Maharashtra HSC History of Art key terms

A group of rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh whose painted walls show hunting, dance and animal figures made with mineral pigments over many prehistoric phases.

Prehistoric images painted on natural cave or shelter walls, usually with red and white earth pigments, charcoal and animal fat binders, depicting animals and human groups.

Art made before written records, including cave painting, petroglyphs, figurines and megaliths; studied through archaeology rather than texts.

A soft grey-green stone easily carved and fired hard; used for Indus Valley seals and later for moulds and small sculpture.

A small carved stamp, usually of steatite, bearing script and animal or human motifs, pressed into clay to mark goods and ownership in Harappan trade.

A Harappan seal showing a seated horned figure surrounded by animals, conventionally read as a proto-Shiva 'lord of beasts' image, though interpretation remains debated.

A small lost-wax bronze figure from Mohenjo-daro of a standing female with arm on hip, valued for its lively naturalism and early evidence of metal casting.

A metal-casting method in which a wax model is coated in clay, heated so wax runs out, and molten metal poured into the hollow mould.

A polished sandstone female figure holding a fly-whisk, from the Mauryan-Shunga period, admired for its smooth surface and full, sensuous modelling.

The high, mirror-like lustre achieved on sandstone sculpture and pillars of the Mauryan period, probably by prolonged abrasion and polishing.

The crowning sculpture of an Ashokan pillar, with four addorsed lions above an abacus of animals and a lotus bell, now the national emblem of India.

A free-standing commemorative pillar, especially the monolithic polished shafts erected by Ashoka bearing edicts and crowned with animal capitals.

A domed Buddhist monument enshrining relics, consisting of a hemispherical anda on a platform, with harmika, chhatra and circumambulatory path.

An ornamental gateway, often with carved lintels, marking an entrance to a stupa enclosure; the Sanchi toranas are the best-known examples.

The raised circular drum or platform on which a stupa's hemispherical dome rests, sometimes with a pradakshina path at its base.

A Buddhist assembly and worship hall, typically apsidal with a central nave, side aisles and a stupa at the far end; rock-cut examples survive at Ajanta and Karla.

A Buddhist monastery, usually a square court surrounded by small cells for monks, often with a shrine chamber added at the rear.

A building layout ending in a semicircular or rounded end, common in chaitya halls where the apse holds the stupa.

A story of one of the Buddha's previous births, frequently carved on stupa railings and gateways to teach moral lessons through narrative scenes.

Sculpture carved so that figures project from a flat background to tell a story, often read continuously along a railing or gateway.

Low relief carving in which figures project only slightly from the background plane, producing shallow shadows and a flattened pictorial effect.

Carving in which figures project strongly from the background, often undercut, so they read almost as free-standing sculpture.

A Kushana-period sculptural tradition of the northwest using grey schist, blending Hellenistic naturalism and drapery with Buddhist subject matter.

A Kushana-period sculptural centre using mottled red sandstone, producing fuller, indigenous figures of the Buddha with shaved head and spiral curls.

A Satavahana-period sculptural tradition of the Andhra region, known for white limestone reliefs with slender, dynamic figures and crowded narrative compositions.

A codified hand gesture in Buddhist and Hindu iconography, such as dhyana (meditation) or abhaya (reassurance), conveying the deity's attitude or function.

Distinguishing marks or attributes prescribed for a deity or Buddha, such as the ushnisha, urna and elongated earlobes, allowing identification.

The study of subject matter and symbolic attributes in art, used to identify figures, stories and meanings within their religious or cultural setting.

A North Indian temple style with a curvilinear shikhara over the sanctum and, in developed forms, a mandapa and other halls on a raised platform.

A South Indian temple style with a pyramidal vimana over the sanctum, enclosed by walls with gopurams, and often with pillared halls.

The tower rising above a North Indian temple's sanctum, curvilinear in shape and crowned by an amalaka and kalasha finial.

The tall, often richly sculpted gateway tower of a South Indian temple complex, marking an entrance through the enclosure wall.

A South Indian metal image, typically of Shiva or a saint, cast by the lost-wax method with fine detail and a smooth dark patina.

The dancing Shiva image, encircled by a ring of flames, with drum, fire, raised foot and dwarf of ignorance, expressing cosmic creation and dissolution.

Fired clay used for figurines, plaques, tiles and vessels; cheap and widely available, it carried both everyday and religious imagery across Indian history.

Wall painting made on fresh lime plaster so pigments bind with the drying surface; the Ajanta murals are its most celebrated Indian example.

A large painting executed directly on a wall or ceiling, usually part of an architectural setting and viewed in relation to the space.

A group of rock-cut Buddhist caves in Maharashtra whose murals depict Jataka stories, bodhisattvas and courtly life in a refined, continuous narrative style.

A small, finely detailed painting, usually on paper or manuscript, made for albums and books; Indian schools include Mughal, Rajput and Pahari.

Court painting under the Mughals, blending Persian refinement with Indian observation, known for portraits, historical scenes and naturalistic flora and fauna.

A set of Rajput miniature paintings illustrating musical modes as human situations, each verse and image evoking a mood or season.

A painted or block-printed cotton textile tradition of Andhra Pradesh using natural dyes and a kalam (pen) for fine outline drawing.

The aesthetic relish or flavour evoked in a prepared spectator by a work of art; classical theory names nine rasas including love, heroism and pathos.

Philosophical enquiry into beauty, taste and the experience of art, including questions about what makes an object or response valuable.

A pose in which weight rests on one leg, tilting hips and shoulders in opposite directions to give the figure balance and natural movement.

Fifth- and fourth-century BCE Greek carving valued for idealised proportions, balanced poses and restrained naturalism in marble and bronze.

A seventeenth-century European style marked by dramatic light and shade, diagonal movement, emotional intensity and rich surface detail in painting and architecture.

The deliberate contrast of light and dark in a picture to model form, create depth and heighten drama.

A system for representing three-dimensional space on a flat surface so that parallel lines converge and distant objects appear smaller.

Depicting an object or limb at an angle to the viewer so that it appears compressed in depth, strengthening the illusion of space.

Pairs of colours opposite each other on the colour wheel, such as red and green, which intensify each other when placed side by side.

A circular arrangement of hues showing relationships of primary, secondary and complementary colours, used to plan harmonious or contrasting schemes.

A principle of design in which elements are balanced as mirror images across an axis, producing stability and formal order.

The distribution of visual weight in a composition, which may be symmetrical, asymmetrical or radial so that the work feels stable.