________________
140
Gommatesvara Commemoration Volume
to Mysore and Tanjore whose rulers were feudatories of the Vijayanagar Kings. The rehabilitated artists painted in styles that were a continuation of that practised in Vijayanagara, but since the idioms flourished in different environments they developed their own characteristics.
Not much of the work executed at Mysore in the seveteenth and eighteenth centuries has survived due to the ravages of war during the time of Tipu Sultan. But after Tipu's death, when Mummadi Krsnarāja Wodeyar, Mahārajā of Mysore, came to the throne in the early nineteenth century there was a revival of the traditional art forms under his dynamic patronage and leadership. In fact, were it not for his active interest, the traditioal arts and crafts would have disintegrated under the impact of European civilising influences.
This painting shows Tirthaikaras with their attendants in small panel around the central panel depicting the figure of Mahāyira. It must have been painted around A.D. 1894 because its support, made of several sheets of paper pasted together to provide stiffness and thickness, has as its bottom sheet a page from a newspaper in English of that year.
The Mysore School of Painting with its elaborate and resplendant paintings of gods and goddesses of the Hindu Pantheon came to an abrupt end when Raja Ravi Varma's paintings were printed on a mass scale by litho process. These pictures with their novel treatment of traditional themes as well as their extremely low price left no patrons for the traditional painters. In recent years, however, there has been a move to revive this traditional art of Mysore.
It is evident from these and other art objects, that in Karnataka, the art forms patronised by the Jainas- be it architecture, sculpture or metal, iconstended to be more austere than their contemporary counterparts in the service of other religious. The religions ethos of the Jaina community, with its ascetic outlook and abstract approach, moulded its artistic expressions accordingly.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
