Introduction to the History of Arts – Class 9 Arts Chapter 1 Notes & NCERT PDF

Class 9ArtsChapter 1NCERT book: Madhurima - Arts Class 9

Notes and a simple summary of Chapter 1 of the NCERT Class 9 Arts book, with the official chapter PDF, flashcards, an MCQ quiz and an AI tutor for your doubts.

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Chapter 1: Introduction to the History of Arts (History of Arts)

Introduction

India that is Bharat has a cultural heritage of about 5,000 years, seen and heard in artefacts, monuments, manuscripts, musical instruments, clothing, jewellery, masks, props and living performance traditions. Ancient scriptures speak of 64 kalās — arts and skills for the all-round development of a person. They included painting, music, crafts, drama, dance and literature, but also herbal medicine, carpentry, metallurgy, cooking, decorating a home, conversation and even the art of waking someone with music.

This chapter brings Theatre, Music, Dance and Visual Arts together on one timeline, from the earliest rock paintings to about 1200 CE, placing developments in India beside those in the rest of the world.

Tip from the book: read every picture caption carefully — it tells you the subject, material, size and time period of the artwork.

Key Ideas

Tangible and intangible heritage

UNESCO defines culture as the distinct spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of a society. Heritage is of two kinds:

Tangible cultural heritage — physical objects: artefacts, monuments, artworks, manuscripts, instruments, clothing, jewellery, masks, props, tools.

Intangible cultural heritage — living expressions passed down generations: oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festivals, knowledge about nature, and the skills to make traditional crafts.

Why study the history of the Arts?

It builds awareness of and pride in our heritage, sparks curiosity about the time, place and techniques of artists, helps us appreciate ideas from different perspectives, and inspires us to carry creative traditions forward.

Śhruti, smṛiti and timeless traditions

Śhruti — 'that which is heard'. The Vedas were passed on orally through the guru–śhiṣhya-paramparā, by careful listening.

Smṛiti — memory. The Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata, Purāṇas and Dharmaśhāstras were passed on through narration from memory. Their stories live on in regional forms such as Rāmalīlā, Bhavāi, Kāvaḍ Kathā, Terukūtu, Bayalāṭa, Paṭachitra and Aṅkīyā Nāṭ.

Music is traced to the Sāmaveda: chants moved from one note to three (udātta, anudātta, svarita) and then to seven notes (saptasvara). The Ṛigveda mentions the dundubhi drum and describes Uśhas (dawn) arriving like a bejewelled dancer.

Performers in the epics: Lava and Kuśha narrate Rāma and Sītā's story; Pāṇini's Aṣhṭādhyāyī mentions the Kuśhīlava singers and performers; the Mahābhārata mentions the Kathaka community; the sūtradhāra guides a performance; the Sūta-paramparā told epic stories with voice and gesture. Śhiva is Naṭarāja and Nṛittapriya, Rāvaṇa plays the veena, Kṛiṣhṇa is Muralīdhara, and Arjuna, as Bṛihannalā, taught dance to Princess Uttarā.

Period 1: 50,000 BCE – 4000 BCE

No writing — we learn from archaeology. Rock paintings at Bhimbetka (Madhya Pradesh) and Lakhudiyar (near Almora, Uttarakhand), and in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar.

Bhimbetka shows animals, hunting, processions and a scene of people dancing with interlinked arms beside a figure holding what looks like an instrument. Colours — red, white, yellow and green — came from earth pigments mixed with water and a binder.

World: cave art at Altamira (Spain), Chauvet and Lascaux (France) and Sulawesi (Indonesia); a bone-flute fragment from Slovenia, about 50,000 years old.

Period 2: 4000 BCE – 500 BCE

The Sindhu-Sarasvatī civilisation left painted pottery, jewellery, seals (the earliest script of the subcontinent is on seals, e.g. the unicorn seal, Harappa), bronze figurines and well-planned towns.

