Tibetan Thangka paintings.


title: Indian painting

text: Surviving illustrated manuscripts from Western India, mainly Gujarat, begin around the 11th century, but are mostly from the 13th onwards. Initially surviving examples are all Jain. By the 15th-century they were becoming increasingly lavish, with much use of gold.


title: Indian painting

text: The manuscript text most frequently illustrated is the "Kalpa Sūtra", containing the biographies of the Tirthankaras, notably Parshvanatha and Mahavira. The illustrations are square-ish panels set in the text, with "wiry drawing" and "brilliant, even jewel-like colour". The figures are always seen in three-quarters view, with distinctive "long pointed noses and protruding eyes". There is a convention whereby the more distant side of the face protrudes, so that both eyes are seen.


title: Indian painting

text: Ancient texts defined six important aspects of painting. These 'Six Limbs' have been translated as follows:


title: Indian painting

text: The subsequent development of painting by the Buddhists indicates that these ' Six Limbs ' were put into practice by Indian artists, and are the basic principles on which their art was founded.


title: Indian painting

text: Mughal painting is a style of Indian painting, generally confined to illustrations on the book and done in miniatures, and which emerged, developed and took shape during the period of the Mughal Empire between the 16th and 19th centuries. The Mughal style was heavily influenced by Persian miniatures, and in turn influenced several Indian styles, including the Rajput, Pahari and Deccan styles of painting.


title: Indian painting

text: Mughal paintings were a unique blend of Indian, Persian and Islamic styles. Because the Mughal kings wanted visual records of their deeds as hunters and conquerors, their artists accompanied them on military expeditions or missions of state, or recorded their prowess as animal slayers, or depicted them in the great dynastic ceremonies of marriages.


title: Indian painting

text: Akbar's reign (1556–1605) ushered a new era in Indian miniature painting. After he had consolidated his political power, he built a new capital at Fatehpur Sikri where he collected artists from India and Persia. He was the first monarch who established in India an atelier under the supervision of two Persian master artists, Mir Sayyed Ali and Abdus Samad. Earlier, both of them had served under the patronage of Humayun in Kabul and accompanied him to India when he regained his throne in 1555. More than a hundred painters were employed, most of whom were from Gujarat, Gwalior and Kashmir, who gave a birth to a new school of painting, popularly known as the Mughal School of miniature Paintings.


title: Indian painting

text: Tuti-Nama was an early Mughal work from the mid 16th Century, and the similarities particularly in the female figures to the indigenous western India school is clearly visible. While some consider this to be a transition phase where the stylistic features of indigenous & Persian schools combined, other considered this to be a work of artists who were trained in western India school and who worked in Akbar's atelier to produce art for the Mughal palette, maybe under supervision of Persian masters.


title: Indian painting

text: Another early production that school of miniature painting was the Hamzanama series, which according to the court historian, Badayuni, was started in 1567 and completed in 1582. The Hamzanama, stories of Amir Hamza, an uncle of the Prophet, were illustrated by Mir Sayyid Ali. The paintings of the Hamzanama are of large size, 20 x 27" and were painted on cloth. They are in the Persian safavi style. Brilliant red, blue and green colours predominate; the pink, eroded rocks and the vegetation, planes and blossoming plum and peach trees are reminiscent of Persia. The Hamza Nama is very different in style to the Tuti Nama. This difference was either due to a different set of artists who were trained in the Persian style or due to a conscious change in style through experimentation, either ways, mughal painting quickly evolved into more fluid and naturalistic style different from the stiffness in figures seen in earlier paintings. Nevertheless, links to the western India schools were still there on close inspection, particularly in the representation of the female figure.


title: Indian painting

text: After him, Jahangir encouraged artists to paint portraits and durbar scenes. His most talented portrait painters were Ustad Mansur, Abul Hasan and Bishandas.


title: Indian painting

text: Shah Jahan (1627–1658) continued the patronage of painting. Some of the famous artists of the period were Mohammad Faqirullah Khan, Mir Hashim, Muhammad Nadir, Bichitr, Chitarman, Anupchhatar, Manohar and Honhar.


title: Indian painting

text: Aurangzeb had no taste for fine arts, probably due to his Islamic conservatism. Due to lack of patronage artists migrated to the Deccan and the Hindu courts of Rajputana, greatly influencing the styles in these centres.


