UNIT-3

The Bengal School of Painting

Origin, Development and Main Features of the Bengal School of Painting:
Indian art stood at the crossroad after the decline of Mughal Empire, and the beginning of the British
colonial rule after the mutiny of 1857. By the end of the century, the smaller feudal states where art
survived for sometime were annexed one by the British rulers. Indian painting reached almost a dead
end. The British ruler in the mean time had set-up art schools at Bombay, Madras (1850) and Calcutta
(1854), and by systematic propaganda successfully persuaded the educated Indians to believe that
Indians had no cultural heritage of their own.
At this point of our identity crisis, there came some highly gifted artists who tried in their own way to
give a sense of direction to the art movement of the country and created confidence in the traditional
values and rich heritage of Indian Art and made the Indians conscious of the fact. Their efforts
included Raja Ravi Varma, Abanindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore,
Nandlal Bose and Jamini Roy and ably supported by E.B. Havell, the principal of Government Art
School at Calcutta.
This Enthused the Indian artists to turn for inspiration to true native tradition. A group of Bengal
artists gave birth to a new painting style based on old Indian traditional paintings of Ajanta, Bagh,
Rajput and Mughal art. They created a sort of new renaissance under the guidance and leadership of
Abanindranath Tagore.
Thus under the influence of Principal E.B. Havell and Abanindranath, Indian artists looked back the
traditional painting of Indian with respect and got themselves separated from the blind copying of the
lifeless western realism. Thus was born the Bengal School of which is more a style than a regional
development, is the first school representing important art movement in modern India.
During this period all types of painting, religious, social and historical events, birds, animals and
landscapes were painted in this style.
The Main features of Bengal School of Painting :

• Based on Indian Traditions : The Bengal School is fully based on the Indian traditional style as the
subject matter of this school is based on Indian culture. The paintings based on Indian theme like
‘Mahakali, ‘Shiva Parwati’Krishna and Gopis etc. prove the Bengal School’s Indian mentality.

• Influence of Ajanta Paintings : Bengal school is influenced from Ajanta Art. The qualities of Ajanta
Art like rhythm, grace, harmony etc. are visible in Bengal School.

• Linear Delicacy : The lines of Bengal School resemble the Ajanta Paintings. Lines are delicate and
rhythmic.

• Softness and Rhythm in Figures : The figures of Bengal School give soft effect and no hardness is
there. They are graceful and have delicacy. They are rhythmic and provide pleasant experience to
eyes.

• Beautiful Colour Scheme : The colours of Bengal School are very attractive. Wash technique is used
and colours are not bright and gaudy at all.

• Influence of Mughal and Rajasthani Schools : Mughal and Rajasthani Schools’ influence can also be
seen at some places.
• Light and Shade : The softness in the paintings of Bengal School is due to its quality of brilliant
light and shade.

• Impressive and Indian Subject Matter : The subject matter of Bengal School is very impressive and
Indian in character. Themes used are historical, religious, literary etc.

Contribution by the Indian Artists towards National Freedom Movement:

As the glorious tradition of Indian classical art was about to be wiped the advent of the Muslim rule in
the middle ages, in the same way Indian classical art of Rajasthani, Mughal and Pahari miniature
painting was about to meet the same fate with the establishment of British rule after the mutiny of
1857. The systematic propaganda by scholars like Lord Macaulay, an important member of the British
Government, who drew up the syllabus for Indian schools and framed Indian penal code, and then the
principals of the art and craft school of Bombay, Madras and Lahore and even established painters of
the status of Burn-Jones and Jeshua Reynolds were of the view that India had no worthwhile
traditional fine arts and Indians were incapable of learning it. They did their best to establish the
superiority of Western art and culture over the Indians. The newly English educated young men in
those days around 4850-1900 sneered at anything Indian and learnt to look at the pantheon of Indian
Goddesses as near monsters.
The average Indians whose lives were inextricably connected with artistic painting and floral
decoration as essential part of cultural and religious celebration were totally confused and suffered
from the sense of inferiority in comparison to the Western educated person.
It was at this juncture that a few extraordinarily gifted artists and painters like Raja Ravi Verma,
Abanindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore, Nandlal Bose, Asit Kumar Haldar, Kshitindranath
Mazumdar, Abdul Rehman Chughtai, Samanendranath Gupta ably assisted by Principal E.B.Havell of
Calcutta Art School came out with their excellent art work to establish once for all, the superiority of
Indian art over rigid lifeless western painting, the British founded schools elsewhere in India like
Bombay, Madras and Lahore were producing. The great artists gave a tremendous moral boost to the
Indian Nationalist movement which started in 1905 against the partition of Bengal.
Indian Society of Oriental Art was established in 1907 with renowned people and art lovers of Bengal.
The society held art exhibition every year.
The caricature entitled ‘Peace declared in the Punjab’- by Gaganendranath made on the massacre of
Jalianwala Bagh in 1921 brought out the barbarous naked cruelty of the British rulers and hardened
the hatred of the Indian people against the British.
Nandalal’s ‘Sati’, ‘The death of Sati’, ‘Ahalya’s release from her curse’, ‘Agnidevata’ won acclaim
throughout India which revived the traditional culture.
All these helped the people regain their national identity and gave a boost to the national ‘Swadeshi’
movement for freedom. Indians lost the sense of rootless alien entity which is the greatest stumbling
block to prosperity and self reliance for a nation, wrote Rabindranath Tagore.
The panels on Indian folk art and Indian life in 1937 for Haripura Congress by Nandalal Bose gave a
great boost to this sense of Indians to the people.
Paintings of Bengal School:
TITLE ARTIST

