Mahavira Jain Vidyalay Suvarna Mahotsav Granth Part 1

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

Page 869

370 SHRI MAHAVIRA JAINA VIDYALAYA GOLDEN JUBILEE VOLUME
tion, the background is plain. Both the male and female types confirm to the Popular Mughal type. The figures are carefully drawn and the women usually wear transparent cadars, and colis, coloured skirts and ornaments. The sky is always painted as cloudy. The combination of the subtle colour scheme, the landscape, and the dainty female figures bring out the spirit of the Kumarasambhava (Fig. 25).25 Another manuscript of Kumarasambhava, preserved in the National Museum, New Delhi, is dated in V. S. 1732-1675 A.D.
The illustrated copy of the Meghaduta painted in 1669 A.D. at Asanikotta which could be identified with Asani near Jaunpur is another interesting document which shows that the so-called Rajasthani style had travelled as far as Jaunpur in eastern U. P. in the seventeenth century A. D. Historically speaking Jaunpur seems to have been an important centre of painting as exemplified by the Kalpa-sutra dated 1465 A. D. from the Hamsavijaya collection. But it is not known how in the course of two centuries painting in Jaunpur developed. From this manuscript however it is evident that Jaunpur must have been a strong centre of painting at least in the 15th to 17th century. It is interesting to note that the Meghaduta miniatures are not in the Popular Mughal style but in a very picturesque local style. The composition is either divided into panels or represented as a unified composition. The background is usually red with patches of yellow in one case. Both male and female figures are rather short and shown as pink in complexion. Women wear the typically Rajput female costume, which is trimmed with pearls. The painter has shown a real feeling for landscape. In one case a peacock is shown cawing on a tree, in a second place the Yaksa seated in a mountainous landscape under a tree is offering flowers to the clouds, in a third place in a garden of Alaka the Yakṣi is playing music and in another place a monkey is shown. climbing a tree. As a matter of fact a very happy combination of colours, landscape and draughtsmanship bring out the lyrical spirit of the Meghadata.
25 Compare, Khandalavala and Moti Chandra, Collection of Sir Cowasji Jehangir-Miniatures and Sculptures (Bombay, 1965), p. 17 and colour plate illustrating a folio from the Gita-Govinda in Popular Mughal Style.
Also see, Khandalavala, Moti Chandra and Pramod Chandra, Miniature Paintings from Shri Motichand Khajanchi Collections, pp. 26-29 and figs. 22-25; colour pl. B and frontispiece.