4. Painted maps, showing all muhallas, important buildings and houses of kings, nobles and officials, of all major towns were made for kotwal - the police officer in charge.

A map of Amber in the collection of National Museum, New Delhi was prepared for the Kotwal (police) officer-in-charge) of Amber by the order of M.S. Jai Singh in 1711 by artists, Govini and Ghasi. This map shows houses of important personages, gardens and water reservoirs.

Because of their cordial relationship with the Mughals, rulers of Amber enjoyed peace and prosperity in their homeland. But in the beginning of the 18th C, when Aurangzeb passed away and a war for succession took place, S. Jai Singh took side the prince, who was defeated. At that point, successful Bahadur Shah attacked Amber and got a map prepared. Soon after a treaty was signed without causing much damage. A copy of that map is also available in the Kapad-Dwara collection in which the inscription reads, "it is a copy of the map, (which was) prepared by the Imperial architect".

5. Religious cartographs made for pilgrims - people who go on pilgrimages bring back home memento from the place they visit. This is an old custom and still is in vogue. In ancient times Buddhist pilgrims used to bring back home the terracotta seals and votive stupas. Vaishnavas visiting Nathdwara bring portraits/pictures of Shri Nathji. Figure of Krishna, painted on a small piece of cloth was available of pilgrims with lesser means. Similarly people visiting kashi, Ayodhya, Hardwar, Dwarka and Puri got small map of the place for themselves and also for presenting to their close relatives and friends. These representations of holy places are highly decorative in nature. Place-names are written in the local script for example a pata from Puri will have name of the places written in Oriya script but often they write in Devanagari also, if executed for tourists. Temples and other sacred placed are prominently depicted in these religious maps.

When Manikaram Paliwal, an employes of Jaipur state visited Puri to have darshan of Lord Jagannath, he brought back a pata (cloth painting) from there. This pata is preserved in the Jaipur Kapad-dwara; as it was acquired, with other belongings of Manikram Paliwal, by the State. It bears an inscription of A.D. 1790. The pata illustrates a prince offering prayers in the temple. He is accompanied by two attendants and while a devadasi (temple dancer) perform dance in the inner court of the temple. A 16th century Akbar type turban, worn by the prince, suggests that it could be a portrait of Raja Man Singh (1589-1614). Though he died long back, tradition continued because he took keen interest in the temple administration as Governor in Eastern India.


Conclusions Analysis
Indian cartographic traditions show that though the ancient Indian knew the world around but by the end of the 15th century, the art of making cartograph had become highly decorative and to some extent meaningless. Because thepainter was following the description, which his forefathers followed centuried ago. He lost link with the research done in between - when the original drawing was executed and its final colouring in the fifteenth century.

This was the condition when Arabic-Persian style came in. Though it was more scientific and accurate, it did not appeal much to the indigenous painters. For a good cartograph one had to wait until the Mughals came. The Mughal regime brought peace and prosperity in the country and thus political stability. India came in contact with other parts of the world, and travellers from distant places started pouring in; Mughal emperors and his nobles were very liberal and accepted new discoveries with open mind and heart. They collected good maps, watches, globes and other western scientific instruments. Their nobles followed their footsteps. With all these, exchange of ideas took place, which brought revolutionary change in the art of cartography. This style lasted until the Survey of India took over in the mid 18th but small maps of forts, towns and gardens were being made until the late 19th century. Religious maps are executed even today.

Thus for a sizeable number of cartographs have come in notice from individual and museum collections. It is proposed to make elaborate analysis of these cartographs with reference to their nature, contents, colour scheme, technique, scale, perspective etc. An in depth study in its chronology is likely to reveal the evolution of cartographic technique. Comparisons with cartographs of other countries may highlight the cross-currents of cartographic idea.

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