Mahavira Jain Vidyalay Suvarna Mahotsav Granth Part 1

Author(s): Mahavir Jain Vidyalaya Mumbai
Publisher: Mahavir Jain Vidyalay

Page 863

364 : SHRI MAHAVIRA JAINA VIDYALAYA GOLDEN JUBILEE VOLUME
ly decorated marriage-pavilion (Colour plate II, Fig. IV), the carefully drawn figure of Candraprabha with his white carnation and the coy figure of the bride, the Brāhmaṇas and others witnessing the scene are well rendered. In order to relieve the monotony of monochrome background the painter has painted plaintain and other decorative trees and the peacocks perched on the terrace. A panel of faces appears in the background. Here as well in the white of Candraprabha's carnation and in the dhotīs of the Brāhmaṇas mica is used.
The momentous discovery, from Jamnagar, of a richly illustrated copy of Kalpa-sútra and Kālaka-Kathā dated Samvat 1558 (= 1501 A. D.) and painted at Sri-Pattana (Patan) shows that the Jaina patrons spared no money and effort to make some illustrated copies of the Kalpa-sūtra as a pious act of dedication. The Devasano Pado's manuscript of the Kalpa-sūtra and Kalaka-kathā for the first time brought to our notice by Prof. W. Norman Brown, showed that Jaina painting did not confine to only stereotyped themes followed blindly but could also take recourse to other aids such as rich border decoration to add to the sumptuousness of the book-illumination. The painter of Devasano Pado manuscript did not fight shy of drawing material for his decoration not only from the decorative motifs of the Hindu temples consisting of the Apsarasas, Gāndharvas, flowers and trees, armies on the march, but also from the carpets and textiles of Persian origin. As a matter of fact in border decorations, the painters of the Devsano Pado Kalpa-sūtra introduced contemporary soldiers engaged in fighting, marching and enjoying other aspects of life, birds and animals, their hunters and landscape. The compositions of the Devasano Pado which at time are full-page illustrations also show that the painter was in a position to paint elaborate themes and use such costly colours as gold, ultramarine and carmine without any care for their cost.
However though the date of the Devasano Pado Kalpa-sūtra Kalaka-kathā could be suggested as 1475 A.D. there are scholars who have suggested a much later date. Prof. Norman Brown suggested the date in the Akbar period. It may be noted here that in one of the decorations, a Muslim soldier is shown with a hand-gun. This, we may incidentally note, need not prevent us from assigning this manuscript to c. 1475 A. D. The Kalaka-kathā attached to the Jamnagar Kalpasūtra painted at Patan also contains a figure holding a gun.
The Jamnagar manuscript not only uses the decorative motifs of the Devasano Pado Kalpa-Sūtra but also other patterns and motifs which we come across in Western Indian art for the first time. A few pages