Science and Art of Calligraphy and Painting

Author(s): S Andhare
Publisher: Indian National Science Academy

Page 10

ا
ب
انسان کی عادت ندارم پسته ما تماس
ه ای
میں ہو تو روشنی میس
په سیمانی
F
ANTE
تمام طبعا بتن
نت ام پر نہین منت پ کے پاس
engravings as inscriptions and prasasthis found in the later medieval period from Rajasthan and Central India, denote the highest degree of draughtsmanship achieved by the carvers in that period. For example, the Rajaprasasthi Mahakavya, engraved on the stone slabs on the bank of the Rajasamand dam near Udaipur, constructed during the reign of Rana Raj Singh (1652-80) is one such great achievement and a marvel of calligraphy. The elegance of form and proportion of letters, their composition and execution on the huge stone slabs, the skill with the chisel may have been used, are all the pertinent questions which only science can answer. These traditional craftsmen who were groomed in the Guru Sishya Parampara i.e. the master to pupil tradition, have been engaged in such acts of writing, whether consciously, using indigenous tools and practices which had a sound scientific background and traditional occupational practice of generations.
22
Fig 5
Abdur Rahim Khan-e-Khanan & Painter Daulat with professional tools. Mughal ca. 17h c. A.D
With regards to early calligraphy on palm-leaf and paper, the use of palm-leaf for writing the holy texts began simultaneously in Eastern and Western India by about the 12th Century A. D. This was when the former, adherants of the Buddhist faith and the latter of Jainism, used palm-leaf to put down their scriptures on to writing firstly on palm-leaf MSS. Thereafter, this practice became a common phenomena in Western India, Gujarat and Rajasthan as well as in the South, where Palmyra palm leaves were engraved with an iron stylus