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50
JAINA MONUMENTS
a manner as to leave a design in gold of the picture. The perfect control over the liquid gold which the Jaina artists exercised sexcites admiration.
ITS DEFECTS : The obvious aim of the Jaina artist was psychological and particularly spiritual expression. The attempt to express graphically the life-histories of saints was no doubt an arduous task.
Jaina art is essentially decorative. It does concern itself with pattern. Design is its first objective and colour is hardly less important. It is his decorative instinct which impels the Jaina artist to fill up his picture space with ornamentation. "The drawing has in fact the perfect equilibrium of a mathematical equation, or a page of a composer's score". The ornamental stylisation was necessary for the miniatures were intended as decorations to the manuscript. The miniatures were undoubtedly intended to embellish the manuscripts and admirably fulfill their function.
THEIR VARIETIES AND TECHNIQUE: The book covers of the Jaina manuscripts are of two kinds known as Pathari and Putha. The Patharis were the covers within which the manuscript was kept while the Putha was the holder within which the book was placed while being read.
THE ORIGIN OF JAINA PAINTING : It is difficult irr the present state of our knowledge to trace the precise origin of the Jaina school of paintnig. It no doubt belonged to the 'school of the ancient west" mentioned by Jaranath. faina art as we find it in the early religious books right up to the fifteenth century and even later was a specialised and splendid form of