• Journey’s End Abanindranath Tagore

• Radhika M.A.R.Chughtai

• Meghdoot Ram Gopal Vijayvargiya

Journy’s End (Abanindranath Tagore):- The painting ‘Journey’s End’ was first published in the
Bengali magazine ‘Prabasi’ and drew acclaim from the viewers as a great piece of art. The pain and
suffering of a dumb beast of burden moved the painter so much that the pain he felt can be clearly
seen in the half open eye of the beast. The picture is painted in the new technique which he evolved
with the fusion of tempera technique of miniature painting and wash, the Japanese technique. Red,
brown and yellow wash colours give the background and the sky is filled with the diffused light of
sunset. The foreground is painted in the darker tones of the same colour to intensify the sense of pain.
There is a tint of blue where the animal is about to collapse. A massive load on the camel’s back
shows the greed of the master in exploiting the slaves to their last breath. No one is there to watch the
thin stream of blood oozing out of its mouth. The weight he has been carrying all his life for his
master is still enacted on his back so that it is not damaged. He has yet not given up hope of standing
once more to deliver the goods to his master which he is given to carry. He is on his knees with his
back legs upright and his head slightly raised as if he would make another attempt to get up. His life’s
journey is about to come to an end with the end of the day. The painting is suffused with a romantic
sentiment yet it evokes pity and sympathy from the viewers
Radhika (M.A.R. Chughtai):- The painting ‘Radhika’ is also drawn in profile. In all his works he
has painted Radhika as delicate and love lorn. Postures have also been made romantic. She is
delicately holding two lotuses in both of her hands. She is wearing a light colour Ghagra, a red color
Choli and a yellow colour Dupatta in typical Indian style. Her braided of black tresses is flowing
down her back. Her down-cast eye is unique in exaggerated arch of eyebrow. Ornaments that Radhika
is wearing are impression of Radhika being delicate, flexible and graceful. There is a lamp with a
stand in the left side of the painting in Mughal manner. The lamp is decorated one with the wick in
yellow and red colours, it presents a realistic image of the lamp. The light of the lamp has illuminated
Radhika and has given a touch of divinity. The background is painted in a perfect blending of black,
red and yellow colours creating a vivid expanse of bright colours in uniform the tonal gradation. The
brightness illuminated by the burning lamp is yet another remarkable achievement of the artist. He has
also highlighted minute details of the costumes worn by Radhika. Each fold of the drapery has been
created with excellent success. The lotuses that she holds in each hand shows symbolic representation
of a delicacy. The honey- bee sitting on the lotus of Radhika’s left hand is centrally composed in
respect of the totality of the panting, which symbolizes the presence of Krishna.
Meghdoot (Ram Gopal Vijayvargiya):- This is one of the paintings of Meghdoot series. With the
excellent co-ordination of colour this painting has been delineated in artistic style .Riding on flying
white cottony clouds, with special rhythmicity, in the blue sky, lovelorn Yaksha and Yakshini have
been shown whit real colour-scheme. Yaksha’s curly hair, in ears earrings made of pearls, a pearl
necklace on the throat, excellent body structure, smile on face, feeling of tenderness in hands and
fingers, taking a lotus flower in his right hand, clothes embellished with the vivid shades of yellow
colour and in them (clothes) rhythm city of various thin-coloured line, all these enchant the mind of
the viewer. Yaksha sitting sticking by his back and her right hand has been shown putting on
Yaksha’s chest in such a way as if two lovers are embraced. Yakshini’s hairs have been shown tied
with the white flowered plait or band. On her throat is a beautiful necklace on pearls. She is covering
her breast with a pink-coloured cloth and below the loin is wearing a lustrous yellow cloth on which
have been shown crumps. On her legs smile lips is seen obviously. The colour of the sky has been
shown blue in upper side and down near the clouds becoming light. Four white birds have been shown
flying in the foreground. This picture composed with the wash and tempera technique in Bengal style
together with the feelings of tenderness is an excellent co-ordination of charming and pleasing
colours.

