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Until a few years ago, Indian painting was studied from the point of view of schools and styles. In the early 1990s, Marg published a volume on the works of individual artists of the Mughal ateliers (a sequel to which has just been published), and B.N. Goswamy and Eberhard Fischer organized their important exhibition and catalogue Pahari Masters.

Painters of the Pahari Schools makes a further major contribution to the study of painters who lived and worked in the hill states of the western Himalaya. It includes a wealth of new information and opinions of several scholars - often sharply divergent. Recently discovered material forms the basis for fresh insights and attributions. Characteristics peculiar to specific hill states are identified and an attempt is made to address several unresolved problems related to the development of painting at various centres. Apart from the masters DevMasa, Laharu, Mahesh, Pandit Seu and his sons Manaku and Nainsukh, research on artists of the later generations of Pandit Seu's family - Fattu, Nikka, Ranjha, Harkhu, Chhajju, Gursahai, and Chaitu, who have not been previously studied individually, is also presented here. The social background which went into the making of the vision of each painter and some details of his training are described. Attention is also drawn to certain less-known facts which explain the spirit of Pahari painting and the influence of the themes illustrated on its development. An effort has been made to cover as many reputed series of Pahari paintings as possible, making for rich visual material.