Ajanta Paintings: Three Days with the Citrasūtra

A rare, hands-on immersion in the oldest surviving Sanskrit text on painting — taught as a living practice, not a history lesson.
About this Event

Ajanta Paintings: Three Days with the Citrasūtra

A rare, hands-on immersion in the oldest surviving Sanskrit text on painting — taught as a living practice, not a history lesson.

📍 Midlands Arts Centre (MAC), Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham B12 9QH 🗓️ Fri 30 Oct – Sun 1 Nov, 10am–5pm daily 💷 From £222.95 👤 Ages 18+ | Beginners & Improvers welcome | No prior experience needed

About this course

The Citrasūtra of the Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṇa is the foundational text on classical Indian painting — the oldest surviving document to prescribe, with technical precision, how a painted image acquires correct form, proportion, depth, and presence. It governed the making of the Ajanta cave paintings, and every tradition that flows from them.

It has never before been taught as a studio practice to a general audience.

Over three days, artist and scholar Dr Sindhu Saraswathy — of the Viśvakarmā tradition of temple builders and mūrti makers — leads participants directly from the text's principles into paint. You won't study the Citrasūtra. You'll inhabit it, through your own hand, on your own surface.

The course begins not with technique, but with what precedes it: Dhyāna, the preparation of the inner eye; Vrata, the vow that precedes making; and Sādhanā, the discipline through which correct form becomes available to the hand.

What you'll leave with

✔️ A completed figure study, governed by the Citrasūtra's Ṣaḍaṅga (six limbs of painting) ✔️ Working knowledge of rekhā, kṣaya-vṛddhi, and vartanā as practical studio tools ✔️ Direct experience of Dhyāna and Vrata as the contemplative ground of the making process ✔️ An understanding of the Citrasūtra as a living formal system — not a museum piece

Who's teaching

Dr Sindhu Saraswathy is an artist from the Viśvakarmā tradition, founder of Re-search Hindu, and author of four books including The Third Dimension at Ajanta: Breathing Space into Flatness — the first study to systematically correlate the Citrasūtra's technical principles with specific painted passages at Ajanta. She has taught and lectured in collaboration with the Nehru Centre, the High Commission of India, and The Bhavan.

Good to know

• All materials and equipment provided — bring a sketchbook if you'd like one for personal notes
• Wheelchair accessible; support workers/carers welcome free of charge with a complimentary ticket
• No additional costs

Places are limited — this is a studio experience, not a lecture.

Full programme

https://mac-birmingham.files.svdcdn.com/production/Learning-and-Participation/2025/Ajanta-Paintings-Full-Programme.pdf?dm=1784033907

Book your place directly via MAC Birmingham: https://macbirmingham.co.uk/courses/ajanta-paintings-three-days-with-the-citras%C5%ABtra-asc179