The bronze figurine from Mohenjo-Daro (2600 BCE) was made by the lost-wax technique, still practised in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

World: cuneiform tablets from Sumeria (3100–2900 BCE), the Majiayao bowl with dancing figures (China), the Pyramids at Giza (around 2580 BCE), an arched harp from Egypt, and the Ikhernofret Stela (around 1864 BCE), which records the 'Passion Play of Abydos', one of the earliest examples of performance.

Period 3: 500 BCE – 600 CE

Three great treatises:

Nāṭyaśhāstra by Bharata Muni — one of the earliest treatises on Indian arts, covering drama, dance, music and visual arts. Its greatest contribution is the rasa theory, with eight bhāvas as the basis of eight rasas.

Viṣhṇu-dharmottara Purāṇa, containing the Chitra-sūtra (painting).

Silappadigāram by Iḻaṅgo Aḍigaḻ (Tamil).

Stūpas, chaityas and vihāras — from the 3rd century BCE, stūpas (built over the Buddha's relics), chaityas (prayer halls) and vihāras (monasteries) rose at Barabar, Bharhut, Sanchi, Sarnath, Amravati, Ajanta, Ellora and more. The four toraṇas (gateways) of Sanchi Stūpa No. 1 show the Buddha's life and Jātakas (Vessantara, Mahākapi, Syāma). Early Buddhist art showed the Buddha only through symbols — the seat under the Bodhi tree, a stūpa, an elephant, a lotus. Kauṭilya's Arthaśhāstra recognises naṭa, nartakī and gāyaka/vādaka as professional performers.

Centres of sculpture:

Sarnath — Chunar sandstone; idealised proportions, clinging drapery, serene faces. The lion capital (our national emblem) has a shine made by mirror polish. Aśhoka's pillars carried animal capitals with symbolic meanings.

Mathura — red spotted sandstone; rounded bodies, expressive eyes. The Buddha was now shown in human form, modelled on earlier Yakṣha figures.

Gandhara — grey schist; realistic anatomy resembling Greek/Roman sculpture (wavy hair, flowing robes).

Iconography — identifying a figure by its symbols: Śhiva by trishula and ḍamaru, Sarasvatī by veena and swan; the Varāha panel at Udayagiri (Gupta, 5th century CE).

A Gupta gold coin shows Samudragupta playing a seven-stringed bow-shaped veena, the Parivādinī (similar to the Yāzh of Saṅgam literature).

Painting: murals at Ajanta and Sittannavasal. Ajanta used earth pigments on a plaster base; the blue from lapis lazuli shows contact with Persian or Central Asian visitors. The Mahājanaka Jātaka mural (Cave 1, 5th century CE) shows a dancer with flute, cymbal and drum players, following Chitra-sūtra conventions.

Literature and theatre: Viṣhṇu Śharmā's Pañchatantra; performer-characters like Āmrapālī (Therīgāthā), Mālavikā (Mālavikāgnimitram, Kālidāsa), Urvaśhī (Vikramorvaśhīyam, Kālidāsa) and Vasantasenā (Mṛichchhakaṭikam, Śhūdraka). Aśhvaghoṣha (1st–2nd century CE), author of the Buddhacharitam, is considered the first Sanskrit dramatist. Bhāravi's Kirātārjunīyam has a famous verse using only the consonant 'n' (vīra rasa).

World: Greek theatre grew from Dionysian festivals with masks for comedy and tragedy; words like theatron and skene are Greek. Roman art is known for life-like portraits and amphitheatres like the Colosseum; the Theatre of Epidaurus dates to the 4th century BCE.

Period 4: 600 CE – 1200 CE

Bhakti: from the 7th century CE, the Tamil Āḻvārs and Nāyanmārs spread devotion open to all; Bhakti poetry still feeds music and dance. Dance became part of temple ritual; Chola records list temple, ritual, court and public dancers. Kulaśhekhara Varman (9th century Chera ruler) is credited with reconstructing Kūdiyāṭṭam, still performed in Kerala.

