Mahavira Jain Vidyalay Suvarna Mahotsav Granth Part 1

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

Page 871

372 : SHRI MAHAVIRA JAINA VIDYALAYA GOLDEN JUBILEE VOLUME
with the result that only a few figures painted against the background indicate the stories. There are three manuscripts of Candarāsa, one painted in 1712 V.S. (= 1655 A.D.) at Vyaghrasenapura, another painted in V. S. 1716 ( = 1659 A.D.) at Surat and a third painted in Poona in 1812 A.D. The Candarāsa or Sri Candarasa painted at Surat however is of greater interest as the figures are more carefully painted and the action as shown in the battle scene is vigorous. Most of these pictures bear labels which inform us about the incidents. The monotony of the usually red background is enlivened by the introduction of the flowering plants. The importance of this Surat manuscript lies in the fact that it shows the datable evidence of Gujarati (probably) Folk-style of the seventeenth century. Another complete manuscript of this style, this time the Hindu Durga-sapta-sati, painted at Surat in V. S. 1776 (= 1719 A.D.) is preserved in the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay (Fig. 28):
In the second half of the seventeenth century Marwar and its contiguous area consisting of the former states of Sirohi, Jodhpur and Bikaner developed their individual modes of expression. All kinds of subjects, including the Rūgini paintings, Durgāmāhātmya and Jaina manuscripts, were being painted. From the available evidence it is evident that the former state of Sirohi was also an important centre of painting. At least the Vijñaptipatra of 1737 A.D. from the Khajanchi collection (Fig. 27) is a sort of a sheet anchor for suggesting the provenance of a group of paintings to which may be added the illustrations from a manuscript of Durgāmāhātmya in the collections of the Prince of Wales Museum and a set of Ragini paintings distributed in the various collections including the Prince of Wales Museum (compare for example the Vibhāsā Rāgini of c. middle of eighteenth century in the Prince of Wales Museum, No. 57.1627). Though again it is difficult to be sure whether these paintings are from Sirohi or south-west Marwar, the finest illustrated manuscript in the Sirohi-Marwar style is the manuscript of Upadeśamālā Bālāvabodha from Devsano Pado dated in V. S. 1765 (=1708 A.D.).
The paintings, though of a small format, try to illustrate some
27 Also see Lee, Sherman E., Rajput Painting (New York, 1960), pl. 22,
illustrating a scene from Pancākhyāna (wrongly labelled as marriage procession but depicting a scene of festivity on the river bank and referring to a story of a Kolika getting enamoured of a princess). This painting shows much affinity with the Sirohi School.