Book Title: ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 01
Author(s): International School for Jain Studies
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 275
________________ B.1.3.3.1 Jaina Painting Prof. Kamal Giri Jains contributed very significantly in the field of Indian miniature paintings. The paintings are known by several names such as Jaina Painting, Gujarati Painting, Western Indian Painting and Apabhramśa Painting. For the early history of Jaina Painting we have to depend on the wall paintings from Ellora where the earliest Jaina paintings may be seen on the walls of the caves. The Rāştrakūta a rulers embellished the Jaina cave of Indra Sabhā at Ellora with painted murals. The scenes in the Indra Sabha illustrate the Jain texts and patterns including floral, animal and bird designs of 9th and 10th century A.D. Jains appear to have practiced the miniature paintings before the 10th century, although no traces of it have been found prior to the early 11th century A.D. Its existence in the 8th and 9th centuries can be inferred from descriptive passages in contemporary literature, which furnish valuable insights into the style of painting as well as themes portrayed during that period. In the 10th century, miniature painting makes their appearance in manuscripts illustrations. Probably the tradition was derived from pața paintings and not too different from it. This art form manifests itself in the wooden book - covers and palm-leaf manuscripts of the Jains as well as Buddhists. Illustrated manuscripts of Jains are found from the 11th century A.D. These manuscripts e stored in the precincts of the temples or Jaina Bhandāras (libraries of manuscripts) and protected with care. As a result, a large number of them survived. The credit for preserving the Jaina manuscripts in a large measure, however, goes to Jaina Sanghas, individual Jaina monks, bankers and merchants at various places in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka etc. Jain manuscript painting was widely spread in western India. There were a number of religious establishments in Gujarat and Rajasthan where manuscripts could be copied and illustrated. Gujarat was perhaps the most important centre for illustrated manuscripts with centres like Patana, Ahmedabad, Vadnagar, and Champaner etc. Mandu in Malwa was another big Jain centre in the medieval period for Jain manuscripts. Jains produced some remarkable documents in the 11th and 12th centuries. They have an unbroken tradition of Page 262 of 317 STUDY NOTES version 5.0

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352