title: Indian painting

text: Deccan painting was produced in the Deccan region of Central India, in the various Muslim capitals of the Deccan sultanates that emerged from the break-up of the Bahmani Sultanate by 1520. These were Bijapur, Golkonda, Ahmadnagar, Bidar, and Berar. The main period was between the late 16th century and the mid-17th, with something of a revival in the mid-18th century, by then centred on Hyderabad.


title: Indian painting

text: Compared to the early Mughal painting evolving at the same time to the north, Deccan painting exceeds in "the brilliance of their colour, the sophistication and artistry of their composition, and a general air of decadent luxury". Other differences include painting faces, not very expertly modelled, in three-quarter view, rather than mostly in profile in the Mughal style, and "tall women with small heads" wearing saris. There are many royal portraits, although they lack the precise likenesses of their Mughal equivalents. Buildings are depicted as "totally flat screen-like panels".


title: Indian painting

text: Ragamala paintings, sets illustrating (by evoking their moods) the various "raga" musical forms, appear to have been an innovation of the Deccan. Beside the usual portraits and illustrations to literary works, there are sometimes illustrated chronicles, such as the "Tuzuk-i-Asafiya". A Deccan speciality (also sometimes found in other media, such as ivory) is the "composite animal" a large animal made up of many smaller images of other animals.


title: Indian painting

text: The early Mewar and Malwa schools, sometimes also collectively known as Western India school, developed around this period, and are stylistically similar and linked to the style of depiction in 14th–15th century texts from Gujarat. The similar large eyes, stiff figures, protruding hips and breasts are a linking feature. The Kulhadar group of paintings is considered one of the finest works executed belonging to the western India school. Executed in early 16th century, this group paintings were characterized by the men wearing a conical cap (Kulha) on which turbans were worn. The Kulhadar group of paintings consisted of Chaurapanchasika – "Fifty Verses of the Thief" by Bilhan, the Gita Govinda, the Bhagavata Purana and Ragamala.


title: Indian painting

text: Driven by the Islamic conquests, the mid-late 16th Century saw central Asian influence starting to creep into Indian artistic representation. The use of gold foil and ultramarine blue derived from imported lapiz lazuli were two such Persian influences which were adopted into Indian painting. Manuscripts of Laur Chanda at the National Museum are an example of such influence.


title: Indian painting

text: Several different styles of Rajput painting developed from the late 16th century onwards in the Hindu royal courts of Rajputana. Each Rajput kingdom evolved a distinct style, but with certain common features. Rajput paintings depict a number of themes, events of epics like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, Krishna's life, beautiful landscapes, and humans. Many miniatures were individual album pieces, but there are also illustrated books, and there was at the same time some mural painting on the walls of palaces, forts, and havelis. This especially so in the Shekhawati region, where Marwari businessmen, mainly active in the large cities, competed to have brightly painted exteriors of the houses they maintained in their home region.


title: Indian painting

text: The Pahari style also referred to as the Punjab Hills style developed and flourished during 17th to 19th centuries stretching from Jammu to Almora and Garhwal, in the sub-Himalayan India, through Himachal Pradesh. The Pahari paintings can be grouped into two groups- Jammu or Dogra school; and Basholi and Kangra school. Each created stark variations within the genre, ranging from bold intense Basohli Painting, originating from Basohli in Jammu and Kashmir, to the delicate and lyrical Kangra paintings, which became synonymous to the style before other schools of paintings developed.


title: Indian painting

text: A new trend in manuscript illustration was set by a manuscript of the "Nimatnama" painted at Mandu, during the reign of Nasir Shah (1500–1510). This represent a synthesis of the indigenous and the patronized Persian style, though it was the latter which dominated the Mandu manuscripts. There was another style of painting known as Lodi Khuladar that flourished in the Sultanate's dominion of North India extending from Delhi to Jaunpur.


title: Indian painting

text: Mysore painting is an important form of classical South Indian painting that originated in the town of Mysore in Karnataka. These paintings are known for their elegance, muted colours and attention to detail. The themes for most of these paintings are Hindu Gods and Goddesses and scenes from Hindu mythology. In modern times, these paintings have become a much sought-after souvenir during festive occasions in South India.


