Jain Spirit 2004 10 No 20

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 53

ART E LITERATURE 51
PAINTINGS OF PILGRIMAGE
RAJU SOBHAG SHAH EXPLAINS THE ART AND SCIENCE OF PATA PAINTINGS
It is difficult for us to understand today but for a long time pilgrimage was a very costly, hazardous and demanding journey. Distances were long, modes of transport were very slow and there was danger along the way - wild animals, dacoits, lack of maps or even paths, disease and adverse weather. Few had the money or the resources and the courage to undertake a pilgrimage to sacred places. As a result, pictures of such places became the proxy form of worship. Generally, when we speak of Jain painting it is the miniature paintings used as manuscript illustrations to religious books like the Kalpasutra, which come to mind. However, there are other categories of paintings on cloth (pata), paper and wooden boards, which have not been adequately analysed nor given as much importance. The general term used for painting on cloth - usually cotton or linen - is chitrapata (picture cloth) or patachitra. Hindus, Buddhists and Jains have universally accepted this medium of schematic painting to express and depict their religious and secular subjects. Chronologically, Hindu pilgrimage may have preceded Jain pilgrimage as this religious institution began in the third century. Sites were sacred because of the presence of the major deities - Siva, Vishnu, Durga or Brahma. The patachitra of Jagannath and associated deities at Puri and other centres in Orissa are still very popular. The pichhawai painting of the Rasa Lila highlights the importance of the