Fine Arts / Visual Arts / Commercial Arts
Subject code 312 · domain paper
Each of those rules names Fine Arts / Visual Arts / Commercial Arts outright — no combination of the other papers reaches them. That is the whole case for spending one of five slots on it.
The paper at a glance
Fine Arts / Visual Arts / Commercial Arts carries the subject code 312. The syllabus described here is the one published for 2026-27.
Despite the three-part name in NTA's subject list, the syllabus document itself is titled simply "Fine Arts". It is a history-of-Indian-art syllabus: there is no drawing, design or commercial-art practice in it, only schools of painting, named works and the artists who made them.
How the syllabus is organised
The document is laid out in four units — Unit 1: The Rajasthani and Pahari Schools of Miniature Painting; Unit 2: The Mughal and Deccan Schools of Miniature Painting; Unit 3: The Bengal School and Cultural Nationalism; Unit 4: The Modern Trends in Indian Art. The first two units cover miniature painting, the third the Bengal School, and the fourth modern Indian art. Each unit follows the same pattern: a short introduction to the school or period, then a fixed list of works to study.
The syllabus is a list of topics only. It does not print question counts, marks, negative marking or timing. Read it alongside the exam pattern.
Unit 1: Rajasthani and Pahari miniatures
The unit opens with a one-line survey of all the Indian miniature schools and then settles on two of them. Six Rajasthani works and four Pahari works are named, each tagged with the school it belongs to.
| Unit | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Unit 1: The Rajasthani and Pahari Schools of Miniature Painting (16th century A.D. to 19th century A.D.) | Introduction to Indian miniature schools: Western-Indian, Pala, Rajasthani, Mughal, Central India, Deccan and Pahari. (A) The Rajasthani Schools: origin and development in brief of Mewar, Bundi, Kota, Bikaner, Kishangarh and Jaipur, and main features of the Rajasthani schools; study of six paintings — a folio from the Ramayana paintings of Sahibdin (Mewar), a folio from Gita Govind (Mewar), a folio from Ragamala or Rasikapriya (Bundi), a hunting scene (Kota), Radha (Bani-Thani) by Nihal Chand (Kishangarh), and Pabuji Ki Phad, a folk scroll painting (Bhilwada). (B) The Pahari Schools: origin and development in brief of Basohli, Guler and Kangra, and main features of the Pahari schools; study of four paintings — a folio of the Ramayana, Sangri, early phase (Basohli), a folio of Jaideva's Gita Govinda by Manaku (Guler), one Krishna Lila or Bhagavata Purana folio by Nain Sukh (Kangra), and one painting from Nayaka Nayika, Baramasa or Ragamala (Guler or Kangra) |
Unit 2: Mughal and Deccani miniatures
Here the works are tagged with painter and period as well as school, so a question can approach a painting from any of those three directions.
| Unit | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Unit 2: The Mughal and Deccani Schools of Miniature Painting (16th century A.D. to 19th century A.D.) | (A) The Mughal School: origin and development, a brief overview and main features; study of six paintings — a folio from Akbarnama by Basawan (Akbar), Babur crossing the river Sone by Jagannath (Akbar), Jahangir's Dream by Abul Hasan (Jahangir), Falcon by Ustad Mansoor (Jahangir), Dara Shikoh with Sages in a Garden by Bichitr (Shah Jahan), and Marriage procession of Dara Shikoh by Haji Madni (Provincial Mughal, Oudh). (B) The Deccani School: origin, development and main features; study of two paintings — Ibrahim Adil Shah II of Bijapur (Bijapur) and Raga Hindola (Ahmednagar) |
Unit 3: The Bengal School and cultural nationalism
A shorter unit: one introductory theme and eight paintings, each paired with its artist.
| Unit | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Unit 3: The Bengal School and Cultural Nationalism | New era in Indian art, an introduction; study of eight paintings — Rama Vanquishing the Pride of the Ocean (Raja Ravi Varma), Journey's End (Abanindranath Tagore), Tiller of the Soil (Nandalal Bose), Radhika (Abdur Rehman Chughtai), City in the Night (Gaganendranath Tagore), Mother and Child (Jamini Roy), Rasa-Lila (Kshitindranath Majumdar), and Woman with Child (Jamini Roy) |
Unit 4: Modern trends in Indian art
The only unit to include sculpture. Five sculptures and six paintings are prescribed.
| Unit | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Unit 4: The Modern Trends in Indian Art | Introduction to Indian modern art; study of five sculptures — Triumph of Labour (D. P. Roy Chowdhury), Santhal Family (Ramkinker Baij), Vanshri (Mrinalini Mukherjee), Cries Un-heard (Amarnath Sahgal), and Ganesha Figure (P. V. Janakiram); study of six paintings — Mother Teresa (M. F. Husain), Fairy Tales from Purvapalli (K. G. Subramanyan), Haldi Grinder (Amrita Sher-Gil), Tantric Painting (G. R. Santosh), Dog (K. C. S. Paniker), and Children (Somnath Hore) |
What this syllabus does not tell you
The document is a topic list and nothing more. From it you cannot learn:
- how many questions come from each unit, or the marks, negative marking and duration — those are on the exam pattern;
- the weightage of any unit, so treat every named work as examinable rather than ranking them;
- what a question on a painting will ask: the title, the painter, the school, the period, or a feature of the work itself;
- which books or images to use; the syllabus names no textbook and reproduces no pictures;
- how much weight a university gives this paper once you qualify — the programmes that accept it are listed below, but the marks or ranking rule each one applies sits in its own admission bulletin.
Two cautions specific to this document. First, the NTA file is a scanned image rather than typed text, and in its tables the titles, painters and schools sit in separate columns; the pairings above were read across those columns and the spellings follow the scan (for instance "Raja Ravi Verma" and "Baber Crossing the river Sone"). Second, the four unit titles are listed once at the top and again as headings, with small differences in wording ("Deccan" against "Deccani", "trends" against "Trends"). For anything about attempt rules or numbers of questions, go to the NTA information bulletin and the exam pattern rather than to this list.
Where this paper can take you
Programmes whose rule can use Fine Arts / Visual Arts / Commercial Arts, from the 9 universities whose documents we have read. 18 of them cannot be reached any other way.
B Design (Fashion) [ 2+2 with international credit transfer option] · B Sc (IT) [2+2 with international credit transfer option] · B. Arch. · and 104 more
B.A. (Hons.) Political Science · B.A. (Programme) · B.A. (Hons.) Psychology · and 45 more
Bachelor of Arts (Global Studies) · Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) - Economics · Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) - English · and 11 more
Bachelor of Design (Fashion Communication) · Bachelor of Design (Fashion Design) · Bachelor of Design (Fashion Design) - 3 Continent · and 8 more
Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) · B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) · Five Year Integrated Programme in Management (BBA & MBA) · and 7 more
Ceramics and Glass Design [Kala-Bhavana] (Major) · Graphic Art (Printmaking) (Major) · Painting (Major) · and 3 more
Bachelor of Fine Arts — Applied Arts, Painting (Painting/Textile Design), Plastic Arts (Pottery & Ceramic)