Seeing the 3rd Dimensions in Bharat’s paintimg - Ajanta

Seeing in 3rd Dimension in Bharat's painting -AJANATA

For over a century, scholars have described Ajanta's paintings as "flat," lacking perspective. But the walls tell a different story. The citrakāra—the ancient master painters—possessed complete systematic knowledge of how to create three-dimensional space on stone.

In this workshop, you will:

LEARN:

• Rekhā — how line weight creates volume and spatial depth
• Vartana — traditional shading techniques (patrāja, airika, binduja)
• Kṣaya-vṛddhi — the principle of foreshortening
• Ujjotana -Highlight
• Nimmnonnata-Protrusion /recession
• The Ajanta palette — yellow ochre, red ochre, lamp black, lapis lazuli, terre verte, lime white
• Compositional principles from ancient texts (Chitrasutras and Nāṭyaśāstra)

PRACTICE:

Paint traditional Ajanta motifs—lotus blooms, peacocks, elephants, human figures

Create spatial depth using the citrakāra's systematic methods

Work through step-by-step instruction grounded in śāstric texts

TAKE HOME:

• Your painted studies created during the workshoP
• Deep understanding of how Ajanta's three-dimensional illusion was created
• Connection to 1,700 years of artistic lineage
• Practical skills for ongoing development

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:

• Fine arts students and practicing artists
• Anyone interested in traditional Indian painting
• Art historians and enthusiasts of Ajanta
• Those seeking hands-on engagement with India's sacred art

Dr. Sindhu Saraswathy is a Consultant Ophthalmologist based in the United Kingdom and a dedicated practitioner of traditional Indian painting. Bridging science and heritage, her work explores the intersection of visual perception, embodied creativity, and ancient aesthetic intelligence.

An inheritor of the citrakāra lineage, Dr. Saraswathy brings to life the systematic techniques recorded in classical Indian art manuals and embodied on the walls of the Ajanta Caves—methods that have remained largely overlooked for more than a century yet remain as sophisticated and applicable today as they were 1,700 years ago.

She is the author of three acclaimed works—Ajanta Unfolded: Flora, Fauna and Figures, The Third Dimension at Ajanta: Breathing Space into Flatness, and From Nāṭyaśāstra to Ajanta: The Evolution of Aesthetic Consciousness—A Practice Manual for Bharat’s Artists—which together illuminate the depth, geometry, and philosophy of India’s ancient visual traditions.

Dr. Saraswathy conducts regular workshops across the UK—including at the Bhavan Centre London, Nehru Centre, Midlands Arts Centre, and Fearon Hall (upcoming 2025–2026)—where she guides artists and students in rediscovering traditional Ajanta painting techniques as tools for embodied awareness and creative regulation.

Her pioneering programme introducing Ajanta motifs as an embodied self-regulation practice for children with ADHD combines rhythmic, mindful movement with cultural heritage—offering young learners a lifelong somatic tool for focus and emotional balance.

Each of her workshops honors the Pitṛ—the unnamed masters whose knowledge once “breathed space into stone”—and invites a new generation to experience that same timeless dialogue between art, body, and consciousness.

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