More Documents of Jaina and Gujarati Paintings

Author(s): Umakant P Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 30

The undated Samgrahaņi (illustrated by us in the above volume), 49 from collections of Muni Sri Punyavija yaji also seems to have been originally painted in some part of the old Idar state. This will be more clear when Shrimati Sarayu Doshi pub. lishes the Digambara Jaina documents she has recently discovered. But the style of this Samgrahanī was common throughout Gujarāt. Recently the Baroda Museum has acquired a Saṁgrahaņī in this style, written in Bhuja in Kaccha. It is quite reason able to conclude the existence of a Gujarāti school of the sixteenth-seventeenth century which had broken away from the old conservatism of the Kalpa-sútra and other miniatures of the preceding centuries so well-known to scholars.
The tendency to break off from the earlier traditions is seen in the bold attempt of Citārā Govinda who painted the beautiful Saṁgrahanī sūtra at Matar (Kheda district, central Gujarāt) in 1583 A. D., which perhaps began in the still earlier scroll from Champakadurga (modern Chāmpāner, to the N. E. of Baroda), dated in Samvat 1490 (=1433 A. D.), 50 whose importance is not so properly emphasised in this light. This is also seen in the Kālakācārya-Kathā attached to the Jamnagara Kalpa-sūtra painted at Pațan in 1501 A. D. published for the first time in the Mahāvīra Jaina Vidyālaya Golden Jubilee Volume 81
The Mātar Samgrahanī of Citārā Govinda is the most important document as it is dated and bears a place-name. This Samgrahanī seems to have set a standard for several later manuscripts of the Samgrahanī and an undated Saṁgrahani in Muni Punyavijayaji's collection, of about the same age as the Mātar Samgrahaņi, (and not earlier of c. 1550 A. D. as suggested by Anand Krishna), first published by Anand Krishna, 52 obviously follow the Mātar Samgrahani in the composition and mode of representation of several scenes and diagrams.
This can now be supported by more evidence from Jaina Bhandaras. The Atmārāma jñāna-mandira collection at Baroda preserves an undated Samgrahani of circa seventeenth century in an inferior style which definitely seems to follow the Matar manuscript in the selection and general convention or mode of representation of the subject matter of its miniatures. The manuscript dated 1644 V. S. = 1587 A. D. painted at Cambay (fig. 62) and two more later ones, of the seventeenth century painted at Pāțaņ (fig. 63) and Cambay (fig. 64) follow this tradition. Just as in the Kalpa-sūtra miniatures certain formulas became popular and were adopted in selection and representation of scenes (dīkņā scenes, samavasarana, Mother of a Jina dreaming the conventional dreams, and so on). Similarly the Mātar Samgrahani was perhaps the pioneer in introducing several types of illustration for the Samgrahani-sūtra. But the Cambay Sangrahani of 1587 uses bright colours with a preference for bright green prominently used.
49. Ibid., PP 415-416. fig. 32 50. First published by N. C. Mehta, A Painted Roll from Gnjarat, Indian Arts and letters, (New
Series), Vol. VI. pp. 71-78 and plates. 51. Moti Chandra and U. P. Shah, New Documents of Jaina Paintings, op. cit., figs. 12, 13. pp.
387-389, 361-365. 52. Rai Ananda Krishna, Some Pre-Akbari Examples of Rajasthani Illustrations, Marg, Vol. XI, No. 2,
pp. 18 ff., and figs. 6-8 on page 20.