Treatises: Saṅgīta-makaranda by Nārada (rāga classification; rāgas named after regions like Gurjar, Khamboj, Malava); Bṛihaddeśhī by Matanga Muni (mārga vs deśhī, and colours for the seven svaras — S lotus petal, R parrot, G golden, M white jasmine, P black, D yellow, N multi-coloured); Abhinavabhāratī by Abhinavagupta (commentary on the Nāṭyaśhāstra); Nāṭakalakṣhaṇaratnakośha by Sāgaranandi; Daśharūpaka by Dhanañjaya (10 types of drama); Abhinaya-darpaṇam by Nandikeśhvara, the first text solely on dance and drama technique.

Yato hastas tato dṛiṣhṭir yato dṛiṣhṭish tato manaḥ | Yato manas tato bhāvo yato bhāvas tato rasaḥ || — Wherever the hand goes, the eyes follow; where the eyes go, the mind follows; where the mind goes, bhāva arises; where there is bhāva, rasa unfolds. (Abhinaya-darpaṇam, Śhloka 36)

Architecture and sculpture: the Kailāśha Temple, Ellora (Rāṣhṭrakūṭa, 8th century CE) — the world's largest monolithic free-standing structure, cut top-down from basalt, taking about 18 years and removing about 4,00,000 tonnes of rock. Unakoti (Tripura) — 'one less than one crore' carvings. The Kudumiyanmalai inscription (Pallava, 7th century) records musical notes in Sanskrit and Tamil. The 108 karaṇas at Chidambaram, the Khajuraho sculptures (Chandela), and the Hoysala Madanikā at Belur.

Chola bronze Naṭarāja — ring of fire (cycle of the universe); back right hand with ḍamaru (birth of sound); front right abhaya hasta (protection); back left fire (destruction); front left gajahasta (refuge); the right foot crushes Apasmāra (ignorance); the raised left foot stands for release (mokṣha).

Manuscripts: the Gilgit manuscript (Kashmir, 5th–6th century) is the earliest surviving manuscript on birch bark, in Śhāradā script. Paper arrived in the 12th century; before that, palm leaf was usual.

World: Indian art spread to Southeast Asia — Angkor Wat (Cambodia, 12th century), Wayang Kulit shadow puppetry (Indonesia).

Living traditions

Traditions whose exact origins can't be dated, but that are still practised: Ḍhokrā metal craft (lost-wax, brass-copper mixes, central and eastern India), Warli painting, masks (Pilīveśha, Monpa), work songs, instruments like the Taus/Mayūri veena, and Tolpāvakūtu shadow puppetry of Kerala.

Activities

Draw an animal in line from memory and check whether it is identifiable (Activity 1.1).

Mimic the Mohenjo-Daro figurine's pose and sketch possible feet positions (Activity 1.2).

Watch two dance/music/theatre videos and note postures, rhythms, costumes and rasas (Activity 1.3).

Find the symbols for the Buddha in the Sanchi reliefs (Activity 1.4); imagine the music in a relief of musicians (Activity 1.5).

Recite Bhāravi's one-consonant verse till fluent (Activity 1.7); paint what you "see" in instrumental music (Activity 1.8); try movements following Abhinaya-darpaṇam Śhloka 36 (Activity 1.9).

Research a living tradition in groups and present it (Activity 1.10).

Key Terms

Kalā — an art or skill (कला)

Tangible heritage — physical heritage (मूर्त धरोहर)

Intangible heritage — living, non-physical heritage (अमूर्त धरोहर)

Śhruti — that which is heard (श्रुति)

Smṛiti — that which is remembered (स्मृति)

Saptasvara — the seven notes (सप्तस्वर)

Rasa — aesthetic emotion felt by the audience (रस)

Stūpa / Chaitya / Vihāra — relic mound / prayer hall / monastery (स्तूप / चैत्य / विहार)

Toraṇa — gateway (तोरण)

Iconography — identifying figures by symbols (प्रतिमा-विज्ञान)

