The origins of Miniature Art can be traced back to the 9th-10th century, where it began as a means for illustrating religious texts, animal studies, medical discourses, royal tales, and travelogues. It was primarily found on palm leaf manuscripts in the Buddhist Pala period. 

However, it wasn’t until the Mughal conquest of India in the 16th century that miniature painting became widely recognized as a beloved art form. Humayun, the second Mughal Emperor, inherited his late father’s appreciation of art and literature. He invited the renowned Persian artists Mir Sayyid Ali and Abdus Samad into his court to encourage cross-cultural dialogue. This ultimately led to the emergence of an art form that fused Persian and Islamic art styles, while borrowing influences from the Renaissance era.

By the 18th century, Miniature Painting had developed a distinct identity. It made a gradual shift from the flat effect of Persian Miniature to a more three-dimensional style, showcasing everyday court life, nature, royal histories, exotic renditions of flora and fauna, and Indian mythology in the form of small-scale artworks. These paintings utilized a special kind of paper called wasli, paired with vibrant, long-lasting paints and delicate brushes, all of which were meticulously handcrafted to achieve the desired depth and texture. 

During the Mughal rule, the practice was locally known as musawwari, but after the British colonial period, the term coined for them changed to “Company Paintings”. The arrival of the British changed the course of Miniature Paintings as they brought forth a wave of colonial rupture that introduced a hierarchy that framed “Fine Arts” (Western tools and techniques) as superior. This reduced miniature paintings to a decorative craft, treating them as exotic and stereotypical representations of the primitive and decadent East. Miniature lost its........

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