Studies in Jaina Art

Author(s): Umakant P Shah
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 46

A BRIEF SURVEY OF JAINA ART IN THE NORTH
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important fact here. Hitherto believed to have been dated in V.S. 1218, the manuscript really belongs to the late 13th or early 14th century, the scribe having omitted to note the date of coping after recording the date of his original manuscript. This is further supported by a reference in this ms, to Vijayasenasūri (on folios 131-132 ) who is said to have died in 1301 V.S. Of this style are the paintings of Subāhucharitra (Sanghavi pāļā, Pātaņ) and the wooden covers of Sütrakstānga.vịtti (Nawab's collection).
The use of gold in paintings increased in the following two centuries, probably under Moghul influence. A large number of illustrated Kalpa-sūtra and Kālaka-kathā manuscripts, assignable to this age, are available in Western India. A Kalpa-sūtra manuscript in Sri Hansavijaya collection, Baroda, is specially noteworthy for its ornate border designs and bright colours, while another from Sri Dayā Vimala collection, Ahmedabad, is valuable for illustrations of various dancing postures. A palm-leaf manuscript of Mahaviracharita, dated 1294 V. S., in the Samghavi Pādā Bhaņdāra, is supposed to contain minia. tures of Hemacandra and the Caulukya King Kumärapāla. Of some other palm-leaf miniatures are illustrated here a painting of a ten-armed goddess (Mahişamarddini) from Uttarādhyayana-laghu-vștti, copied in 1352 V.S. and another of Lakşmi from Upadeśamālā-vștti, dated 1291 V.S. (both from Cambay), in figures 71 and 70. Several sets of Uttaradhyayana miniatures on paper are available, of which some have been studied by Brown in a separate monograph. Miniatures of a manuscript of this text in the Hamsavijaya collection, Baroda, are in an excellent state of preservation and belong to c. 1500 A.D., the best period of Jaina manuscript paintings on paper (fig..68 ). Sthānāóga-sūtra, Samgrahaņisūtra, Subāhucharitra, Supārsvanātha caritra, śālibhadra chaupai, Sripāla-rāsa, are some of the other Jaina texts found with illustrations. A scroll painting of the Jaina Pañcatirtbi, in the Tadpatriya Pustaka Bhaņdār, Āgrā, first published by N. C. Mehta, and rediscussed by Moti Chandra, is an interesting document of Western Indian painting on cloth dated in V. S. 1490 (1433 A.D.).
Vijñaptipatras are a type of scrolls (generally painted on paper ) of invitation, specially found amongst the Svetāmbaras, and sent to Jaina ācāryas by the Jaina community of a town or a village, requesting the former to spend the next rainy season with the latter. Such scrolls contain interesting paintings of various city sites and temples as also representations of fourteen dreams and
1 By Brown, Moti Chandra and others following Nawāb.
2 Brown, W. Norman, Manuscript Illustrations of the Uttarādhyayana Sutra, American Oriental Series, No. 21.
3 Moti Chandra, op. cit., pp. 48 ff; N. C. Mehta, A picture scroll from Gujarat, Indian Art and Letters, Vol. VI (New Series ), pp. 71-78.