Mahavira Jain Vidyalay Suvarna Mahotsav Granth Part 1

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

Page 864

NEW DOCUMENTS OF JAINA PAINTINGS : 365
from this Kalpa-sutra and Kalaka-katha are illustrated here in figs. 12-13 just to give the reader some idea about this richly decorated manuscript. The majority of the pages have patterns drawn from textiles and calico printing, and geometrical figures and birds play an important part in the decoration. However a constant source of inspiration to the artist seems to have been contemporary sculpture and wood work from Gujarat. From this source they have drawn the figures of dancers and musicians in countless different poses, Kinnaras, Apsarasas, gods and goddesses, processions, hunting scenes, birds and animals, rocks and monkeys, and the landscapes from another important item in the decorations.
It also seems that in the decoration there appear scenes from some Jaina stories probably contained in some commentaries of the Kalpa-sútra. Another important inspiration in decoration is from Muslim sources. It may be averred here that the painter did not find his inspiration from Persian sources directly but from the contemporary Muslim culture in Gujarat and he did not hesitate to draw upon this source.
In keeping with the Devasano Pado manuscript the Jamnagar manuscript originally painted at Patan has also taken recourse to elaborate compositions. The decoration sometimes is stretched to such a point that the compositions loose their coherence. However, it may be noted that so far as the Kālaka-kathā is concerned the themes treated are of much greater elaboration and originality than known hitherto, the material is so profuse that one wonders whether an indigenous school synthesising the Persian and Indian elements had not come into being at least 100 years before the Mughal school. It is a bold statement to make and the opinions may perhaps sharply differ but in the face of overwhelming evidence nothing else could be said.
Groups III-IV
In 1526, an event of great magnitude took place. Bābar defeated Ibrahim Lodi on the battlefield of Panipat and thus began a new chapter in the history of India. Inspite of the vagaries of fortune which caused Humiyun, the son and successor of Babar, to lose his throne to Sher Shah, he was able to regain it after sometime. He had however very little time to consolidate his gains. It was left to his great son Akbar not only to consolidate and unite India, administer it wisely, but also to interpret and synthesise its great culture for the benefit of posterity. Among the most significant contributions which he made may be