Mural — painting made directly on a wall (भित्ति-चित्र)

Lost-wax technique — metal casting using a wax model (मोम-क्षय विधि)

Monolithic — cut from a single rock (एकाश्म)

Mārga / Deśhī — classical pan-Indian / regional music (मार्ग / देशी)

Living tradition — an art still practised today (जीवित परंपरा)

Artists & Traditions

Bharata Muni, Iḻaṅgo Aḍigaḻ, Kālidāsa, Śhūdraka, Aśhvaghoṣha, Bhāravi, Viṣhṇu Śharmā, Nārada, Matanga Muni, Abhinavagupta, Sāgaranandi, Dhanañjaya, Nandikeśhvara, Kulaśhekhara Varman; traditions like Kūdiyāṭṭam, Rāmalīlā, Bhavāi, Kāvaḍ Kathā, Terukūtu, Yakṣhagāna, Paṭachitra, Ḍhokrā, Warli and Tolpāvakūtu.

Connect to Your Life

The lullabies, festival songs and craft skills in your own family are intangible heritage. A monument you visit is tangible heritage that needs your care — don't touch, scratch or litter.

Common Mistakes

Mixing up tangible (objects) and intangible (practices, songs, skills). Vedic chanting and wedding songs are intangible; pottery and jewellery are tangible.

Thinking the Nāṭyaśhāstra is only about dance — it covers drama, dance, music and visual arts.

Mixing up the stone: Sarnath — Chunar sandstone; Mathura — red spotted sandstone; Gandhara — grey schist.

Thinking the early Buddha was always shown as a human — early Buddhist art used symbols.

Believing Ajanta murals survived through repainting — they survived because the caves sheltered them from sun, rain and wind.

Let's Reflect

Sort a list into tangible and intangible heritage.

Explain why ancient treatises still matter: they give historical knowledge, technical guidance and philosophical foundations.

Pick an artwork made before 1200 CE and describe its material, period, subject, symbols, style and the rasa you feel.

Project: research a living tradition of another state — who practises it, when, with what materials, and how it has changed.

💡 Key Learning Points

✓Distinguish tangible heritage (objects, monuments) from intangible heritage (oral traditions, performing arts, craft skills).
✓Trace Indian and world art across four periods: 50,000–4000 BCE, 4000–500 BCE, 500 BCE–600 CE and 600–1200 CE.
✓Know the key treatises — Nāṭyaśhāstra, Chitra-sūtra, Silappadigāram, Bṛihaddeśhī, Abhinaya-darpaṇam — and what each contributes.
✓Compare sculpture from Sarnath, Mathura and Gandhara by material and style, and read iconography such as the Chola Naṭarāja.
✓Connect ancient art to living traditions still practised today, such as Ḍhokrā, Kūdiyāṭṭam and shadow puppetry.

👨‍🏫 Teaching Tips

→Draw the four-period timeline on the board and have groups place picture cards of artworks (Bhimbetka, Mohenjo-Daro figurine, Sanchi toraṇa, Naṭarāja) on it.
→Run a quick 'tangible or intangible?' sorting game using items from students' own homes and festivals.
→Have students mimic the Mohenjo-Daro figurine and the Varāha panel poses to feel how sculpture relates to dance.
→Use the Naṭarāja iconography as a 'read the symbols' activity: each group explains one hand, foot or the ring of fire.
→Play two short performance videos and let students log postures, rhythm, costume and rasa in their journals.
→Practise Bhāravi's one-consonant verse aloud together as a rhythm challenge.
→Assign the living-tradition group project early so students can interview local artists or elders.

📋 Assessment Questions

Can the student classify examples correctly as tangible or intangible heritage?
Can they place key artworks and texts in the correct time period?
Can they explain what the Nāṭyaśhāstra and Abhinaya-darpaṇam contributed to the arts?
Can they describe the differences between Sarnath, Mathura and Gandhara sculpture?
Can they describe one living tradition and how it links to the past?

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