The Deccani Schools of Painting Class 12 Notes

The Deccani schools of painting are the court painting traditions of the Deccan Sultanates — Ahmadnagar, Bijapur and Golconda — which flourished on the plateau south of the Vindhyas in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

These Class 12 notes on the Deccani schools of painting give you the whole chapter in revision form: the historical setting, school-by-school profiles, the six paintings the chapter analyses, a Deccani-versus-Mughal comparison, key terms, common mistakes and exam pointers. The notes follow the NCERT rationalised textbook for the 2026-27 session.

This chapter has no formulas — its units of study are schools, dates, artistic features and influences. The official NCERT textbook PDF of An Introduction to Indian Art Part II is available at ncert.nic.in if you want to check the original chapter text and page references.

The Deccan Setting: Why a Distinct School Arose

The main history of Deccani painting runs from the late sixteenth century to the 1680s, when the Mughals conquered the Deccan. The style continued into the nineteenth century under the Asafiya dynasty, and finally in the provincial courts of Rajas and Nawabs ruling various lands in the State of Hyderabad under the Nizam (NCERT, p. 55).

The school was nurtured in the plateau region of southern India, beyond the Vindhya mountain range, under various Sultans of the Deccan in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (NCERT, p. 55).

Misconception autopsy: why it is not a Mughal branch

Deccani painting was placed under Indo-Persian art for a long time and was considered Middle Eastern, Safavid, Persian, Turkish or even Mughal in origin. Art historians acknowledged its uniqueness but failed to recognise it as a full-fledged school.

The correct view is that a class of rulers with their own political and cultural vision hired and nurtured artists, and commissioned works that served both their artistic sensibilities and the specific requirements of governance in their kingdoms (NCERT, p. 55). The Mughal label was only one of several guesses about its origin — not its parentage.

The school’s shared traits include a unique sensuality, intense colours, dense composition and an aura of romance, expressed in an idiom that was natural and vivid (NCERT, p. 56). Portraiture itself was not the Mughal invention — the Safavid and Ottoman schools also painted historical and religious figures.

What is singularly unique in Asian Islamic art and in Mughal art in India is the highly documentary nature of portraits (NCERT, p. 55).

The full chapter on one timeline

The table below places every reign and dated work mentioned in the chapter in order, from 1512 to the 1680s.

The Three Sultanate Schools of the Deccan

The kingdoms of Ahmadnagar, Bijapur and Golconda each developed a highly sophisticated and distinct court school (NCERT, p. 56). The profiles below follow teaching order — earliest to latest.

Memory device — the ABC of the Deccan: Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, Golconda. And keep the two Ibrahims apart: Ibrahim Adil Shah II ruled Bijapur (1580–1627) and wrote the Nauras-nama; Ibrahim Qutb Shah ruled Golconda (1550–1580) and is the presumed dedicatee of the Bankipore manuscript (NCERT, p. 57).

The Ahmadnagar School: The Earliest Examples

• Earliest works: a volume of poems celebrating the reign of Hussain Nizam Shah I (1553–1565). Most of its 12 battle miniatures are of no artistic interest, but those depicting the queen and her marriage delight with gorgeous colours and sensuous lines (NCERT, p. 56).
• Northern roots: the female figure belongs to the northern pre-Mughal tradition that was flourishing in Malwa and Ahmedabad (NCERT, p. 56).
• Women’s costume: a modified northern dress with a choli (bodice) and long braided pigtails ending in a tassel; the long scarf passing round the body below the hips is a southern fashion seen in the Lepakshi frescoes (NCERT, p. 56).
• Ragamala series: the hair is rolled in a bun on the nape of the neck, as in the Lepakshi murals; the horizon disappears and is replaced by a neutral ground patterned with small stylised plants or symmetrical architectural domes over arcades (NCERT, p. 56).
• Palette: richer and more brilliant than the northern manuscripts, coming largely from the Mughal atelier (NCERT, p. 56).
• Persian debt: the high circular horizon and gold sky show Persian influence — the landscape idiom that all Deccani kingdoms owe to Persia (NCERT, p. 56).
• Male costume: decisively northern — the jama with pointed tails, frequent in early Akbari miniatures, and the small pagri, close to the form in the earliest Akbari miniatures (NCERT, p. 57).
• External links: the Gulistan of 1567 is attributed by art historians to Bukhara artists; a manuscript now in the Bankipore Library, Patna, signed by the scribe Yusuf and dedicated to Ibrahim Adil (1569) — presumably Ibrahim Qutb Shah of Golconda — contains seven miniatures completely in the Bukhara idiom (NCERT, p. 57).

Takeaway: Ahmadnagar mixes a northern Indian tradition with a Persian landscape idiom — the same mixture the later Deccani schools build on.

