Thanjavur, located in the rich delta of the river Cauvery between Tiruchirapalli & Kumbakonam had been the centre of economical & cultural activities under the Nayaks of Vijayanagar dynasty, Sultan of Bijapur & lastly by Maratha rulers. Though Thanjavur was not the birth place of this art, this style of paintings developed here during the 18th century under Maratha rulers. As people & artists migrated to Tanjore from Mysore, Andhra, Bijapur, Maharashtra & Gujarat, the theme & style came to be largely influenced by various schools of arts & religious requirements, also coming under some Western & Chinese influence.

Seasoned wooden planks were joined on which paper or a piece of cloth was fixed by using tamarind seed paste. Locally available stone powder & unboiled lime powder wwere used to prepare the surface. Outline was drawn by tracing the original hand drawn figures. Semi-precious & precious stones, cut glasses etc., were placed to make the jewels for the figure. Apart from giving artificial gold colouring, gold & silver leaves were used to colour the costumes & jewellery and other decorative areas.