The people in the state are very friendly and easy going. Kannada is spoken by over 70 percent of the population, and is the official language of the state. Other spoken languages include TuLu and Konkani along the coast, Kodava in Coorg, Marathi in the north, Telugu in the east, and Tamil and Malayalam along the south. In addition, some of the hill tribes speak a separate dialect called Kuruba. Hinduism is the primary religion. However, Jainism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Sikkhism are practiced by a large number of people. The state is home to many wonderful temples, churches, mosques, monastaries, and gurudwaras.

Painting in Karnataka

Early Paintings
The earliest paintings of Karnataka belong to the prehistoric period(2000-1000 B.C.). These prehistoric art relics could be seen in the districts of Bellary, Bijapur, Raichur and Chitradurga. The rocks of Hirebenakal, Piklihal contain figures of hunters with weapons, horse-riders, bulls, etc. Coloured figures on mud pots are found in Brahmagiri, Chandravalli, Hemmige, Herekal, Maski and Bangalore. Paintings in Karnataka may be traced to the days of the Chalukyan ruler Mangalesha.

       Today, only traces of paintings of his time are surviving in the caves of Badami. Illustrated manuscripts belonging to the Hoysala period leaves an impression of the ornamentations in Hoysala sculptures. Mural painting was practiced on a large scale during the Vijayanagar period. The earliest such specimens are found on the ceilings of the Virupaksha temples at Hampi.

       A close study of the paintings in Karnataka indicates that instead of reflecting life as it was during those periods, the painters had adopted conventionalised settings, highly stylised postures, all bound strictly by the dictates of the Aagamas. Mural paintings are found at the Tirumalleshwara temple at Hiriyur, Narasimha temple at Sibi, the Jaina Matha at Shravanabelagola, Mallikarjuna temple at Mudukutore, Virupaksha temple at Hampi, Prasannakrishnaswamy temple, Krishna and Varaha temples at Mysore and the Divyalingeshwara temple at Haradanahalli.

Vijaynagar Empire
       From the later Vijayanagar period, the art of paintings seems to have split into two branches;the Vijayanagar rulers and their feudatories followed the ancient tradition bound by the Aagamas while the rulers of Bijapur, Gulbarga and Bidar were responsible for the development of a distinct style known as the Deccani style. The finest specimens of this schools were produced at Bijapur. Though this school was heavily influenced by the Mughal style, it had strong indigenous strains. The southern parts of Karnataka continued the ancient style which was developed at Vijayanagar. In addition to murals, the painters were also commissioned to illustrate manuscripts.

       The most famous of such manuscripts is the `Sritattvanidhi', a voluminous work prepared under the patronage of Mummadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar. The paintings illustrate ancient knowledge in the branches of the Aagama, Shilpa, Jyothisha, Tantra, etc. The Jaganmohana palace, Mysore, has portrait pictures of kings and other nobility and pictures relating to puranic themes either in water colour or oil colours on clothes, glasses, etc. Sundaraiah, Kondappa, Yellappa, Durgada Venkatappa, Narasimaiah and others adopted and developed this style.

       In those days, the painter prepared his own materials. The colours were from natural sources and were of vegetable, mineral or even of organic origin. Gold leaf was applied on the gesso works and was the hallmark of all traditional paintings of Karnataka. Besides paper, the painters painted on glass. Introduction of the European style of painting as a course of study at the Sri. Chamarajendra Technical Institute, Mysore, relegated the older traditional painting style to the background and produced a new generation of painters trained in the Western modes and style of painting.

       People like K. Venkatappa, K.K. Hebbar, K.S. Kulkarni, Almelkar, S.G. Vasudev, N.S. Subbukrishna, K. Keshavaiya, S.N. Swamy, Y. Subramanyaraju, Dandavathimath and N. Hanumaiah are artists of outstanding merit and reputation. Art schools started by Halbhavi at Dharwad, by Minajigi at Hubli, by Akki at Gadag and Andani at Gulbarga have become famous. The Government has established institutes to impart training in this field. The Chamarajendra Technical Institute at Mysore was started in 1913 and the School of Arts and Crafts, Davanagere was established in 1964.

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