title: Indian painting

text: The process of making a Mysore painting involves many stages. The first stage involves the making of the preliminary sketch of the image on the base. The base consists of cartridge paper pasted on a wooden base. A paste made of zinc oxide and arabic gum is made called "gesso paste". With the help of a thin brush all the jewellery and parts of throne or the arch which have some relief are painted over to give a slightly raised effect of carving. This is allowed to dry. On this thin gold foil is pasted. The rest of the drawing is then painted using watercolours. Only muted colours are used.


title: Indian painting

text: Tanjore painting is an important form of classical South Indian painting native to the town of Tanjore in Tamil Nadu. The art form dates back to the early 9th century, a period dominated by the Chola rulers, who encouraged art and literature. These paintings are known for their elegance, rich colours, and attention to detail. The themes for most of these paintings are Hindu Gods and Goddesses and scenes from Hindu mythology. In modern times, these paintings have become a much sought-after souvenir during festive occasions in South India.


title: Indian painting

text: The process of making a Tanjore painting involves many stages. The first stage involves the making of the preliminary sketch of the image on the base. The base consists of a cloth pasted over a wooden base. Then chalk powder or zinc oxide is mixed with water-soluble adhesive and apply it on the base. To make the base smoother, a mild abrasive is sometimes used. After the drawing is made, decoration of the jewelry and the apparels in the image is done with semi-precious stones. Laces or threads are also used to decorate the jewelry. On top of this, the gold foils are pasted. Finally, dyes are used to add colours to the figures in the paintings.


title: Indian painting

text: Pattachitra refers to the Classical painting of Odisha and West Bengal, in the eastern region of India.'Patta' in Sanskrit means 'Vastra' or 'clothings' and 'chitra' means paintings.


title: Indian painting

text: The Bengal Patachitra refers to the painting of West Bengal. It is a traditional and mythological heritage of West Bengal. The Bengal Patachitra is divided into some different aspects like Durga Pat, "Chalchitra", "Tribal Patachitra", "Medinipur Patachitra", Kalighat Patachitra etc. The subject matter of Bengal Patachitra is mostly mythological, religious stories, folk lore and social. The Kalighat Patachitra, the last tradition of Bengal Patachitra is developed by Jamini Roy. The artist of the Bengal Patachitra is called Patua.


title: Indian painting

text: The tradition of Orisha Pattachitra is closely linked with the worship of Lord Jagannath. Apart from the fragmentary evidence of paintings on the caves of Khandagiri and Udayagiri and Sitabhinji murals of the Sixth century A.D., the earliest indigenous paintings from Odisha are the Pattachitra done by the Chitrakars (the painters are called Chitrakars). The theme of Oriya painting centres round the Vaishnava sect. Since beginning of Pattachitra culture Lord Jagannath who was an incarnation of Lord Krishna was the major source of inspiration. The subject matter of Patta Chitra is mostly mythological, religious stories and folk lore. Themes are chiefly on Lord Jagannath and Radha-Krishna, different "Vesas" of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra, temple activities, the ten incarnations of Vishnu basing on the 'Gita Govinda' of Jayadev, Kama Kujara Naba Gunjara, Ramayana, Mahabharata. The individual paintings of gods and goddesses are also being painted.The painters use vegetable and mineral colours without going for factory made poster colours. They prepare their own colours. White colour is made from the conch-shells by powdering, boiling and filtering in a very hazardous process. It requires a lot of patience. But this process gives brilliance and permanence to the hue. 'Hingula', a mineral colour, is used for red. 'Haritala', king of stone ingredients for yellow, 'Ramaraja' a sort of indigo for blue are being used. Pure lamp-black or black prepared from the burning of cocoanut shells are used.The brushes that are used by these 'Chitrakaras' are also indigenous and are made of hair of domestic animals. A bunch of hair tied to the end of a bamboo stick make the brush. It is really a matter of wonder as to how these painters bring out lines of such precision and finish with the help of these crude brushes. That old tradition of Oriya painting still survives to-day in the skilled hands of Chitrakaras (traditional painters) in Puri, Raghurajpur, Paralakhemundi, Chikiti and Sonepur.


