SADANGA or Six Limbs of Indian 

Painting
Around 1st century BC the Sadanga or Six Limbs of Indian Painting, were evolved, a 
series of canons laying down the main principles of the art. Vatsyayana, who lived during 
the third century A.D., enumerates these in his literature having extracted them from 
still more ancient works.
These 'Six Limbs' have been stated as follows:
“Rupabhedah Pramanani BhavaLavanyayojanam
Sadrisyam Varnikabhangam iti chitra sadangakam.”

रपभदाः  परमाणानि भाव  लावणययोजनम

सादशय  वणिकाभगम इति  चितर  षडागकम

Rupabheda :The knowledge of appearances.
Praman: Correct perception, measure and structure.
Bhava Action of feelings on forms.
Lavanya Yojana: Infusion of grace, artistic representation.
Sadrisya: Similitude.
Varnikabhanga:  Artistic manner of using the brush and colours. (Tagore.)
The subsequent development of painting by the Buddhists indicates that these ' Six 
Limbs ' were put into practice by Indian artists, and are the basic principles on which 
their art was founded.
1 Rupabheda :
 The knowledge of appearances
And distinction of forms.
•Rupa-bheda consists in the knowledge of special characteristics of things – natural
or manmade. Say, the differences in appearances among many types of men ,
women or natural objects or other subject matter of the painting.
 2 Pramana
Correct perception, measure and 
structure.
Proportion, arrangement of line and
mass, design, harmony, perspective
Correct spatial perception of the
objects painted and maintaining a
sense of harmony, balance and a
sense of proportion within the figure
and also in its relation to other figures;
and to the painting as a whole. The
sense of proportion also extended to
the way major figures are depicted by
placing at the centre and surrounding
them with lesser figures in smaller
size symbolizing their status vis-a-vis
the main figure. The Indian artists
were guided more by the proportions
than by absolute measurements. The
proportions were often symbolic and
suggestive.
•Chitrasutra gives an elaborate classification of different 
types of men and women. They are classified into one of 
the five standard types called: 
•Hamsa:-- 108 angulas (should be strong, with arms 
resembling the king of serpents, with moon-white 
complexion, having sweet eyes set in a good-looking face; 
and with lion-like waist and swan-like majestic gait. The 
deities are depicted in Hamsa category of style.)
•Bhadra:-- 106 angulas (is learned, is of the color of lotus; 
with full grown tapering round arms, a hairy cheeks and   
elephant like step. The rishis, gandharvas, vidhyadharas, 
ministers and family priests are depicted under this 
category.)
•Malavya: -- 104 angulas (is dark like a mudga –pulse 
(kidney bean?), good looking ; with a slender waist, arms 
reaching up to the knees, broad shoulders, broad jaws 
and a prominent nose like that of an elephant. The 
kinnaras, nagas, rakshasas and domestic women are 
depicted under Malavya category.)
•Ruchaka:-- 100 angulas (is high souled, truthful and 
clever. He is of autumn-white complexion and strong with 
a conch-like neck. Yakshas, vaishyas and prostitutes are 
depicted under this category) and 
•Sasaka:-- 90 angulas (is clever reddish dark and of a 
slightly spotted color; with full cheeks and sweet eyes. 
The tribal chiefs and sudras are depicted as Sasaka). 
•Twelve angulas or digits make one tala, which is the length of 
the palm from the edge of the wrist to the tip of the middle figure. 
Usually, the face of the image would measure a length of one tala, 
which, in other words, would be one-ninth of the body length of a 
Hamsa category image. 
•The proportions of the various parts of the image –body would 
be in terms of the tala and its denomination (the angula). 
•Hamsa is the standard measurement of body -length of an 
image; and the proportions of the  other categories of images 
(Bhadra etc.) are to be worked out by taking Hamsa as bench 
mark.
In shilpa-shastras,  the madhyama navatala(standard height of 
nine-face lengths) is normally used for images of celestial beings 
such as Yakshas, Apsaras and Vidhyadharas. 
The face - length of the image i.e., from its chin up to the root of 
its hair on the forehead – would be 12 angulas or one tala. The 
length from throat to navel would be two tala; from navel to top 
of knee would be three tala; from the lower knee to ankle would 
be two tala making a total of eight tala. One tala is distributed 
equally between the heights of foot, knee, the neck and topknot. 
The nava tala thus will have a total of nine tala units, in height 
(108 angulas).
 
 3 Bhava
Action of feelings on forms.
the emotion or aesthetic feeling
expressed by the form
•Consists in drawing out the inner world of
the subject; to help it express its inner
feelings.
•It takes a combination of many factors to
articulate the Bhava of a painting; say,
through eyes, facial expression, stance,
gestures by hands and limbs, surrounding
nature, animals, birds and other human
figures. Even the rocks, water places and
plants (dead or dying or blooming or laden)
are employed to bring out the Bhava.
•In narrative paintings, the depiction of
dramatic effects and reactions of the
characters from frame to frame demands
special skill.
 4 Lavanya Yojana 
Infusion of grace, 
artistic 
representation.
the seeking for beauty
and charm for the
satisfaction of the
aesthetic spirit

Creation of grace, beauty, charm,

tenderness and illuminating the
painting and the hearts of the
viewer. It aims to uplift and
brighten the mood of the figures,
the viewers and the surroundings.
 5 Sadrisya
Similitude.
Truth of the form and its
suggestion
Achieving credible resemblance to objects Joined eyebrows 
of the world around and to the persons. like bow
The resemblances are not more general Eyes like Lotus 
but extend to details too. petals

Shoulders like 
elephant’s head

Palm like lotus bud
 6 Varnikabhanga 
  Artistic manner of using the brush and colours. 

the turn, combination, harmony of colours

Artistic manner of improvising color
combinations, tones and shades. It also
involves delicate and skillful use of brushes
and other aids. It represents the maturity of
the artist’s techniques and fruitfulness of
his experience.
The subsequent development of painting by 
the Buddhists indicates that these ' Six Limbs ' 
were put into practice by Indian artists, and are 
the basic principles on which their art was 
founded.