Mahavira Jain Vidyalay Suvarna Mahotsav Granth Part 1

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

Page 886

NEW DOCUMENTS OF JAINA PAINTINGS : 387
The Kalpa-sútra and Kalaka-kathā dated V. S. 1558 (1501 A. D.) painted at Patan from the collections of Ancalagaccha at Jamnagar. Size : 27 x 11 cm. Total folios : 151 of Kalpa-sūtra and 13 of Kalaka-katha.
The manuscript has, on folio 151 at the end of the text of the Kalpa-sutra, a colophon which reads :
संवत् १५५८ वर्षे श्रीपत्तने श्रीखरतरगच्छे श्री पूज्य जिनहर्षसूरिविजयराज्ये आचार्य श्री विवेकरत्नसूरिशिष्य श्री साधुहर्षोपाध्यायै श्री सुवर्णकल्पपुस्तके लेख्यांचक्रे ज्यो (?) वदूआकेन लिखितं
In the Samvat 1558, in the city of Sri-Pattana, in the Sri Kharatara Gaccha in the reign of (i.e. when Sri Pujya Jinaharşasūri was the chief pontiff of the group of Jaina monks known as Kharatara Gaccha) Śrī Sådhuharşa Upadhyāya the pupil of Acārya Sri Viveka-ratna-sūri, got this golden Kalpa text written by Jyotishi (?) Vadūāka.
We hope to publish and discuss the illustrations of this manuscript in greater detail in future when we are able to study the manuscript in the original.
Folio 9 A : Border decorations of the Kalaka-katha (mostly soldiers in various attitudes).
The text on this folio is written in gold on a dark blue background with all the four borders showing figures of different soldiers of the Sāhi king. Obviously the soldiers represent contemporary soldiers in the service of the Sultāns of Gujarat, following the Islamic faith. They wear typical big turbans and long jāmā and carry daggers, swords etc. In the right hand margin of this folio, upon a red background, are painted in the uppermost compartment a pair of soldiers of whom the one with the pinkish jāmās appears to carry a gun. In the central compartment of this border decoration is a soldier on a galloping horse also probably carrying the gun. In the decoration of the borders of the different folios of this Kalaka-kathā we find a representation of soldiers in various attitudes, talking, resting, shooting, blowing pipes, riding horses and so on. Persian influence in the illustrations of manuscripts from Gujarat is probably not direct but is reflected through the contemporary life of the Sultans of Gujarat and their courtiers. The miniatures and border decorations of this manuscript as also of the Devasano Pado manuscript clearly suggest a blending of Persian and Indian elements by the painters of Gujarat. Indian artists have always shown a habit of blending foreign elements in their art without giving up the old heritage. Size : 27 x 11 cm.
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