Evolution of Indian National Flag:

One of the few insignias which no nation however radical can do without is its National Flag-its
identity and mark of pride. Political rivalries and dynasties might die off in course of time but the
National Flag lives on through generations fluttering high.
The evolution of the Indian Flag, the tri-colour reflects the political development of the country
during the 20th century. The building up of the National Flag as recorded in history was final outcome
of various political trends, communal tensions and waves of mass enthusiasm.
According to an obscure source of information, the first National Flag of India was hoisted on August
7, 1906 in the Parsee Bagan Square (Green Park), Kolkatta. The flag was composed of three equal
horizontal stripes of green, yellow and red. The green stripe on the top had eight white lotuses
embossed in a row. The word Vandemataram was inscribed in deep blue on the middle yellow stripe
in Devnagri Script. The red stripe at the bottom had the sun in white on the left and the crescent and a
star in white on the right.
The second flag came out in 1921 when Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was at the helm of the Indian
National Congress. During its Bezwada (now Vijaywada) session, an Andhra youth Pingali
Venkaiyah prepares a flag and handed it to Gandhiji. It was in two colours, red and green representing
the two major communities and a large charkha extending to both the bands as a symbol of progress.
Gandhiji apparently was pleased with the flag and suggested to the youth to introduce a white stripe in
the middle and superimpose the charkha in blue on it. Thus was born the tri-colour of later years.
Though it was not officially accepted by AICC, still it was used on all future occasions of the
Congress party. Red and green represent all other communities of the country, and Charkha to
represent progress.
On July 22, 1947, Constituent Assembly adopted a new flag as free India’s National Flag with saffron
at the top, white at the middle and green at the bottom in equal proportions and the Charkha to be
replaced by Chakra in navy blue which appears on the lion capital of Ashok at Sarnath, as Dharma
Chakra.
The diameter of the wheel (charka) shall be approximate to the width of the white band at the middle.
The ratio of the width to the length of the flag shall ordinarily be two breadths by three lengths
The significances of the colours are as follows:
Saffron - Courage and sacrifice.
White - Truth and peace.
Green - Faith and chivalry.
Ashokan-wheel - The dynamism of a peaceful change. (Work for 24 hours)
24 spokes in Ashokan-wheel 24 Hours in each day.
Navy Blue (Dharma Chakra) - Secularism, Trust and Truthfulness.
 UNIT-4
The Modern Trends in Indian Art
Introduction: Indian art during the period 1900-1925 came to be dominated by the Bengal School but
the revivalists failed to strike any permanency because of the lack of originality. They will be
remembered for their effort to revive the classical Indian tradition based on epic and mythology
through their paintings. But they lacked the social consciousness of the classical times of Indian
history and indifferent to cotemporary Indian values. Abanindranath and Nandlal will be remembered
as pioneer of a movement which failed. The artists after 1925 refused slavish imitation of the
mannerism of the art of the past. They felt that such imitation shackle the imagination of the artists
and not liberate it. Such art remained only and illustrative art unable to express the intensity of the
times.
Gaganendranath though a contemporary, tried cubistic painting influenced by European cubism.
Rabindranath in his painting tried expressionism.
A host of other artists like Nirod Mayumdar, Rathin Maitra, Gopal Ghosh, Paritosh Sen attempted a
change in their outlook on art.
Figurative drawing has been replaced by abstract painting trying to search beauty in formlessness.
Somnath Hore, Jyoti Bhatt, Anupam Sud brought variety in Modern Indian Art by their graphic prints.

