________________
CHAPTER XXII
Jain Education International
PATA-CITRA (Cloth Painting)
Cloth was used very extensively in ancient India for painting. Even entire books were written on cloth at times. A general term used for painting on cotton or linen is citra-pata (picture cloth) or pata-citra (cloth picture). The term is used by the Jainas, Buddhists and Hindus alike. However, no example of pața-citra prior to the 14th century has survived due to the perishable nature of the material. The use of pața-citras on religious and secular subjects appears to be a common feature in the medieval period. Several textual references can be cited from the early Jaina and Buddhist literature testifying to the use and popularity of pata-citra. The Samyukta Nikaya mentions dussa-pata (a special kind of cloth) alongwith wooden panel (suparinmattha-phalaka) for painting. The Visuddhimagga mentions canvas as the ground or support for painting. The Mahavaṁśa refers to the representation of a palace drawn with cinnabar on cloth while in the Dutavakya of Bhāṣa, Duryodhana describes a canvas picture, depicting Draupadi being dragged by hair. The Kamasutra also mentions the painting on cloth. Madhvacārya in his Pañcadasi compares the four modes of higher self with the four stages of preparing a canvas painting. These four stages are dhauta (washing of the canvas), ghattita (burnishing of the canvas), lañchita (drawn upon the canvas) and ranjita (colouring of the canvas). For the painting, the cloth is first primed with wheat or rice flour paste to fill up the pores of the textile. Use of tamarind-seed paste is also recommended in certain cases. After the priming is completely dry, the surface is burnished with an agate burnisher to get it ready for painting. The outline is drawn first, generally in red, and then the colours are applied. Additional decoration in gold or silver and the inscription of mantrakṣara (mystic syllables) and identification labels in black or
red are completed at the end. Religious paintings may have suspicious symbols in red on the reverse.
Among Jainas a substantial portion of this type of paintings belongs to the category of monumental paintings which include painted scrolls, banners and ritualistic artefacts of socio-religious nature for the use of Jaina monks and the laity.
The Jaina pața-citras can be divided mainly into two groups tantric and non tantric. The tantric patacitras include the diagrams known as yantra, incorporating the mantras, symbols, syllables and images of deities used in tantric practices. Such patas are usually made in rectangular formats in which the central ground is invariably occupied by circular, rectangular or geometrical design with a figure of Tirthankara, Jina or a Devi. Each pata is identified by the pictures or syllables. The non-tantric examples consist of the pictures with religious contents and do not confirm to any tantric vidhi. However, these pata-citras have no concern with tantric rites. They are contemporary paintings in regional styles and include a wide variety of subjects, including narratives and teachings (Pl. 288). They are catographic representations of religious sites or tīrthas (pilgrimage centres). A large number of pata-citras fall under this category. In pata-citra (pilgrimage picture) the nontantric pata-citras include paintings depicting Jaina cosmology and cosmography. These include the maps of Jambudvipa, Aḍhaidvīpa (two and half islandcontinent), the lokapuruşa (the cosmic man) etc. Lokapuruşa is the personification of the Jaina theory of the universe. It consists of a figure of a huge man with his hands hanging on his sides. The torso denotes the upper world, the central portion represents the Madhya-loka (the middle world), while the lower portion denotes the lower world represented by as many as nine
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