title: Indian painting

text: Madhubani painting is a style of painting, practiced in the Mithila region of Bihar state. Themes revolve around Hindu Gods and mythology, along with scenes from the royal court and social events like weddings. Generally no space is left empty; the gaps are filled by paintings of flowers, animals, birds, and even geometric designs.In this paintings, artists use leaves, herbs, and flowers to make the colour which is used to draw the paintings.


title: Indian painting

text: As Company rule in India began in the 18th century, a great number of Europeans migrated to India. The Company style is a term for a hybrid Indo-European style of paintings made in India by Indian and European artists, many of whom worked for European patrons in the British East India Company or other foreign Companies in the 18th and 19th centuries. The style blended traditional elements from Rajput and Mughal painting with a more Western treatment of perspective, volume and recession.


title: Indian painting

text: At the start of the 18th century, oil and easel painting began in India, which saw many European artists, such as Zoffany, Kettle, Hodges, Thomas and William Daniell, Joshua Reynolds, Emily Eden and George Chinnery coming out to India in search of fame and fortune. The courts of the princely states of India were an important draw for European artists due to their patronage of the visual and performing arts. For Indian artists, this Western influence, largely a result of colonialism, was viewed as "a means for self-improvement", and these Western academic artists who visited India provided the model. They did not, however, provide the training. According to R. Siva Kumar, "This task, which fell on the various art schools established in the 1850s, gave an institutional framework to the Westernization of Indian art".


title: Indian painting

text: The earliest formal art schools in India, namely the Government College of Fine Arts in Madras (1850), Government College of Art & Craft in Calcutta (1854) and Sir J. J. School of Art in Bombay (1857), were established.


title: Indian painting

text: Raja Ravi Varma was a pioneer of modern Indian painting. He drew on Western traditions and techniques including oil paint and easel painting, with his subjects being purely Indian, such as Hindu deities and episodes from the epics and Puranas. Some other prominent Indian painters born in the 19th century are Mahadev Vishwanath Dhurandhar (1867–1944), A X Trindade (1870–1935), M F Pithawalla (1872–1937), Sawlaram Lakshman Haldankar (1882–1968) and Hemen Majumdar (1894–1948).


title: Indian painting

text: In the 19th century, according to R. Siva Kumar, "selective Westernization for self-improvement gave way to a nationalist cultural counter-stance around the turn of the century – universally, the first step toward a political resistance toward colonial rule". In practice, this materialized as an assimilation of "diverse Asian elements", expanding tradition more than reviving it. Leading artist of the time, Abanindranath Tagore (1871–1951), utilized both the Western-influenced realism and Asian elements which brought him "close to early modernism".


title: Indian painting

text: A reaction to the Western influence led to a revival in historic and more nationalistic Indian art, called as the Bengal school of art, which drew from the rich cultural heritage of India.


title: Indian painting

text: The Bengal School of Art was an influential style of art that flourished in India during the British Raj in the early 20th century. It was associated with Indian nationalism, but was also promoted and supported by many British arts administrators.


title: Indian painting

text: The Bengal school arose as an avant garde and nationalist movement reacting against the academic art styles previously promoted in India, both by Indian artists such as Ravi Varma and in British art schools. Following the widespread influence of Indian spiritual ideas in the West, the British art teacher Ernest Binfield Havel attempted to reform the teaching methods at the Calcutta School of Art by encouraging students to imitate Mughal miniatures. This caused immense controversy, leading to a strike by students and complaints from the local press, including from nationalists who considered it to be a retrogressive move. Havel was supported by the artist Abanindranath Tagore, a nephew of the poet and artist Rabindranath Tagore. Abanindranath painted a number of works influenced by Mughal art, a style that he and Havel believed to be expressive of India's distinct spiritual qualities, as opposed to the "materialism" of the West. His best-known painting, "Bharat Mata" (Mother India), depicted a young woman, portrayed with four arms in the manner of Hindu deities, holding objects symbolic of India's national aspirations.


