________________
[96]
It is well known that Ahmedabad and Patan in Gujarat have been prolific conters of Jain and secular paintings on paper and cloth till about the middle of the 15th century, of which the Champaner Panchatirthi Patal1 of A.D. 1433, and the Vasanta Vilasa scroll of A.D. 14512. painted at Ahmedabad are the major landmarks. It is very likely that due to the frequent visits of the Mughal royalty in and around Gujarat in the late Akbar-early Jehangir period that practicing Gujarati painters shed some of their earlier characteistic features and adopted new conventions of dress and landscape as evidenced by the Matar Sangrahani Sutra of A.D. 1583 13, now in the collection of the L.D.Museum in Ahmedabad. At the same time the cultural scenario of Ahmedabad appears to be gradually changing. Obviously, Seth Shantidas's cordial relations with the imperial Moghuls at Dehli may have brought about certain changes which are reflected in the arts and crafts of that period. Art of miniature painting in particular shows a new understanding in the first quarer of the 17th century in the so called popular Moghul documents but with a strong Rajasthani and Gujarati flavor. This material was discovered and published in the last two decades of which the MS. of Anwar-i-Suhaili of A.D. 160114 painted at Ahmedabad, the Cowasji Jehangir folio of Gita Govinda' and a set of horizontal Ragamala paintings published by Saryu Doshi and Tandon in Marg and the latest set of Bhagavata Purana1 discovered by the author, all
6
11. Moti chandra. Jain miniature Painting from Westem India. Ahmedabad 1949. Figures. 177,182, also see N.C.Mehta, A Painted Roll from Gujarat. A.D.1433 Indian Arts and Letters Vol. VI. pp. 71-78. 12. Norman Brown. The Vasanta Vilasa. New Haven 1963 13. Moti chadra and U.P.Shah. New Documents of Jain Paintings. Mahivara Jain Vidyalaya, Pt. I. Bombay. 1968. p. 356.
14. R.Pinder Wilson. Paintings from the Islamic Land. Oxford 1969, pp.
160-171.
15. Karl Khandalavala and Moti Chandra. Miniatures and sculptures from the late Sir Cowasji Jehangir Bart. Bombay 1965. col. pl.D. Fig. 69.
16. Saryu Doshi and R.K.Tandon. Marg. 1981. Notes.
17. An Illustrated MS. of Bhagvata Purana. (Private collection.) Unpublished.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
