Sikh art, also known as the Sikh School, is the artwork created by or associated with Sikhs and Sikhism. Sikh artwork exists in many forms, such as miniature, oil, and watercolour paintings, murals, and wood carvings. The first Sikh artists were influenced by the Pahari and Mughal schools, however the ushering in of European influences during the colonial-age would transform Sikh art by adopting Western methods and tastes for artwork. Today, Sikh art exists in varying forms and styles, being influenced by the digital age and Internet.
Definition B. N. Goswamy defines Sikh art as "art made for Sikhs and by Sikhs". W. H. McLeod defines it more broadly as works made in areas under Sikh-rule, those with distinctly Sikh iconography, and those in a style identical to pieces made by Sikh artists or with Sikh iconography. Owing to Sikh artwork's late development, it inherited much from the pre-existing Mughal and Rajput (Pahari and Rajasthani) schools.ANNE-COLOMBE “SAT KAUR” LAUNOIS. “Essence Du Pouvoir de Pattâlâ: Les Estrades Royales Du Qila Mubârak.” Arts Asiatiques, vol. 62, 2007, p. 59. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43486550. Accessed 11 June 2026.
Terminology and categories In 19th century Punjab, there were two main types of artists: musawirs and naqqashas. They worked independently of one another and focused on different spheres, with their styles, materials, and techniques differing from one another. The traditional term rasa describes the specific emotions evoked by an artwork, known as an aesthetic object or experience.
Musawirs The Musawirs were painters who drew animated objects. Some artists who specialized in this field were Kishan Singh and Chajju, Imam Bakhsh, and Mohammad Bakhsh. The musawir artists relied on their own memory to reproduce an artistic depiction of someone. One method they used was going out into the bazaars to observe people and then returning to their studio to paint the people they witnessed using their recollection. Their works would be sold to patrons, displayed within havelis or religious sites, or be gifted to nobles and rulers as momentos. Some of the figuratives depicted by them include Sikh nobility, saints, or commonfolk.
Naqqash The word 'naqqash' is equivalent to the meaning of chitrakar, and means "decorator" or "illuminator" and refers to a painter or artist who specialized in decoration, illumination, calligraphy, and ornamentation work of addresses, letter-heads, nikah-namahs, idis, janam-patris, and related documents. Naqqash artists were employed to illuminate Perso-Arabic manuscripts, ornamentation of addresses, letter heads, nikah-namahs (marriage certificates), idis, janam patris (horoscopes) and other kinds of records, and the embellishment of calligraphy. It was common for illuminators to also be able to work as calligraphists. The Sikh school of naqqash was initially influenced by Muslim and Vaishnavist Naqqash artists since the initial ones employed to work at the Harmandir Sahib complex during the beautification project by Ranjit Singh were of this background. Some Naqqashi artists belonged to a familial lineage of artists whilst others had been trained specifically by an existing naqqashi master as a pupil. There existed Naqqashi guilds and also ustad-shagird (teacher-disciple) groups. Training Naqqashi pupils mastered their art by developing "... a vocabulary both through experience and imagination". Guild supervisors or the master (in the case of a master-pupil grouping) would also offer suggestions to further beautify the end-result. A Naqqashi artist's mastery of the art form depended upon the number of years he had been training and his own comprehension of forms, style, pattern, colour application. A Naqqash's capacity to transform to physical art relied upon their grasp of literary sources, daily observations, and manual skills to showcase the language of visual art.
Prominent artisan families The Naqqash artists often were linked to each-other by family bonds, an example being the household of Kehar Singh. The families were known as gharanas. The places and streets the artisan families lived and work in became known after them. Kehar Singh had two nephews who pursued a career in the arts, them being Kishan Singh and Bishan Singh. Bishan Singh had two sons who became artists, Nihal Singh and Jawahar Singh.
Some of the prominent Sikh artisan lineages, along with prominent members, are as follows (with the lineages often being connected to each-other through marriage):
Lineage of Bhai Amir Singh Naqqash (Amir Singh → Rood Singh → Ganesha Singh → Hakim Gurcharan Singh) Lineage of Bhai Ambir Singh (Ambir Singh → Kehar Singh and Ram Singh) Lineage of Sangat Singh (Sangat Singh → Bishan Singh and Kishan Singh) Lineage of Charan Singh (Charan Singh → Gian Singh → Sohan Singh)
The lineages of Amir Singh, Ambir Singh, and Sangat Singh were connected through marriage and blood, therefore they can be collectively grouped together and referred to as the "Kehar Singh-Kishan Singh" family.
There were also non-Sikh lineages who played a role in developing Punjabi arts, such as the Chughtai family, whom were Muslim. Additionally, the Hindu family of Purkhu-Nain Sukh also worked for Sikh courts. Furthermore, there were independent artists who did not come from artisan families.
The following mohallas (district, quarter, ward, or neighborhood) of Lahore were known centres of operation for artists in the historical period:
Kharadi Mohallah (located near Mohallah Rehmat Ullah) Chauhatta Mufti Bakir Masjid Wazir Khan Gumti Bazaar Kucha Naqqashan (located within Lahori Mandi) Mohallah Chabuk Sawaran In the modern period, there are also examples of Sikh art existing as a trade intergenerationally within families, such as Kirpal Singh and his son Jarnail Singh or Harbhajan Singh and his son Gurvinderpal Singh.
