A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c15.13

c15.13

The Nāga productions of Nāgārjuna’s time were rivalled by the creations of Dhīmān and his son Bitpālo, natives of Varendra [Bengal], who lived during the reigns of Devapāla and Dharmapāla. Both father and son were skilled alike as painters, sculptors, and bronze founders. Bitpālo, who remained in Bengal, was regarded as the head of the ‘Eastern’ school of bronze-casting. But his disciples in painting being numerous in Magadha [South Bihār], he was also held to be the chief of the ‘Later Middle Country’ school of that art, whereas his father was considered to be the head of the ‘Eastern’ school of painters.