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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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The Essay Podcast

The Essay

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.

The Essay: A Short History of Indian Art

The Essay: A Short History of Indian Art: Episode 4: A Leisurely Ride

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Factual: History

A Short History of Indian Art

Episode 4

Episode 4: A Leisurely Ride

A Leisurely Ride

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William Dalrymple discusses a painting by Nainsukh celebrating a leisurely horse ride.

William Dalrymple discusses an 18th-century painting by the renowned Pahari miniature painter Nainsukh celebrating a local ruler on a leisurely horse ride.

The writer and historian William Dalrymple continues his history of India through five great works of art and sculpture.

A painting by the renowned Pahari miniature painter Nainsukh inspires Dalrymple's fourth essay. It's from the 18th century. The image is of one of Nainsukh's patrons, Mian Mukund Dev of Jasrota, out riding on horseback with his retinue, all clad in bright clothes, romance in the air. One is playing a drum, another is singing. This is a joyful scene, brimming with the colours of the Punjab hills of northern India. 

Dalrymple tells the story of this remarkable painter, working at a time when the Punjab hill-states of the Himalayan foothills were going through a period of astonishing creativity. He describes the life of Nainsukh and the status of the artist of this period. He also chronicles his astonishing and ultimately tragic relationship with the local ruler.

'A Short History of Indian Art' is a Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 3. The producer is Anthony Denselow.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

William Dalrymple tells a history of India through classic images of art and sculpture

William Dalrymple tells a history of India through art and sculpture. He describes their place within major artistic movements of India and their role in one one of the world's most diverse cultures

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Episode 4: A Leisurely Ride

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