Paintings of Contemporary (Modern) Indian Artists

PAINTING ARTIST
• Rama Vanquishing the Pride of the Ocean Raja Ravi Verma

• Magician Gaganendranath Tagore

• Mother and Child Jamini Roy

• Three Girls Amrita Sher Gil

• Mother Teresa M.F.Hussain

• Gossip N.S.Bendre

• Untitled G.R.Santosh

Rama Vanquishing the Pride of the Ocean (Raja Ravi Verma):-

Raja Ravi Verma(1848-1906 A.D.): Raja Ravi Verma is the creator of the famous mythological
painting ‘Rama vanquishing the pride of the ocean’. This is an episode from Valmiki’s Ramayana.
The theme of the painting is Rama’s anger at being thwarted in building a temporary bridge over the
sea to reach Lanka and bring back Sita, Kidnapped by the demon King Ravana. Rama is in anger and
picks up his bow warming the sea-god that he would destroy the sea unless Varuna allowed him to
build the bridge. Ravi Varma seizes this moment and builds-up his composition on the principles of
dynamic balance. Varuna and his consorts speed forward to pacify the angry hero. There is no
movement of limbs, but the waves carry them forward at a fast pace. The figures rise from the water
energized by the mobility of that element. Balancing the pyramid like group hurtling forward is the
strong linear figure of Rama. His very stance and the fluttering garments suggest the strength of the
wind blowing from the ocean. The sea is churned into ridge-like waves with foams all around n the
foreground stand firm in contrast to the agitated sea in their weight and texture. They enhance the
impression of resolution indomitable built-up by the figure of Rama. The theme of Rama vanquishing
the pride of the ocean has been taken from Valmiki’s Ramayan, in which Sri Rama has been shown
vanquishing the pride of the ocean. In one of the topics of the Ramayana, Sri Rama,together with his
monkey-army, prepares to go to Sri Lanka so that Sita could be go t released from the clutches of
Ravana. But the huge ocean has blocked their way. Sri Rama requests the ocean to give them way but
the ocean does not budge even an inch. Sri Rama, being angered, takes up his bow and warns the
ocean to eradicate that. Raja Ravi Varma’s artist mind gives shape to that moment-Sri Rama has been
shown on a rock of the shore near ocean, in angry mood holding a bow in his left hand and an arrow
in right hand. His clothes give the feeling of blowing the air .The waves advancing very swiftly from
the ocean towards the shore, striking off the rocks seem to be dispersing like white milk; whereas in
middle of the distant waves have been shown three human figures,in the middle the big shape is of
ocean(the god of sea)who has shown lifting both his hands up requesting Sri Rama not to do so, while
two small shapes are of the gods of acquatic creatures who are frightened and are entreating Sri Rama
for forgiveness of their creatures. In background, with the blend of dark colour, has been shown the
sky in middle of which has been shown bright flash of lighting .In this painting, the placidity of
colours is capable to attract towards it the attention of anyone. This painting manifests the display of
light and shadow, the qualities of European style of art and inkling of rhythmicity in linear
delineation.

Magician (Gaganendranath Tagore):-

Gaganendranath Tagore (1867-1938 A.D.): Gaganendranath Tagore was the elder brother of
Abanendranath Tagore .He gave place to the contemporary themes of city life-style in his paintings in
places of conservative ideology of the Bengal art. He, through the medium of his pictures, tried to
bring geometrical attribute threedimensional and multi-dimensional European style ‘Cubism’ into
vogue. He has done ironical delineation of the evils prevalent in society. In his painting named ‘Priest
and pilgrim’, he has done satire on exploitation of people being done by the religious elements. His
technique is European. In his pictures, with the best conjugation of places, colour and light-shadow, is
clearly seen the western glimpse.] The painting ‘Magician’ also shows how the mood and temper of
the modern city took shape in the work through the successful European use of water colours,
Chiaroscuro (the way light and shade are shown) and the European frame for the valid tutorial
composition. This horizontal painting shows a wonderful play of shades of brown, off-white and red.
The foams look as if they are seen through a prism. He has split various space levels of his
composition like a cubist. He has managed successfully to retain a distinct perspective through
residing planes of browns and off-white. The red floor provides a suitable stage for the dominating
personality of the magician. He has a flowing beard and is dressed in full Japanese robe like
Rabindranath Tagore. The figure of a queen seems to be placed behind the screen made of wood and
glass located centrally in the panting. The step behind the magician got diffused against the
background of silent cityscape. A thin elongated figure of a man shrouded in dark brown cloak stands
quietly above the steps in the corridor adding an element of mystery. Gaganendranath’s paintings are
suffused with harmonious balance of colour and form.