title: Indian painting

text: Tagore later attempted to develop links with Far-Eastern artists as part of an aspiration to construct a pan-Asianist model of art. Those associated with this Indo-Far Eastern model included Nandalal Bose, Mukul Dey, Kalipada Ghoshal, Benode Behari Mukherjee, Vinayak Shivaram Masoji, B.C. Sanyal, Beohar Rammanohar Sinha, and subsequently their students A. Ramachandran, Tan Yuan Chameli, Ramananda Bandopadhyay and a few others.


title: Indian painting

text: The Bengal school's influence on Indian art scene gradually started alleviating with the spread of modernist ideas post-independence.K. G. Subramanyan's role in this movement is significant.


title: Indian painting

text: The term Contextual Modernism that Siva Kumar used in the catalogue of the exhibition has emerged as a postcolonial critical tool in the understanding of the art the Santiniketan artists had practised.


title: Indian painting

text: Several terms including Paul Gilroy's "counter culture of modernity" and Tani Barlow's "Colonial modernity" have been used to describe the kind of alternative modernity that emerged in non-European contexts. Professor Gall argues that 'Contextual Modernism' is a more suited term because "the colonial in "colonial modernity" does not accommodate the refusal of many in colonised situations to internalise inferiority. Santiniketan’s artist teachers' refusal of subordination incorporated a counter vision of modernity, which sought to correct the racial and cultural essentialism that drove and characterised imperial Western modernity and modernism. Those European modernities, projected through a triumphant British colonial power, provoked nationalist responses, equally problematic when they incorporated similar essentialisms".


title: Indian painting

text: According to R. Siva Kumar "The Santiniketan artists were one of the first who consciously challenged this idea of modernism by opting out of both internationalist modernism and historicist indigenousness and tried to create a context sensitive modernism." He had been studying the work of the Santiniketan masters and thinking about their approach to art since the early 80s. The practice of subsuming Nandalal Bose, Rabindranath Tagore, Ram Kinker Baij and Benode Behari Mukherjee under the Bengal School of Art was, according to Siva Kumar, misleading. "This happened because early writers were guided by genealogies of apprenticeship rather than their styles, worldviews, and perspectives on art practice".


title: Indian painting

text: The literary critic Ranjit Hoskote while reviewing the works of contemporary artist Atul Dodiya writes, "The exposure to Santinketan, through a literary detour, opened Dodiya’s eyes to the historical circumstances of what the art historian R Siva Kumar has called a "contextual modernism" developed in eastern India in the 1930s and '40s during the turbulent decades of the global Depression, the Gandhian liberation struggle, the Tagorean cultural renaissance and World War II."


title: Indian painting

text: "Contextual Modernism" in the recent past has found its usage in other related fields of studies, specially in Architecture.


title: Indian painting

text: During the colonial era, Western influences started to make an impact on Indian art. Some artists developed a style that used Western ideas of composition, perspective and realism to illustrate Indian themes. Others, like Jamini Roy, consciously drew inspiration from folk art. Bharti Dayal has chosen to handle the traditional Mithila Painting in most contemporary way and uses both realism as well abstractionism in her work with a lot of fantasy mixed in to both .Her work has an impeccable sense of balance, harmony and grace.


title: Indian painting

text: By the time of Independence in 1947, several schools of art in India provided access to modern techniques and ideas. Galleries were established to showcase these artists. Modern Indian art typically shows the influence of Western styles, but is often inspired by Indian themes and images. Major artists are beginning to gain international recognition, initially among the Indian diaspora, but also among non-Indian audiences.


title: Indian painting

text: The Progressive Artists' Group, established shortly after India became independent in 1947, was intended to establish new ways of expressing India in the post-colonial era. The founders were six eminent artists – K. H. Ara, S. K. Bakre, H. A. Gade, M.F. Husain, S.H. Raza and F. N. Souza, though the group was dissolved in 1956, it was profoundly influential in changing the idiom of Indian art. Almost all India's major artists in the 1950s were associated with the group. Some of those who are well-known today are Bal Chabda, Manishi Dey, V. S. Gaitonde, Krishen Khanna, Ram Kumar, Tyeb Mehta, Beohar Rammanohar Sinha and Akbar Padamsee. Other famous painters like Jahar Dasgupta, Prokash Karmakar, John Wilkins, and Bijon Choudhuri enriched the art culture of India. They have become the icon of modern Indian art. Art historians like Prof. Rai Anand Krishna have also referred to those works of modern artistes that reflect Indian ethos.


