Encyclopaedia of Jaina Studies Vol 01 Jaina Art and Architecture

Author(s): Sagarmal Jain, Others
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 402

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Encyclopaedia of Jaina Studies
farther eye had gradually lost its organic hold and it had become merely a decorative feature. The style of painting in Western India deteriorated in terms of line and compositional values and became dull and fatigued, although it maintained blue and gold palette.
Between A.D. 1350 and 1550 Indian miniature painting also found articulation in another pictorial mode – the Caurapancaśikā style which presents a sharp contrast to the exoteric and iconographic preoccupations that characterise the style of Jaina painting. The Jaina tradition employed both the styles of Jaina painting as well as the Caurapancasikā style for illustrating its religious texts (The Caurapañcaśikā, containing fifty verses, is a Sanskrit lyric written in the 11" century A.D. by a poet named Bilhana). Many verses of the lyric were illustrated by the painters in a peculiar style related to Jaina painting with local peculiarities as well as influenced by the current idiom of the Mughal ateliers. The Caurapañcāsikā style of painting evolved during the latter part of the 16th century.
One of the important developments during the period was the extensive use of the paper as a carrier of illustrated manuscripts. The introduction of paper for writing and painting allowed more room for painting and more elaborate composition than the palm-leaf. The paper manuscripts adhered to the system followed in palm-leaf manuscripts in aspects such as the division of the folio into two columns with narrow vertical margins, the writing of the text in lines across the folio, and the placement of page numbers. Similarly, the practice of marking stringholes was threaded together. Later, during the 15th century A.D. when the potential of the new material was realised and fully grasped, the conventional forms of manuscript presentation changed. During the 15h century A.D. the folios of the manuscript became shorter and broader without abandoning the pothi format. The stringhole performed a decorative function and page numbers now indicated in the lower right hand corner of the folio. The paper manuscripts were protected between two wooden boards in the
beginning with string but afterwards without string. The practice of using wooden pätalis has been replaced by the use of hard cardboards, often decorated with painted or printed cloth pasted on them. In some of these cardboards, paithanas are decorated with fine satin cloth or silken cover and have embroidered representations of asta-māngalika (eight auspicious marks), or the fourteen dreams. During the latter half of the 15th century A.D., a good number of Jaina manuscripts was illustrated, the text being written in gold and silver ink on a red or black background. Such works were ordered by wealthy bankers and merchants.
In the 16th century A.D. Jaina painting took further strides. In this period Malwa and places in Uttar Pradesh became important centres of painting. There were two phases going on in art – one classical and the other folk. Māndu became an important centre of the classical phase. It may be further noted that even though the traditional Jaina features continue, the general tendency is towards the elimination of the farther eye.
In the 16th century, however, the Digambaras, had also developed their individual mode of expression. First, they patronised the prevailing Jaina painting style, though their emphasis on movement and was quite different from the static poses of the figures in the Svetambara manuscripts. The area near about Delhi became a centre for illustrating Digambara Jaina manuscripts. The Mahāpurāņa, dated A.D. 1540 painted at Palam shows a different approach to painting where the farther eye is eliminated but in composition, in colours scheme and in the representation of human figures the legacy of the old tradition is present. The illustrations have been ambitiously extended though the lines are weak. The figures are not confined to covering the entire folio. Regional elements can be seen in the costumes and other decorative details. The legacy of the old tradition was not only shown in Jaina paintings of the Hindu illustrated manuscripts like Gitagovinda and Balagopālastuti. The Aranyaka Parva of the Mahābhārata displays the same characteristic. The
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