The Bijapur School: Luxuriant Aestheticism

• Nujum al-Ulum (1570): a richly illustrated encyclopaedia with 876 miniatures — many show weapons and utensils, others the constellations. The astronomical illustrations may derive from Ottoman Turkish manuscripts, reflecting Bijapur’s close connection with Turkey (NCERT, p. 57).
• Patrons: Ali Adil Shah I (1558–1580) and his successor Ibrahim Adil Shah II (1580–1627), both patrons of art and literature. Ibrahim II was an expert in Indian music and wrote the Nauras-nama; he owned the Nujum al-Ulum manuscript and possibly commissioned the Ragamala series in the 1590s (NCERT, p. 57).
• Figures of women: tall and slender, in south Indian dress, as in the Ragamala paintings (NCERT, p. 57).
• Ragamala character: Indian in connection, with definite echoes of the Lepakshi style; they exemplify the luxuriant aestheticism of the Adil Shah court in daring, brilliantly successful colouring and vigorous simplified compositions (NCERT, p. 57).
• Throne of Prosperity (1570): a symbolic diagram of an auspicious throne of seven stages, each supported by different inhabitants — from elephants and tigers to palm trees, through storeys of peacocks and primitive tribes. The structures recall the wood-carved doorways and facades of Gujarati homes or the temples of the Deccan; the arabesques on top follow the Islamic Persian tradition; Deccani foliage rises against an amazingly deep blue sky; and the stylised plants beside the throne reference early-sixteenth-century Gujarati manuscript margin decoration. A strong Indian visual tradition structures the miniature (NCERT, pp. 57–58).
• Yogini (seventeenth century): a Yogini is one who believes in yoga, leads a disciplined life of physical and emotional training, pursues spiritual and intellectual explorations, and is famous for renunciation of worldly attachments — an attitude so unusual that it was extraordinary in practice. There is no record of the artist. The painting uses a vertical composition in which the long standing figure is complemented by white structures at the top as a tapering visual note. The Yogini is preoccupied with a myna bird, as if in conversation. Jewellery adorns her, her hair bun elongates her visual presence, long scarves swirl in rhythmic circles around her, and exquisite flora surrounds her (NCERT, p. 58). These features are exactly what exercise question 1 asks you to list.

The Golconda School: Wealth and Splendour

• Rise to wealth: Golconda became independent in 1512 and by the end of the sixteenth century was the wealthiest Deccan kingdom — east-coast ports shipped iron and cotton to South East Asia, trade with Persia was expansive, painted cottons were greatly valued in Europe, and diamonds were discovered early in the seventeenth century (NCERT, pp. 58–59).
• Visual theme: the gold jewellery worn by both women and men draws one’s attention (NCERT, p. 59).
• Market reach: Dutch merchants carried portraits of sultans to Europe in the late seventeenth century; these were probably done for the bazaar but carried references to royal paintings (NCERT, p. 59).
• Early works (1635–1650): at times as large as eight feet high, made to be used as wall hangings, covered with figures in architectural settings of varied origin (NCERT, p. 59).
• Earliest five miniatures: bound in the Diwan of Hafiz, dated 1463. Do not mistake the codex date for the school’s start — the school’s main period is the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Their features: a young enthroned ruler holding a long, straight Deccani sword; a white coat with embroidered vertical bands; lavish gold against a deep azure sky; dancing girls entertaining the royal gathering; symmetrical, apparently unfunctional architecture with registers of flat screens; and elaborately patterned carpets. Crucially, the paintings suggest no Mughal influence. Purple is applied amply, and at times animals become blue — so you see blue foxes (NCERT, p. 59).
• Portrait of Muhammad Qutb Shah (1611–1626): he wears typical Golconda dress and an elegant tight-fitting cap. The composition has gained increased sophistication and skill while retaining strict symmetry, and it now shows adequate reference to Mughal painting, with marked plastic rendering in the drape of the courtesans’ and the groom’s attire (NCERT, pp. 59–60).
• Sufi poem manuscript: more than 20 miniatures; gold is freely used; the skies are coloured in separate bands of gold and blue; the costumes reflect fashion under Ibrahim II of Bijapur; the richly coloured Deccani trees have a tinted edge; and plants are silhouetted against a mass of dark foliage — a prominent Deccani feature (NCERT, p. 60).

The Six Paintings Described in the Chapter

These six works are the ones the NCERT chapter analyses individually, and they are the raw material for exercise questions 1 and 3 — while the Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah card carries the symbols that exercise question 5 asks about. The chapter’s reproductions are not available on this page, so each card below describes only what the textbook itself states.