title: Indian painting

text: Also, the increase in the discourse about Indian art, in English as well as vernacular Indian languages, appropriated the way art was perceived in the art schools. Critical approach became rigorous, critics like Geeta Kapur, R . Siva Kumar, contributed to re-thinking contemporary art practice in India.Their voices represented Indian art not only in India but across the world. The critics also had an important role as curators of important exhibitions, re-defining modernism and Indian-art.


title: Indian painting

text: Indian Art got a boost with the economic liberalization of the country since the early 1990s. Artists from various fields now started bringing in varied styles of work. Post-liberalization Indian art thus works not only within the confines of academic traditions but also outside it. In this phase, artists have introduced even newer concepts which have hitherto not been seen in Indian art. Devajyoti Ray has introduced a new genre of art called Pseudorealism. Pseudorealist Art is an original art style that has been developed entirely on the Indian soil. Pseudorealism takes into account the Indian concept of abstraction and uses it to transform regular scenes of Indian life into a fantastic images.


title: Indian painting

text: Vernacular art is an art alive (contemporary art), based on the past (the myths, the traditions and the religion) and made by defined groups. Vernacular art is based on the collective memory of this group.


title: Misbah-ul-Haq

text: Misbah-ul-Haq Khan Niazi PP SI (; born 28 May 1974) is a former Pakistani cricket coach and former international cricketer. Misbah captained Pakistan in all formats and is former head coach and former chief selector of the Pakistan national team.


title: Misbah-ul-Haq

text: A late bloomer, Misbah was a middle-order batsman best known for his composure with the bat whilst also having the ability to be an aggressive big shot player when required. Misbah scored the fastest fifty in Test cricket and set a new record for the fastest Test hundred and holds the record for most career ODI runs without a century.


title: Misbah-ul-Haq

text: Misbah has an MBA degree in Human Resource Management from the University of Management and Technology in Lahore, Punjab.


title: Misbah-ul-Haq

text: After announcing retirement from limited overs cricket in 2015, Misbah continued to play Test cricket for a few years. On 4 April 2017, Misbah announced his retirement from all international cricket as well after the conclusion of West Indies tour. Misbah retired from all formats of international cricket on 14 May 2017.


title: Misbah-ul-Haq

text: Misbah grew up in Mianwali in Pakistani Punjab. His father, Abdul Qudoos Niazi, was a school principal who died during Misbah's childhood. Misbah is part of a Pashtun Niazi family; the Pakistan cricketer and former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan is his distant cousin. During his early days, Misbah played tape ball cricket for his hometown, but his parents insisted on him securing a good education and he completed a BSc in Faisalabad. He then enrolled in the University of Management and Technology to pursue an MBA degree.


title: Misbah-ul-Haq

text: Misbah would eventually make his first-class debut in 1998, aged 24 for Sargodha. Misbah went on to be selected for the Pakistani Test side in 2001 and the ODI cricket team in 2002. Misbah married Uzma Khan in 2004. The couple have two children.


title: Misbah-ul-Haq

text: Misbah had not only gained success at international level but also at domestic level. His 2012–13 domestic season was memorable. He captained Faisalabad Wolves in Twenty20 domestic tournament and SNGPL in First-class and List-A domestic tournament. First, he took SNGPL to victory in President's Trophy against Younus Khan's HBL and then Faisalabad Wolves to victory in Faysal Bank Super 8 against Shoaib Malik's Sialkot Stallions in final surprisingly. Though Faisalabad Wolves lost final earlier in Faysal Bank T20 Cup against Mohammad Hafeez's Lahore Lions but they took their revenge in Super 8 tournament in semi-final and eventually winning the tournament and more importantly qualifying for the Champions League T20. And at last Misbah led SNGPL to another victory in domestic list-A tournament, President's Cup against Rana Naved-ul-Hasan's WAPDA in final. Misbah won all domestic tournaments (Twenty20, first-class and list-A) in domestic season 2012/13.


title: Misbah-ul-Haq

text: Misbah played in 2008 Indian Premier League Season 1 for Royal Challengers Bangalore while he played in Sri Lanka Premier League for Kandurata Warriors in 2012. And he also represented St Lucia Zouks in 2013 season in Caribbean Premier League. He also played for Abhani in Bangladesh.


