Jain Journal 1978 10

SR No.: 520052
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publication Year: 1978
Total Pages: 42
Language: English
Classification: Magazine, India_Jain Journal, & India
File Size: 3 MB

Page 5

OCTOBER, 1978
started much earlier than C. 1500 A.D.” (p. 23). This he has tried to demonstrate by recalling the figuress of Garuda incised on the Mandhata Plates of Paramara Jayasimha-Jayavarman, dated 1274 A.D. and in the plates of Maharajkumara Udayavarma Deva, dated 1200 A.D. Though it is difficult to doubt the validity of the argument the survey made by the scholar will increase our curiosity with regards to the cultural environments which effected such elimination of a style. As already observed by W. Norman Brown, the Kālakācāryakathā paintings depict the foreign Sahis paying full emphasis upon their Mongolian features unlike the traditional representation of Indians which remain in contrast with them in the same paintings. Thus, he remarks, "The face of the Sahis is never shown in the slightly less than full profile pose with the protruding eye that is the invariable pose for the faces of Indians. Instead it is shown in some thing less than full front face and the eyes are always contained within the facial contour.” (Jain Journal, April, 1970, p. 212). The co-existence of two different ideals has also been explained by Norman Brown. “Possibly in these miniatures of the Kālakācāryakathā we should be justified in seeing the first small intrusion into Indian painting of Persian elements. As time went on the Persian encroached increasingly upon the native Indian style, until the combination of the two brought into existence the Rajput and Mughal Schools. The Western Indian style was ultimately extinguished.” (Ibid.)
Among paintings of later times reproduced in the publication a special mention may be made of illustrated folios of Bālagopäla-Stuti, as also pages from the Bhagavata Dāśamaskandha and the Rati-Rahasya. The present book with its fairly large number of fascinating illustrations will again bear witness to the dedication of a scholar who has studied Jaina art and culture beyond measure.
-P. C. Das Gupta