1. Composite Horse

• School and date: Golconda, early seventeenth century (NCERT, p. 61).
• Human figures are intertwined so that they emerge as the extraordinary form of a galloping horse, superimposed on a decorated background (NCERT, p. 61).
• Flying cranes and lions, Chinese clouds and plants with large leaves enhance the surreal element (NCERT, p. 61).
• All action happens within a limited colour schema, largely in shades of brown with some blue (NCERT, p. 61).
• Rocky formulations in the two bottom corners anchor the painting on a solid ground; a deliberate dislocation of the sense of space makes the painting a memorable visual experience (NCERT, p. 61).

2. Sultan Ibrahim Adil Shah II Hawking

• Collection: Institute of the Peoples of Asia, Academy of Sciences, Leningrad, Russia (NCERT, p. 62).
• Brilliant red appears on the horse’s limbs and tail and on the sultan’s flowing garment (NCERT, p. 62).
• Dark, dense forest foliage in deep olive, emerald green and cobalt blue, with cranes in the background and a sunlit golden-blue sky (NCERT, p. 62).
• The white hawk comes to centre stage along with the sultan’s delicately portrayed face (NCERT, p. 62).
• Persian influence is evident in the treatment of the horse and rocks; the plants and the dense landscape in the foreground are of native inspiration (NCERT, p. 62).

3. Ragini Pathamsika of Raga Hindola

• Date and school: around 1590–95; some scholars believe it to be from Bijapur. Collection: National Museum, New Delhi (NCERT, p. 63).
• It is an important member of the Ragamala family of Indian musical modes (NCERT, p. 63).
• Arabesque decoration covers the surface of two domes that delineate the upper part of the painting, where letters written in Devanagari script cover the space (NCERT, p. 63).
• Three bejewelled women appear — the central one plays an Indian instrument that appears to be a veena, while the other two accompany with the rhythmic sway of their bodies (NCERT, p. 63).
• Red is dominant and complemented by green. The figures are stylised, with physiognomy almost constructed on formulaic details, and nearly all forms are emphasised with dark line — observable also in the Ajanta murals (NCERT, p. 63).
• A small dark elephant with a raised trunk in the left corner is a delightful sign of welcome; it breaks the architectonic structuring (NCERT, p. 63).

4. Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah

• School and collection: Bijapur; National Museum, New Delhi; a Persian inscription runs across the top (NCERT, p. 64).
• The enthroned sultan holds the sword in one hand, symbolising his political sovereignty (NCERT, p. 64).
• A halo around his head depicts his divinity (NCERT, p. 64).
• Exam hook: sword = sovereignty, halo = divinity — this pair of symbols is the heart of exercise question 5.

5. Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya and Amir Khusrau

• Provenance: a provincial painting from Hyderabad, Deccan; National Museum, New Delhi (NCERT, p. 65).
• It shows the revered thirteenth-century Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya listening to music played by his disciple Amir Khusrau, a renowned Indian poet and scholar (NCERT, p. 65).
• The painting is naive and basic, without the technical and artistic sophistication of a court painting, yet it is charming and narrative of a popular Indian theme (NCERT, p. 65).
• Even to this day, the dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya in New Delhi has qawwali by Khusrau in praise of his pir, with devotees coming from all over the world (NCERT, p. 65).

6. Chand Bibi Playing Polo

• Subject: Chand Bibi, Queen of Bijapur, one of the most prosperous and culturally refined Deccani states. She resisted the Mughal political attempts of Emperor Akbar to take the state (NCERT, p. 66).
• A revered and accomplished ruler, Chand Bibi was a great sportsperson; she is shown playing chaugan, the other name for equestrian polo, a popular royal sport of the time (NCERT, p. 66).
• Date and style: the painting appears to be provincial, of a much later period; collection: National Museum, New Delhi (NCERT, p. 66).

Deccani Painting vs Mughal Painting: What Actually Differs

The chapter never lays this comparison out in one place, so the table below gathers the contrasts for revision. The Mughal cells state only what this chapter itself says about Mughal art.

Misconception check: calling Deccani art a branch of Mughal art ignores the chapter’s opening correction — Deccani painting was long misclassified under Indo-Persian art precisely because its uniqueness was not recognised as a full-fledged school (NCERT, p. 55). The Mughal influence that eventually appeared in Golconda was a late development, not the school’s origin.

To revise the imperial school in full, see our notes on the Mughal School of Miniature Painting.

Key Terms and Names: A Definitions Table

Keep these terms ready — answers that use them precisely read as complete.

Common Mistakes Students Make in This Chapter

The six confusions below are the ones students actually bring to this chapter. Each row gives the error, the correction and a way to test yourself.

Exam Notes: Answering the Exercise Questions

Early note: this page is writing guidance for revision, not NCERT solutions — nothing here is answered fully; each block lists the evidence a complete answer must include. The chapter’s six exercise questions appear on NCERT, p. 60.

