Treasures of Jaina Bhandaras

Author(s): Umakant P Shah, Dalsukh Malvania, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

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Treasures of Jaina Bhandāras
Patan, Sri Sangha Bhandāra, referred to as Patan 2 by Sarabhai Nawab in his Pavitra Kalpa-sūtra (p. 18) and assigned to the end of the fourteenth century (Nawab, op. cit., figs. 62-71, 78-81). Treatment of arches in his figs. 62 and 67 (78 and 81 in colour), as well as in his fig. 65 of Surya, support Nawab's dating this manuscript in the end of the fourteenth century. Especially interesting is the rare treatment of trees in figs. 68-69 and 70-71 showing a few leaves and flowers and buds and branches of tall slightly bent trees with slender trunks. This reminds of the trend in Pālitāṇā Kalpa-sūtra of 1439 V.S. discussed above. The Moon-god in fig. 64 and 79 sits on the farther end of his elliptical seat.
Another manuscript, also from Patan, assigned to the fourteenth century (though bearing no date) by Nawab, and referred to by him as Patan 3 also from Sri Sangha Bhandāra, Patan, is still more remarkable, as can be seen from Nawab's figures 114--125, 150-159 and 186-187 in the Pavitra Kalpa-sūtra. But the ms. is probably a little later and may perhaps belong to the early fifteenth century A.D. In absence of photographs showing the script of Patan 2 and Patan 3, a final opinion about age may be deferred. 42
However, it may be noted that Patan 3 contains some of the best specimens of Kalpa-sūtra miniatures and deserves a critical study. 43 Treatment of trees with flowers in Nawab's figs. 152–153 (in Pavitra Kalpa--Sūtra) is new and rare in Jaina miniatures of the Kalpa-sutra.
Some of the finest miniatures assigned to c. 1380 A.D. are in the Kalpa-sūtra and Kālaka-kathā of the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay, published by Moti Chandra and by Barrett and Gray.44 Miniatures of the Kalpa-sūtra dated 1415 A.D. in the collections of The Asiatic Society, Bombay, still await publication. 45 In the Hemacandrācārya Jñana-mandira, Patan, box no. 47, ms. no. 896 is a manuscript of Kālaka-kathā, d. V.S. 1463=1406 A.D. written at the instance of a
In his Gujarati publication of Pavitra Kalpa-sura, Nawab assigns both the mss. to the fourteenth century. In the English ed. of Masterpieces of Kalpa--süfra paintings he assigns them to the fifteenth century but does not specify V.S. or A.D.
In his Masterpieces of Kalpa-sūtra Paintings, Nawab refers to Patan 2 as HGP 1 (Hemacandracarya Jnana Mandir, Patan, no. 378) and Patan 3 as HGP 2 in the same collections, no. 758. **Barrett and Gray, Moti Chandra, An Illustrated Manuscript of Kalpa-sutra and Kalaka-katha, Prince of Wales Museum Bulletin, no. 4 (1953-54) pp. 40-48. 4Moti Chandra, Jaina Miniature Paintings in Western India, p. 37.
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