The Artist
Sandhya Kaushik
A pujari's daughter who traded the ritual bell for a palette knife
Sandhya Kaushik was born into a family of temple pujaris in Govardhan — the sacred hill in Braj where her family has performed puja for generations. She grew up among the temples, ghats, and sacred groves that would become the subjects of her life's work.
She is not a temple painter. Her family are priests — keepers of ritual, not canvas. But the places they served became the landscapes she would spend decades painting, carrying the memory of morning aarti and evening light into every canvas.
Govardhan
Govardhan is not merely a place on a map. For the Kaushik family, it is the ground of devotion — the sacred hill that Lord Krishna lifted to shelter the people of Braj. Growing up here, Sandhya absorbed the rhythms of temple life: the pre-dawn aarti, the sandstone steps worn smooth by centuries of bare feet, the Yamuna at dusk reflecting temple domes in broken gold.
These images — light on stone, water reflecting sky, figures moving through sacred spaces — would become the vocabulary of her paintings. Not as a tourist observes, but as a daughter remembers.
Lalit Kala Sansthan, Agra
Sandhya pursued formal training at Lalit Kala Sansthan in Agra, completing her Master of Fine Arts in 2021. Here she studied under established artists, mastering the fundamentals of composition, colour theory, and oil painting technique. But it was the palette knife that became her instrument — the tool that would let her build paintings with the physical weight she felt in the places she loved.
Where brushes smooth and blend, the palette knife drags, scrapes, and layers. It creates texture you can feel — ridges of paint that catch light like the sandstone facades of the temples she grew up in.
Mathura — Her Own Institute
After completing her degree, Sandhya established her own art institute in Mathura, teaching children the fundamentals of drawing and painting. For years, she poured her knowledge into young minds — nurturing the same spark of creative seeing that had drawn her to art.
Teaching deepened her understanding of how we learn to see. The careful observation she taught her students — look at the light, see the shapes, notice how colour changes in shadow — became the discipline behind her own increasingly confident work.
The Studio Years
Family circumstances brought Sandhya to Faridabad, where she began working on wall mural projects before joining an established art studio. Here, under NDA, she created impressionist and abstract expressionist paintings that were delivered to collectors around the world — Dubai, London, Singapore, New York.
For years, her work travelled globally while her name stayed invisible. She mastered the impasto technique at scale, painting large-format canvases with thick, confident palette knife strokes. The sacred places of her childhood — the ghats, the temples, the forts — became her signature subjects, painted from memory with the authority that only decades of looking can produce.
Emergence
This portfolio marks the moment Sandhya steps into her own name. After years of anonymous studio work, these paintings now carry her signature — the devanagari-fusion mark that bridges her Hindi roots with the international art world she has quietly served for years.
134 paintings across 12 collections. Sacred ghats, ancient forts, temple towns, Himalayan shrines, and the Braj landscape where her family has served as pujaris for generations. Each one painted with a palette knife, built in thick impasto, and infused with the golden-hour light of remembered places.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Sandhya Kaushik?
Sandhya Kaushik is an Indian impressionist painter born in Govardhan, Uttar Pradesh, into a family of temple pujaris (priests). She holds an M.F.A. from Lalit Kala Sansthan, Agra, and specializes in palette knife impasto oil paintings of India's sacred architecture — ghats, temples, forts, and heritage landscapes.
What technique does Sandhya Kaushik use?
Sandhya works exclusively with palette knives on oil canvas — a technique called impasto. Instead of brushes, she uses flat steel blades to drag, layer, and scrape thick oil paint, creating three-dimensional texture where the paint ridges catch light like ancient sandstone.
What subjects does Sandhya paint?
Sandhya paints India's sacred and heritage architecture: Varanasi ghats, Rajasthani forts, Char Dham temples, Himalayan shrines, and the Braj landscape of her childhood including Govardhan, Barsana, and Vrindavan. She also paints European cityscapes and panoramic Indian landscapes.
How many paintings does Sandhya Kaushik have?
This portfolio features 134 oil paintings across 12 collections, plus accompanying pencil sketches. Collections include Varanasi Ghats, Indian Forts, Char Dham Temples, Braj Krishna Land, Rajasthan, Himalayan, South India, European, and more.
Can I commission a painting from Sandhya Kaushik?
Yes. Sandhya accepts commissions for oil paintings of sacred sites, heritage architecture, and landscapes. Each commission begins with a conversation about the place, the light, and the feeling you want to capture. Visit the contact page to inquire.
Where is Sandhya Kaushik from?
Sandhya was born in Govardhan, a sacred town in the Braj region of Uttar Pradesh, India. Her family are temple pujaris who have performed puja at Govardhan for generations. She currently works from her studio in Faridabad, Haryana.