title: Misbah-ul-Haq

text: Misbah revealed that he had been offered a two-year contract by Worcestershire County Cricket Club to play in the English County Championship from 2013 onwards, but declined due to clashes with his international commitments.


title: Misbah-ul-Haq

text: In 2015, Misbah signed by Rangpur Riders to play in the third edition of the Bangladesh Premier League. He made the decision to play in order to remain match fit for the upcoming Test Series with England in July 2016. In only his first game for Rangpur Riders, Misbah scored 61 runs, smashing 4 sixes and winning his team the game by chasing a mammoth total of 187. He was awarded the Man of the Match award for the performances.


title: Misbah-ul-Haq

text: Misbah signed by Islamabad United for a price of $140,000 to be played in February 2016 for Pakistan Super League. He is the 10th highest scorer in the league. He led Islamabad United to be the first champions of Pakistan Super League, and again was captain of the Islamabad United when the team won the third edition of PSL. Misbah also enjoys the highest success percentage as captain in Pakistan Super League matches up till now.


title: Misbah-ul-Haq

text: In 2019 against the Lahore Qalandars, he became the oldest player in all of t20 cricket to score a 50.


title: Misbah-ul-Haq

text: Although making his international debut back in 2001, his breakthrough came when was selected for ICC World T20. Misbah was influential in his prolific 2007 ICC World Twenty20 famously playing the Paddle Scoop in the Final against India in the final over as Pakistan lost by 5 runs. He was leading run scorer from Pakistan and third overall in the tournament. Also he was the first Pakistani player who reached No. 1 position in ICC T20I batsmen rankings. He was also the first Pakistani player to score a 50 in T20I. His knock of 66 against Australia was named as the fourth-best T20I batting performance of the year by ESPNCricinfo voters. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo for the 2007 T20I World Cup.


title: Misbah-ul-Haq

text: His knock of 161* against India at Bengaluru was named as the third-best Test Batting Performance of the year by ESPNCricinfo voters.


title: Misbah-ul-Haq

text: Misbah was a member of the 2009 World T20 winning squad and was praised for his performance. Misbah played an influential role in getting Pakistan to the 2011 World Cup semifinals under Shahid Afridi's captaincy. After the loss against India at Mohali, Misbah faced criticism from fans and experts for playing too many dot balls in crucial overs.


title: Misbah-ul-Haq

text: In 2013, Misbah was brilliant in terms of his batting. He moved to a career-best seventh place in the ICC rankings for ODI batsmen. Misbah was the leading run scorer in ODI cricket with 1373 runs for year 2013 ahead of Mohammad Hafeez and Virat Kohli. He also had 15 ODI half centuries, which is a record for most ODI half centuries in a calendar year, as well as hitting 3rd most ODI sixes that year.


title: Misbah-ul-Haq

text: Despite, Pakistan losing all 3 of their games, he was named as part of the 'Team of the Tournament' in the 2013 Champions Trophy by the ICC. He was also named as captain of the Team by Cricinfo.


title: Misbah-ul-Haq

text: In the first test at Abu Dhabi against South Africa, Pakistan amassed 442 runs, where Misbah scored his fourth test century, which was the second in the innings after Khurram Manzoor's 146. In the second innings the Pakistani batting collapsed and were 7/3 with only needing a mere target of 40. When the two seniors of the team (Misbah and Younis Khan) came in to bat, Misbah hit two sixes off the bowling of Robin Peterson and hit the winning runs with a straight six.


title: Misbah-ul-Haq

text: In the second test at Dubai, Pakistan were all out for 99 in the first innings. After South Africa amassed a total of 517 with Graeme Smith hitting his 4th Test double and yet another century from the AB de Villiers, Pakistan were faltering for an embarrassing defeat. At 70/4 Misbah came in and blitzed the South African bowling attack with a 197 run stand with the Asad Shafiq repeating the same stand the two had in the first test, Misbah scored 88 before trying to obliterate the part-time spinner Dean Elgar over cow corner but edged it straight to Jacques Kallis. South Africa invited Pakistan to play South Africa at home, in their third bilateral series of the year.