Caste of artists According to Mohinder Singh Randhawa, most of the 18th century Kangra miniature artists and prominent 20th century Sikh artists were carpenters by caste (Tarkhan/Ramgarhia). Ramgharias are the traditional artisan caste of the Sikhs.
History
Origin
The earliest extant Sikh artwork appear in scriptural texts in the decoratively designed opening folios of the Goindwal pothi, dated to the third quarter of the 16th century during the period of Guru Amar Das.Malhotra, Karamjit K. “Professor J.S. Grewal Prize: In Search of Early Sikh Art.” Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol. 71, 2010, pp. 397–408. JSTOR, . Accessed 12 Dec. 2022. The scripture compiled by Guru Arjan in 1604, known as the Kartarpur Bir, features extensive illumination artwork, with its opening folio extensively illuminated in blue and gold. Later on, the Sikh gurus produced calligraphic Gurmukhi autographs of the Mul Mantar known as nishans, those belonging to gurus Arjan, Hargobind, Har Rai, Tegh Bahadur, and Gobind Singh have been identified and dated between 1600 and 1708. The written orders of the later gurus known as hukamnamas, were also decorated and inscribed with a calligraphic style. B. N. Goswamy argues that painting in the Punjab goes back to the 16th century and became influenced by the Mughal school in the early half of the 18th century.
There exists a reference to a painter arriving at Ramdaspur (Amritsar) for the purpose of creating a portrait of Guru Hargobind. Within the Gurbilas Chhevin Patshahi text, there is an account of two Tarkhan painters (a father and son) creating a painting of Guru Hargobind that the guru had commissioned them to do himself:
When Guru Tegh Bahadur arrived in Dhaka during his travels through the Bengal region in the latter half of the 1660s, Ahsan, the court-painter of Shaista Khan, prepared a painting of him. An account of this can be found both in the Mahima Prakash (1778) by Sarup Das Bhalla and the Suraj Prakash (early 1840s) by Kavi Santokh Singh.
In the Roopa-lekha commissioned by Ram Rai, the eldest son of Har Rai, there exists portraits of the Sikh gurus from Nanak to Har Rai by a Mughal artist. This work was completed before 1688, the year that Ram Rai died, perhaps specifically in 1685. Various contemporary paintings of Guru Gobind Singh dating to the late 1600s gives evidence of accomplished artists of the time working under Sikh patronage.Malhotra, Karamjit K. “Professor J.S. Grewal Prize: IN SEARCH OF EARLY SIKH ART.” Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol. 71, 2010, pp. 397–408. JSTOR, . Accessed 12 Dec. 2022. The Sikh school of painting is an amalgamation of both the Mughal and Pahari (with special regard to the Kangra style) schools.
Prior to the rise of the Sikh Confederacy, there existed three main schools of painting in northwestern India at the time: the Mughal School, the Rajput School, and the Kangra School.
Sikh Empire and other states
The establishment of the Sikh Empire, and the increased wealth and stability in the Punjab as a result, drew many artists from the Hill States in the Punjab Hills region to work under Sikh patronage, leading to greater influence and infusions from the Pahari school into the Sikh school. During the reign of Ranjit Singh, the artistic expressions of jaratkari (inlaid stone and mosaic work), mohrakashi (frescoes), tukri (mirrors and cut-glass work), gach (gypsum and stucco work) and gold embossing reached new heights. There were also developments made during the reign of the Sikh Empire in miniature painting, ivory-work, book illustrations, and frescoes. Paintings created during Sikh-rule can be divided into general categories: portraits, court scenes, equestrian figures, religious themes, and domestic scenes. Most of the individuals depicted in the works were Sikh royals and nobles, as they were the patrons of the artists and wished to have their likeness replicated. Artists operating in the Punjab in this era could be roughly divided into two groups: Pahari emigres and homegrown Punjabi artists. Prior to the reign of Ranjit Singh, artists from the Chughtai family dominated the local Punjabi art-scene, as they had been attached to the Mughal court for quite some time going back generations. However, the Chughtais started working under Sikh patronage when Sikh-rule ushered in. Painting in the Sikh Empire is marked by an emphasis and preponderance with portraiture in-particular.
During the reign of Ranjit Singh, he oversaw over 700 Sikh shrines being decorated with artwork (including paintings). Ranjit Singh conquered the Kangra region, including Guler and Sujanpur Tira. This conquest of major Kangra centres of art precipitated Kangra artists arriving in the Punjab plains and Sikh court, where they would receive royal patronage. Kotla, a centre of Hill Rajput art, was also brought under Sikh writ, which followed with its local artists painting for Sikh patrons and helping develop and establish a Sikh School of art.
In the 19th century, artists originally from Jaipur and Alwar were active in Patiala. Many painters and artisans originally from the Punjabi Hills (or Pahari regions) found employment in the Lahore Durbar and the courts of other states across the region of Malwa (all part of the Punjab Plains). One of the artists who found work in the Durbar of Patiala State or another Phulkian state was Ganga Ram. He may have painted portraits of prominent members and officials of the Patiala court.