New Documents of Jaina Paintings

SR No.: 250226
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Moti Chandra, Umakant P Shah
Publisher: Z_Mahavir_Jain_Vidyalay_Suvarna_Mahotsav_Granth_Part_1_012002.pdf and Mahavir_Jain_Vidyalay_Suvarna_
Total Pages: 10
Language: English
Classification: Article & Art
File Size: 2 MB

Page 22

NEW DOCUMENTS OF JAINA PAINTINGS : 369 flowers. The draughtsmanship, though angular, is very restrained. The face is generally in three-fourths profile though the farther cheek is very much pinched. The female figures, though not many in number, remind us of the early Bundi type. But they seem to represent the contemporary local types. Though the use of gold is not conducive to sobriety yet it gives a very picturesque effect to the composition. Obviously this satisfied the rich donor of this manuscript. Though the manuscript is not dated, it could be dated c. 1600 A.D. because the costume and the format are typically of the Akbar period. In the seventeenth century when the Mughal technique had established itself, Rajasthani styles in various forms and varieties came into existence in different parts of North India. These new styles whether based on the popular Mughal style or in the indigenous tradition influenced by Mughal style are replete with the joy of new discovery. We know that in this period Sanskrit classics like the Gitagovinda, 21 Amarusataka22 and the Rasamanjari23 were being illustrated but so far illustrated manuscripts of Kalidasa's works were not available. Though works on poetry were being copied and illustrated in Gujarat, Marwar and Malwa, U. P. also seemed to have become an equally important centre. An illustrated manuscript of the Kumarasambhava, unfortunately incomplete, was painted at Nautanpur (which should be somewhere in Western U.P.), in the year V. S. 1701 = 1644 A.D., written by a Jaina which shows that the Jainas of the period illustrated their books in what is known as Popular Mughal style which is a very happy combination of indigenous and Mughal traditions24. The background is saffron, green, pink and red. In three paintings at least this background is relieved by an introduction of picturesque landscapes consisting of decorative flowering trees, birds, variegated hill, and in one case a river in the foreground. In two paintings, however, following the older tradi 21 Khandalavala, Karl, A Gita-Govinda series in Prince of Wales Museum, Bulletin of the Prince of Wales Museum, No. 4, pp. 1-18, and plates. 22 Moti Chandra, An illustrated set of the Amarusataka, Bulletin of the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, No. 2, 1951-52, pp. 1-63 and plates. 23 Khandalavala and Moti Chandra, The Rasamanjari paintings in Basohli school, Lalit-kala, No. 3, pp. 26-38 and plates. 24 For a late illustrated manuscript of Sakuntala see, Adris Banerjee An Illustrated Hindi Manuscript of Sakuntala dated 1789 A. D., Lalit-kala, Nos. 1-2, pp. 46-55 and plates. GJ.V. 24