Mother and Child (Jamini Roy):-

Jamini Roy (1887-1972): Jamini Roy was born in April, 1887 in a petty landowning family at
Beliatore, an obscure village in the district of Bankura in West Bengal. The richness and culture of
village life contributed greatly to the culture development of his later life. He joined the Calcutta Art
School in 1903 where the discipline of formal training helped him to gain technique and maturity.
From 1925 he started painting in the style of the ‘Patuas’ of Kalighat. His paintings won international
fame after exhibition in London in 1946 and the other in New York in 1953. He was a lone traveller
and art to him was a mission. ‘Mother and child’ is one of the famous paintings immortalizing
motherhood by Jamini Roy. The painting symbolizes a soothing calm and tranquillity common to
eastern philosophy. There is no hint of storm and stress of modern life giving an effect that both the
mother and child have found fulfilment in each other. This gives the painting a quality of
timelessness. Here in this painting the artist has limited himself to the bare unadorned basic line
drawing that goes to the root of painting. He has stripped his work of all superfluous adornment and
made the painted lines of curves and ellipses come alive with a statuesque quality. The contour lines
brought out the figure with clarity and the dip and the swell of the curves trace the figure with the
perfect pose. The moulding of the volume of the figure through tonal gradation is sensitive. The large
eyes and the oval face radiate physical coolness and complete peace undisturbed by any stress of
modern life. The look and easy rhythmic contour lines all reveal a rural simplicity of a mother who
finds the fulfilment of life in her son. The figures are arranged in a single frontal plane and there is no
suggestion of a foreground and background.

Three Girls (Amrita Sher Gil):-

Amrita Sher Gil (1913-1940): Amrita Sher Gil was born in Budapest, Hungary in January 30, 1913
of a Hungarian mother and a scholarly Indian father of a Shikh Royal family. The family returned to
India after the Ist World War in 1921. She was educated and as she showed an uncommon talent in
art, she was sent to ‘Ecole nationale’ the famous art school in France. Through her academic training
she acquired a high degree of proficiency in oil. After spending about six year in Europe, she longed
to come back to India. From 1935 onward after she came back to India till her death at the age of 28,
in 1941, she produced about 40 paintings in oil which are considered as masterly creations of Amrita
Sher Gil.] The painting ‘Three Girls’ –is one such painting on Indian subject done in oil and is
classical composition, the three figures of girls are arranged on the canvas in a triangular formation.
The painting is reduced to its simplest form without any redundancy to focus the viewers’ attention on
the expression of the girls. They are not jovial, carefree face of young girls with whom life is fun, but
the faces weight down under the burden of their uncertain future. May be it is thought of living their
own people and go to some distant unknown family after they are given away in marriage. The pale
complexion girl on the right is dressed in Salwar Kamiz and Dupatta all in different shades of red.
Slightly dark complexion girl is dressed in light green Dupatta. The colour of her Kurta has a light-
blue and pink print. Against the yellow ochre background, the head and shoulder of third girl is
painted in tones of light pink. The colours have a brightness of the Indian miniatures, the palm and
finger of the girl on the left bear some resemblance with Ajanta paintings. The portrait of the girl bear
no similarity with European portrait paintings with which Amrita has been associated most of her life.

Mother Teresa (M.F. Hussain):-

M.F. Hussain (1915-2011 A.D.): Maqbool fida hussain was born at Pandherpur in Madhya Pradesh
on September 17, 1915. He got primary education in Indore. He got admission in J.J. School of Art,
Bombay (now Mumbai), but, struck of adversity, he had to leave that. For livelihood he had to do
painting of the posters relating to cinema. The painting name ‘Sunehare Sansar’ was exhibited by the
Bombay Art Society, Bombay in 1947. After that his works were exhibited in series. To that he got
international fame. In the beginning, he was inclined to Basohli style of painting s. Therefore, he used
to use bright and glittering contrasted colours in his paintings. The painting series based on the
Ramayana and the Mahabharata are world- famous. Expressing violence, injustice and dejection are
his many other paintings. In ‘Mother Teresa’ he has revealed love, hope and pity; whereas the series
based on the British regime expresses sarcastic knowledge. He made some famous pictures based on
the Gulf War, as-The Theatre of the absurd and splash front page etc. The effect of European painters
like Picasso, Juan Gris and layer is seen in Hussain’s paintings. In this way Hussain is not related to
single style. Though his style is contemporary, yet his art is deeply rooted with the past. Nevertheless,
the themes or thought and the style are contemporary and modern; in which originality glimpses
obviously. For his works, the Government of India honoured him with Padma Shree, Padma Bhushan
and Padma Vibhushan. Mysore University and Banaras. Hindu University, Banaras honoured him
with the degree of D.Litt. (Doctor of Literature).] M.F.Hussain began the series Mother Teresa in
1979. The paintings are done in different medium like oil, acrylic etc. The most distinctive feature of
those paintings is that, a white Saree with a blue border is draped around her forehead and flows
round her body like the Byzantine draperies in the Catholic Churches. Husain himself admits that he
got the idea of draping Mother Teresa’s head with white Saree having a blue boarder from the play of
light colour from the stained glass paintings of the Byzantine Churches and Cathedrals he had visited.
It defines the outlines of her face and covers her head but the face is always a featureless dark
unilluminated area on the canvas. The Saree with the blue border is symbolic uniform of the
orphanage and establish her universal motherhood. Her two hands are shown as holding a baby while
her broad expanse of the Saree shelters two other homeless children sleeping peacefully. The
darkened face also suggests the negation of ego that must be an attribute of this profoundly selfless
person It is also indicative of Husain’s deliberate intention to avoid cheap sentimentality. The left
extended palm is to assure the needy to have no fear while the right palm is so placed as to hold the
orphan firmly to her body. The painting is an ovation from the painter to the universal motherhood.