• Q1 — features of the Yogini painting: cite the vertical composition with the long standing figure, the white structures at the top as a tapering note, the myna bird the Yogini seems to converse with, her jewellery and hair bun, the long scarves swirling in rhythmic circles, and the exquisite surrounding flora. The second half of the question — artists doing similar work nowadays — is your own research into contemporary artists, not a textbook answer.
• Q2 — popular themes: Ragamala subjects, royal portraiture, court and dance scenes, Sufi and religious subjects (Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya), the Yogini, symbolic diagrams (Throne of Prosperity) and composite imagery (Composite Horse). Describe at least a few of them from the school sections above.
• Q3 — a 100-word note on two paintings: structure each note as school, date, subject, distinguishing features, then collection. The analysis cards in the six-paintings section supply all the material.
• Q4 — Deccani vs Mughal: use at least three grounded differences from the comparison table, and add the historical misclassification under Indo-Persian art. If you need the Mughal side in detail, our notes on the Mughal School of Miniature Painting will give it to you.
• Q5 — imperial symbols: the sword held by the enthroned sultan = political sovereignty; the halo around the head = divinity; add the throne and courtly setting of the Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah portrait (NCERT, p. 64).
• Q6 — centres of painting in the Deccan: Ahmadnagar, Bijapur and Golconda, in the plateau region south of the Vindhyas (NCERT, pp. 55–56). On a map, mark all three in that plateau region.

Revision Recap: Timeline and Paintings Passport

Four facts to hold in memory before any question on this chapter:

• Three schools — Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, Golconda — in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; the 1680s Mughal conquest closes the main history (p. 55).
• The Persian debt: the high circular horizon and gold sky are the landscape idiom every Deccani school inherits (p. 56).
• Mughal references appear late — absent in the Diwan of Hafiz pages, present by the Muhammad Qutb Shah portrait (pp. 59–60).
• The school is not an Indo-Persian or Mughal derivative: it was a full-fledged school under rulers with their own vision (p. 55).

The paintings passport below matches every named artwork to its school, date and collection.

When you move to the northern court traditions, the notes on the Rajasthani schools of painting and the Pahari schools of painting cover them; the imperial style sits in the Mughal School of Miniature Painting notes. All of these belong to the Class 12 Fine Art notes section, alongside other Class 12 subject notes in the Class 12 hub.

For other chapters and subjects, browse the wider CBSE notes index.

FAQs: Quick Answers for Revision

Which were the main Deccani schools of painting?

The main schools are Ahmadnagar, Bijapur and Golconda — the court schools of the three Deccan Sultanates in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The style continued into the nineteenth century under the Asafiya dynasty, and later in the provincial courts of Rajas and Nawabs under the Nizam of Hyderabad (NCERT, p. 55).

What does the Deccani painting of a Yogini show?

It shows a disciplined practitioner of yoga, devoted to spiritual and intellectual exploration and renunciation, in a vertical composition. She stands tall, seems to converse with a myna bird, and is surrounded by jewellery, an elongating hair bun, long scarves swirling in rhythmic circles and exquisite flora (NCERT, p. 58).

How is Deccani painting different from Mughal painting?

The Deccani schools were sustained by Deccan sultans with their own political and cultural vision, while Mughal art grew in the imperial atelier. Deccani painting is marked by sensuality, intense colours, dense composition and an aura of romance, with a Persian landscape idiom of high circular horizon and gold sky; the Mughal school’s unique trait is its highly documentary portraiture.

Mughal influence in the Deccan appears only late — absent in the Diwan of Hafiz miniatures, visible by the Muhammad Qutb Shah portrait (NCERT, pp. 55–56, 59–60). The comparison table above holds the full set.

What are Ragamala paintings in the Deccani school?

Ragamala paintings are series that visualise Indian musical modes, the ragas and raginis. The chapter’s examples are the Bijapur Ragamala series of the 1590s, possibly commissioned by Ibrahim Adil Shah II, and Ragini Pathamsika of Raga Hindola, with its Devanagari-lettered domes and the welcoming elephant (NCERT, pp. 56, 63).

Who was Chand Bibi and why is she shown playing polo?

Chand Bibi was the Queen of Bijapur who resisted Emperor Akbar’s political attempts to take the state. A revered and accomplished ruler and a great sportsperson, she is shown playing chaugan — the other name for equestrian polo, a popular royal sport of the time (NCERT, p. 66).

Where can Deccani paintings be seen today?

The chapter names collections around the world: the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin (Nujum al-Ulum, the Yogini), the British Museum in London, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the National Museum in Prague, the Institute of the Peoples of Asia in Leningrad (Russia), and the National Museum in New Delhi, which holds Ragini Pathamsika, Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya and Amir Khusrau, and Chand Bibi Playing Polo (NCERT, pp. 55, 57–60, 62–66).

Reference: NCERT Class 12 An Introduction to Indian Art Part II textbook, chapter The Deccani Schools of Painting.

Official source: download the NCERT textbook free from ncert.nic.in.