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Ghulam Rasool Santosh (1929-1997) was a prominent Kashmiri painter. He was best known for his themes inspired by Kashmir Shaivism.
He was born Ghulam Rasool in a Muslim family of modest means in the Chinkral Mohalla neighborhood of old Srinagar. He dropped out of school after his father's death and took up odd jobs like writing and painting signboards, weaving silk and white-washing walls. In 1954 he won a scholarship to study Fine Arts under a celebrated Indian painter, N. S. Bendre in the city of Baroda or Vadodara in western India. Around the same time he did what was considered unusual and unacceptable in conservative Kashmiri society. He married his childhood Hindu sweetheart, Santosh, and assumed her name.
In the early 1960s, Santosh studied Tantric (mystical) art and Kashmiri Shaivism (a sect of Hindu God Shiva's followers) and in 1964 adopted this style to create some of the best examples of modern Tantric paintings. His paintings are known for the vibrancy of colors, neat lines, spiritual energy and sensuosness.
Santosh also wrote plays, poetry and essays in Kashmiri language. He was an authority on Kashmiri Shaivism and one of the very few people who could read and write the ancient, and almost extinct, Kashmiri script called Sharda.
He died on March 10, 1997 in New Delhi, India. He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.
