Treasures of Jaina Bhandaras

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

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Notes on Arts
preferrable in view of the later Śrenika-Samyaktva-rasa which is closely related to it. With the discovery of this Rása, probably copied in Rajasthan at Kumāragiri, it is now quite clear that the style of the Nayā Mandir Mahāpurāna had a wider provenance. It my be remembered that all the labels to the paintings of this Rāsa are in old Gujarati language. Paintings on folio 1, fig, 70, follow the usual Western Indian style and differ in style from other paintings (e.g. frig. 72, 73, 74).
Most commonly illustrated Jaina Āgamas (canonical works ) are of course the Kalpa-sūtra and the Uttarādhyayana sūtra. But we do find several more Āgamas illustrated with a few paintings. Of these, one very interesting manuscript of the Rāyapasenaiya sutta (Rajapraśniya sūtra) from Muni Punyavijiayaji's collection was published in the Chhavi by U. P. Shah.78 The manuscript is assignable to late sixteenth century A. D. A few years ago, the L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, acquired another interesting Agama work, entitled, the Upāsakadaśārga sūtra (Cat. no. 474) with a few interesting illustrations (see Fig. 75 ). The treatment of face is peculiar, especially of the eyes and is in close agreement with the treatment of figures in a manuscript entitled Pārsavanātha Vivāhalu (formerly noted as Rayana sāra ) in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and assigned to 1576 A. D.79 The Upāsakadaśnāga sūtra dates from about the same age, or at best from the beginning of the seventeenth century A. D. It seems that both these manuscripts were painted in a region around Mandu in Malwa. Illustrations of this manuscript need a separate detailed treatment.
The Devaśānā pādā no bhandāra, has besides, the fleuarles Kalpa-sūtra and Kalaka-katha of c. 1475 A. D., and the beautiful Uttaradhyayana sūtra of V. S. 1529 = 1472 A. D. referred to above, another Uttarādhyayana sūtra without date, which is an important document of the new Gujarati style of sixteenth century started perhaps by Citārā Govinda of the Mātar Sarigrahani sūtra80 This Utta
18 Umakant P. Shah, Two New Documents of Paintings from Muni Punyavijayaji's Collections, Chhavi, Golden Jubilee Volume (Banaras, 1971). pp. 151-156. Also see, More Documents of Jaina Paintings, pp. 13 ff., figs. 38-40. 19See, W. G. Archer, Indian Miniatures (1960), figs. 7-8. * More Documents of Jaina Paintings, figs. 51-54, Cf. also for this style, Ibid., figs. 41-44 from Uttarādhyayan sutra, d. 1591; and figs. 45-48 from Balagopāla stuti Kankroli Collection; figs. 58, 60 from a page of Ratirahasya; also see, ibid, pp. 17 ff., 22 ff. New Documents of Jaina Painting, Colour plate VIII-IX-X and figs. 41-51.
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