Jaina Monuments and Places First Class Importance

SR No.: 011058
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: T N Ramchandran
Publisher: Veer Shasan Sangh Calcutta
Total Pages: 112
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 11 MB

Page 50

JAINA MONUMENTS
The chief decorative motif in the whole cave is the lotus with its stalk, leaf and flower. As Dr. Dubreuil has remarked in his “Pallava Painting", "The decoration of the capitals of the two pillars of the facade is well preserved and consists of painted lotuses whose blooming stems intertwine with elegance", the pillars being adorned with the figures of dancing girls. The ceiling of the inner cell reveals a gcoinetrical design, complicated, most of which has been unfortunately obliterated. Of those fragments that are luckily intact and have been copied by Mr. Sarma, that on the ceiling of the verandāḥ is the most interesting. It is located in the centre of the ceiling and is flanked by two simple decorative panels with designs looking like carpets spread. A lotus tank in blossom with fishes, geese and other birds, animals such as busfaloes and bulls and elephants and three men, wading through, gathering lotus flowers, is the subject treated (Plate. 6). While the water of the tank alone is treated in a conventional manner the rest is done in a most natural, elegant and simple manner. The fishes and the geese play about in the lank here and there and recall a pleasant paradise. Lotus leaves are made to stand as the background of every lotus flower in bloom. Of the three men, whose pose, colouring and the "sweetness of their countenance are indeed charming" two stand close to each other while the
line here must have been done with red ochare as at Ajanta. an inference which is but natural as, in the case of such paintings, time, exposurc, weather and natural decay would tend to obliterate everything else save the red outlines. But according to Mr. M. S. S. Sarma the execution here was different. "The cuncuma (Kunkuma) stem which Indian ladies use even to-day in thcir toilet is the thing that was used for the preliminary outline. The alkaline nature of the fresh ground converted the yellow of the stem into a rich red colour which was then fixed by outlines of different appropriate colours, thus parcelling out the ground for subsequent coats of colour. The outlines then were emphasised with suitable tints here and there.. When the surface moisture is gone, but when the ground is still damp, light shading by hatching and stippling is indulged in, and afterwards, before the ground completely dries up, the whole is given a polish with small prepared pebbles".