Jain Journal 1970 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 15

APRIL, 1970
209
miniatures. The statement has been made by Mr. Kaye that the earliest dated paper manuscripts in India are of the years A.D. 1231 and 1343, but on what authority he makes that statement does not appear, correct though it may be 23.
The paper manuscript which I saw at Patan dated A.D. 1278 (Vikrama Samvat 1335) was on folios about 10 by 3 inches, that is, of about the same length as a small palm-leaf manuscript but of greater depth. The folios of the paper manuscripts become larger, running to a size of 11 by 41 inches in the fifteenth century, and reaching still greater dimensions in the seventeenth century, when the Mughal influence in painting crowds out the old Western Indian style, showing then a size of as much as 16 by 6 inches, and possibly even larger.
Paper as used for manuscripts seems to have come to India proper in Gujarat first arriving from Persia, which country it appears to have reached from China brought in by conquering peoples from Central Asia.
The oldest dated illustrated Svetambara paper manuscripts of which I know are one in the library of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, being a manuscript of the Kalpa Sutra dated Vikrama Samvat 1472 (A.D. 1415)24 and one of the Kālakācāryakathā in the Limbdi bhandāra (catalogue no. 577) of the same date. Following these is a manuscript of the Kalpa Sutra dated Vikrama Samvat 1484 (A.D. 1427), now belonging to the India Office, London, of 113 folios, most of them coloured black or red, with the text written in silver ink 25. Many more appear during the fifteenth century, often written with gold ink. We may fairly assume that illustrated paper manuscripts were being manufactured by A.D. 1400. The oldest manuscripts are usually done with
Kaye, G. R., The Bakhshali Manuscript, Archaeol. Surv. India, new imperial series, vol. 43, pts. 1 and 2, p. 9. "The art of paper making appears to have been practised by the Chinese at a very early date. From the Chinese the Muslims learnt the process in the eighth century and they introduced it into Europe and also India about the 12th century. Among the earliest Muslim manuscripts now presarved, one was written in A.D. 866 others in 974, 980, 990, etc. The earliest Indian paper manuscripts known were written in A.D. 1231 and 1343. The earlier one measures 6x4 inches (ratio 1.5) and the other 13} x 5 (ratio 2.7)......About the middle of the 15th century the use of palm leaf as a writing material ceased in western India, but in eastern India it continued to be used side by side with paper until much later." See in catalogue of Mss, in that society's library prepared by Prof. H.D.
Velankar, no. 1429. 25 Jacobi, The Kalpa Sutra of Bhadrabahu, 28, Leipzig, 1879.
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