________________
An Illustrated Manuscript from Malavadesa Dated V. S 1820
The costume types, as displayed in this manuscript, are of later Mughal type, commonly found in the Mewar paintings of that period-round skirt iowered or striped jama coming upto knee and patakas with floral designs at the ends Women are dressed in their characteristic Rajasthani ghaghara mostly striped and odhani Only priests in the temple are shown wearing dhotis which are either coloured or white Transparent jama of Shah Jahan period also appears once in a while for example a devotee wearing white transparent jama is shown performing Arati Curiously enough palanquin bearers wear a different type of costume short striped pyjamas and short jamas unlike others which go upto knee Probably it was working dress
Colours, though coarsely applied, are warm The prevailing colour scheme is bright red, green, yellow, blue and chocolate Mixed shades of mauve, light brown and orange are also popular, Glowing yellow is used for golden palaces while deep red and chocolate make background for the indoor scenes Sometimes houses are also painted with white to indicate marble architecture In this nianuscript we find the convention of representing water with white lines on bluground Gold is used to indicate ornaments
Though the representation of Tirthankaras and other religious figures are conventional, the artist has expressed his ideas freely in the selection of subject to illustrate various aspects of Jain principles for example Dasa Guna-ten virtues, Atharaha Dosh - eighteen vices etc An illustration showing Kshana-pardon can be cited here in this painting a European is shown beating an Indian who does not react The note on the picture, in local dialect, reads, “
f it IT Argit 3959 7"--a foreigner giving trouble to a gentleman Likewise, the anger is depicted as Agni—the fire According to Jainism one should not get angry thus the painting shows a man pouring water on fire Hoarding of wealth, is prohibited in Jainism and to illustrate this principle our Malwa artist paints a man taking water out from the well, to indicate that one should not hoard wealth but donate it for good cause
Besides the iconographical types necessitated by the text the artist has freely painted scenes from life Men and women engaged in puja, walking, riding, talking and life in the city and palaces-are all results of the artists' observation All forms depicted in this text are taken from the common life in the Malwa region Models for the