Gossip (N.S. Bendre):-

Narayan Sridhar Bendre (1910-92 A.D.): N.S Bendre was born at Indore on 21 August 1910. He
did graduation from Agra University, Agre (presently known as Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar University,
Agra), in 1932, and the Diploma in art from Indore School of Art. For some time he taught at M.S.
University, Baroda (Vadodara).He has included in his works to European Academic traditions ,the
freshness of Indian miniatures, elegance of the Bengal art, spontaneity of shape, colour dissimilarity
with that of Cizanne and Gaugiun. He got excellence in wash, gouache and pastel colour techniques
of paintings. His versatile talent carried him to symbolic painting where he adopted the
impressionistic and cubist style of painting and conferred them liveliness. In geometrical shapes, he
started the prevalence of dark colours which was exhibited in his paintings named Thorn, Buffalo and
a Crane and Entwined form. He giving preference to cubism, wanted to show three-dimensional effect
on his two- dimensional canvas.] ‘Gossip’ by N.S.Bendre was painted around 1957 on canvas in oil.
In this vertical composition three village girls have stopped by a pond to indulge in village gossip.
Their pitchers are seen by their feet on the ground. Warm summer colours are used in the background.
Bold patches of yellow ochre, off-white and grey set of the village are in the background. Light
washes of like tribal girls. They stand in a triangular form facing each other and have bluish
complexion. Patches of Indian red give a lively touch to the entire composition. Bender’s mastery in
the use of colour and form to create a balanced composition can be seen at its best in this painting.
The rhythmic colour arrangement and bold lines exhibit the artistic skill of the painter. His simplicity
of composition and use of symphonic colour show his virtuosity.

Untitled (Gulam Rasool Santosh):-

Ghulam Rasool Santosh (1929-97 A.D.): G.R. Santosh was born in Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir),
in 1929. He was a self –trained sculptor, painter and weaver. He under the supervision of N.S Bendre,
had studied Fine Art at M.S. University, Baroda. He had painted through the medium of water colour,
acrylic and oil colours. Together with absolute form or nature emphasised to real delineation. He,
having centered his mind on tantric (involving mantras, meditation, Hath Yoga, and ritual) phase of
spiritualism, concentrated on phase of painting in making of ‘Tantrica Tantra’ identical to ‘Sri
Yantra’. Among them the geometrical shapes and colours have been shown as energy source of
mystery. His series named ‘Untitled’ is centered on this also.] ‘Untitled’ is one of the famous painting
in the abstract form illustrating the Tantrik concept of Shiva and Shakti in the creation of the
Universe. Santosh was well versed in the metaphysical and spiritual doctrines of Tantrism. He picked
up the Tantrik symbols of triangular, circle, squares, cubes and hexagons from the indigenous folk
manuscripts, miniatures and astrological manuscripts, explaining Tantrik philosophy through
symbols. His triangles and squares intermingle with cubes, and hexagon as mystic representation of
creation through the five elements of earth, air, water, fire, and space. He is inventive in form and a
superb colorist and creates ever new variation in cosmogonic symbolism explaining the creation of
universe, which is the essence of Tantric philosophy, through new variation of geometrical shapes,
which are basically two dimensional, he creates a strange illusion of three-dimensional effect.