One of the easiest ways into Indian art is through something you already know. Many Indian crafts have cousins elsewhere, and some travelled the world and changed other traditions. This page brings together our comparisons.
In-depth comparisons
Quick comparisons
Indian chintz and European printed cotton
From the 17th century, painted and printed Indian cottons, known in Europe as chintz and calico, became so popular in Britain and France that both countries banned or restricted them for a time to protect their own weavers. European printers then learned to copy them, and later French toile and English printed cottons grew from that trade. Today’s Kalamkari is a living descendant of those Indian textiles.
Bidri and damascene inlay
Both inlay one metal into another. Bidri, from Bidar in Karnataka, sets silver into a dark alloy of zinc and copper, which is blackened with a special soil so the silver stands out. Damascene work, from the Middle East and Spain, usually inlays gold or silver into steel or iron.
Kantha and patchwork quilting
Kantha, from Bengal and Bangladesh, layers old saris and dhotis and holds them together with running stitches, often embroidered with scenes and motifs. Like American and British patchwork quilts, it began as thrifty reuse of worn cloth and became an art form in its own right.
Indian and Persian miniature painting
Mughal painting grew from Persian painting: the Mughal emperors brought Persian artists to India in the 16th century. Indian painters soon added closer observation of nature, portraits of real people and Indian subjects, and Rajput and Pahari painters took the style in their own directions.
Indian puppetry and puppet theatre elsewhere
Rajasthan’s Kathputli string puppets, the leather shadow puppets of south India, and shadow theatre in Indonesia and Turkey all tell long stories, often from epics, with a narrator and music.
Sources
Main sources: Victoria and Albert Museum, South Asia collection and its material on chintz; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History; Rosemary Crill (ed.), The Fabric of India, V&A Publishing, 2015; and the stories linked above.
Last checked: November 2026.