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alia, carvings of musicians, dancers and rows of geese. Beneath the windowsills are carved rosettes that produce a pleasing aesthetic effect. Such small wooden carved temples and similar pieces of intricate figure carving are still made by skilled artisans in Gujarat and other parts of India.
Sculptures
Jains believe that a sandalwood sculpture, Jivantsvami image, of Vardhamana Mahavira was carved in his lifetime while he was meditating about a year prior to his renunciation in the 6th century BCE (Tiwari M. 1983: p.2). Later, the tradition of woodcarving in the round depicting jinas was abandoned, because of difficulty in the daily worship of such images, and was replaced by marble, stone or bronze images. However, subsidiary and allied carvings have continued, and some of these can be seen in museums. Such sculptures include musicians, dancers, heavenly deities and animals.
All these carvings, though small in size, reflect the tastes of Jains, their support for art works and the skilful artisans. Though mostly religious, these carvings provide us with a glimpse of the interesting social history of the period. In woodcarvings Jains preceded their Hindu or Buddhist counterparts (Ghosh A. 1975: 3.436-38).
Manuscripts
(Svetambar) Palm-leaf period: The earliest illustrated Jain manuscript is on palm-leaf and contains two texts, the Ogha-niryukti and Dasavaikalika-tika, dated to 1060 CE (Shah U. 1978: p.7) The superior quality of the drawing in these manuscripts need not surprise us once we appreciate the fact that painting on cloth by skilful artists was practised long before the eleventh century. Illustrations on palm-leaf manuscripts became more commonplace over the centuries and it seems that their production was extensive in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
Wooden manuscript covers: In the manuscript libraries (sastra bhandaras) at Jesalmir are several painted wooden manuscript covers portraying beautiful paintings of Jain deities; others are also found in the sastra bhandara at Patan and in the L.D.Institute of Indology Museum, Ahmedabad. These painted covers of books on religious topics were commissioned in commemoration of an ascetic, for the presentation of a manuscript, to mark the occasion, such as the completion of the writing of the manuscript, or a consecration ceremony.
Paper Period: Though the use of paper for Jain manuscripts in Gujarat is attested to as early as the twelfth century, its use for illustrated manuscripts, on the available evidence, does not pre-date the fourteenth century (Ghosh A. 1975: 3.405). The production of manuscripts on palm-leaves continued up to the mid-fourteenth century. The Calukya rulers of Gujarat, Siddharaja Jayasimha (1094-1142CE), and Kumarapala (1142-1172CE), the famous banker-ministers Vastupala and Tejapala of the Vaghela kings, and Pethad Shah, minister of Mandal, were responsible for a number of manuscripts. U.P. Shah maintains that the earliest illustrated Jain manuscripts on paper are the Kalpa Sutra and the Kaalakaacarya-kathaa (1346 CE). The format is narrow, only 28 X 8.5cm, and the text only six lines of text on each leaf (Ghosh A. 1975: 3.406). The narrow oblong shape of paper manuscripts continues, of course, the form of older manuscripts written on palm-leaves.
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