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The Study of Jaina miniature painting, now known as Western Indian painting, is of very recent origin, and before Dr. Coomaraswamy wrote his article on Jaina painting in 1914, a portion from which is reprinted later in this issue, little was known of its existence. After the publication of the Catalogue of Indian Collections in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Part IV, by the same author in 1924, the study of Jaina painting received a great impetus and various scholars, such as Norman Brown, N. C. Mehta, 0. C. Gangooly, Ajit Ghose, M. R. Majumdar, Moti Chandra, Sarabhai M. Nawab, Muni Jinavijaya and Muni Punyavijaya have greatly contributed to the discovery of new documents and the study of their aesthetics. Further research has given us a chronological sequence in the development of Jaina painting and also the distinguishing features of its techniques.
The earliest known specimen of this school of painting is a palmleaf manuscript of Nišitha Cūrņi dated 1184 V.S. (1127 A.D.). Taranath, the Tibetan chronicler, had spoken of an still earlier Ancient Western school, but as we do not have in our possession any specimen
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