Treasures of Jaina Bhandaras

SR No.: 001583
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Umakant P Shah, Dalsukh Malvania, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1978
Total Pages: 274
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Literature, & Art
File Size: 19 MB

Page 24

Notes on Art
shows a new attempt at portraying lively figures, of small size, and with minimum use of pigments as can be seen from figs 16-17 and from the illustrations of the palm-leaf ms. of Kalpa-sūtra and Kālaka-kathā, d. in V. S. 1377 ( = 1320 A. D.) in the Pravartaka Sri Kantivijaya collection, Sri Ātmārāmji Jaina Jñana-mandira, Baroda. 19 The eyes are small and roundish, the lines are bold, and the figures are made lively with heads and limbs turned in different postures.
Paintings of Rsabhacarita dated in V. S. 1298 (= 1241 A. D.) from Hemacandrācārya Jñāna-mandira, Patan, no. 41 (Cat. no. 390, p. 61), and of an Uttaradhyayana, no. 83 of Cambay Catalogue, dated V. S. 1308 = 1251 A. D. (Cat. no. 393, p. 62) are however of superior workmanship (fig. 15). The partly defaced miniature of a teacher with the better preserved figure of his pupil is a beautiful painting on folio 2 of this document. The pupil's posture, his attentive facial expression, his young figure, etc., speak well of the skill of the artist.
Cambay Cat. no. 101, entitled Upadeśmālā-prakarana (Cat. no. 395, p. 62), dated in V. S. 1308 = 1251 A. D. has a miniature painting of Mahavira on folio 219 and one of Rşabha on folio 1, both without parikara, but showing dhoti upto a little above the knees as in Cambay Cat. no. 78 of the Uttarādhyayana. On folio 220 is a figure of Sarasvati in the same style as the Uttarādhyayana just referred to. The background colour in various miniatures of this age is in different shades of brown etc., instead of red of miniatures of other periods.
Paintings of the Kathāratnasāgara ms. d.=1256 A. D., from Sanghavi Bhandāra, Patan, are, as noticed by Moti Chandra, of inferior quality.20 The miniatures of Śrāvakapratikramana - Cūrni dated in V. S. 1327 = 1270 A. D., from Boston Museum Collection, are badly rubbed and hail from near Udaipur, Mevād. 21
Miniatures of two nuns and two Śrāvikās from Kalpa-Sūtra and Kalaka-kathā ms. of Samghavino Bhandāra, Patan, are good studies of Jaina nuns and laywomen,
19Shah U. P., More Documents of Jaina Painting, figs. 12-13. The acārya, in fig. 12, sits, on a chowki, with both legs hanging, in a what may be described as European fashion (Pralamba-pada posture). 20 Moti Chandra, Miniature Paintings from Western India, p. 30; Nawab, Jaina Citrakalpadruma, I figs. 46-47
31 Moti Chandra, ibid., p. 30; Norman Brown, Story of Kalaka, p. 18.