Mahavira Jain Vidyalay Suvarna Mahotsav Granth Part 1

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

Page 868

NEW DOCUMENTS OF JAINA PAINTINGS : 369
flowers. The draughtsmanship, though angular, is very restrained. The face is generally in three-fourths profile though the farther cheek is very much pinched. The female figures, though not many in number, remind us of the early Bundi type. But they seem to represent the contemporary local types. Though the use of gold is not conducive to sobriety yet it gives a very picturesque effect to the composition. Obviously this satisfied the rich donor of this manuscript. Though the manuscript is not dated, it could be dated c. 1600 A.D. because the costume and the format are typically of the Akbar period.
In the seventeenth century when the Mughal technique had established itself, Rajasthani styles in various forms and varieties came into existence in different parts of North India. These new styles whether based on the popular Mughal style or in the indigenous tradition influenced by Mughal style are replete with the joy of new discovery. We know that in this period Sanskrit classics like the Gitagovinda, 21 Amaruśataka22 and the Rasamañjari23 were being illustrated but so far illustrated manuscripts of Kalidasa's works were not available. Though works on poetry were being copied and illustrated in Gujarat, Marwar and Malwa, U. P. also seemed to have become an equally important centre. An illustrated manuscript of the Kumārasambhava, unfortunately incomplete, was painted at Nautanpur (which should be somewhere in Western U. P.), in the year V. S. 1701 = 1644 A.D., written by a Jaina which shows that the Jainas of the period illustrated their books in what is known as Popular Mughal style which is a very happy combination of indigenous and Mughal traditions24. The background is saffron, green, pink and red. In three paintings at least this background is relieved by an introduction of picturesque landscapes consisting of decorative flowering trees, birds, variegated hill, and in one case a river in the foreground. In two paintings, however, following the older tradi
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21 Khandalavala, Karl, A Gita-Govinda series in Prince of Wales
Museum, Bulletin of the Prince of Wales Museum, No. 4, pp. 1-18,
and plates. 22 Moti Chandra, An illustrated set of the Amaruśataka, Bulletin of
the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, No. 2, 1951-52, pp. 1-63
and plates. 23 Khandalavala and Moti Chandra, The Rasamañjari paintings in
Basohli school, Lalit-kala, No. 3, pp. 26-38 and plates. 24 For a late illustrated manuscript of Sakuntala see, Adris Banerjee
An Illustrated Hindi Manuscript of Sakuntala dated 1789 A. D.,
Lalit-kala, Nos. 1-2, pp. 46-55 and plates. GJ.V. 24