Located on a hillside between two catchment areas, the medieval town of Bundi in Rajasthan (India) occupies a unique natural setting. Its hydrology and topography are resonated poetically in the morphology of this historic town as well as in the rich miniature paintings adorning the walls of its palaces and havelis. The historic urban landscape of Bundi is a delicate and lyrical relationship between the mindscape of its people, its physical environment, and the imagined and manifested space of the miniature paintings. This paper argues that the miniature paintings of Bundi are a blueprint of its historic urban landscape, making them integral to the understanding of Bundi itself. Subjects of these paintings include myth, devotion, celebration, and leisure, depicted through both solitary and community life. Analysis of shifts in socio-political relations, as well as the placement of the paintings themselves, offer important clues to Bundi’s history. The spaces portrayed in the paintings, the lives of residents and the artists’ impressions of the landscape can be traced into present-day Bundi. These paintings modulate the experience of architectonic space of palaces and houses, by allowing us to enter the mindscape of its artists. This makes the artists of these miniature paintings function as designers of the historic urban landscape of Bundi. Thus, in the conservation and preservation of Bundi’s historic urban landscape, it is crucial to consider the paintings as blueprints of history and culture, while also strengthening the living tradition of miniature painting in the town.

Keywords: Historic Urban Landscape, Bundi, Miniature Paintings, Blueprint.