Ālekhya is a pioneering art revival programme in Bhāratīya Śāstrīya Citrakalā (Indian classical painting) in Maharashtra, that has been initiated by the Dakshina Dvaraka Foundation. It is an artist centered project that uses rigorous research on form and proportions as given in Shastric texts, to support the revival of a painting technique that is traditional, contemporary, and not imitative but creative.
India possesses the shastra of classical painting, through the Chitrasutra and allied texts. There exist artefacts as well, such as the cave paintings at Ajanta, the Chola frescoes of Thanjavur, and the paintings in the Alchi monastery in Ladakh among others.
The auxiliary aims of the project then extend to enabling the learning of Indian classical painting through research of artistic anatomy in Indian classical art by studying the aforementioned texts and artefacts, as well as, making shastra texts palatable in local languages. The team including shastra scholars and artists trained in European realism are collaboratively developing a school of painting that builds itself upon interlocking foundations: that of the shastras, pedagogy, and training and livelihood.
The lexicon for this school of painting will be derived from the shastras, which constitute the proportions, measurements and composition. It is designed to be a teachable pedagogy, a transmissible method, with defined stages and principles that can be taught coherently. Anchored in the state’s own ancient inheritance of chitrakala as seen at Ajanta, the project seeks to especially benefit young artists from economically weaker sections, and is built around a rigorous training model paired with a working entrepreneurship framework, so that the mastering of this style can translate into sustainable livelihood opportunities.
Several prestigious institutions under the Maharashtra State Board of Art Education offer 6695 seats on art and art-related courses. A survey with 50 respondents between the ages of 19-45 revealed that the annual earnings of entry-level and non-working graduates to be between ₹10K to ₹40K, and established graduates from the top-most institutes to be between ₹6-10 LPA. By combining a teachable technique backed by rigorous research and a practical entrepreneurship model around it, the project seeks to give the artists a style that is traditionally significant and commercially valuable, turning heritage into a genuine source of livelihood.