Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c22.37

c22.37

Having selected one of the qualities of paper that suited his purpose, this would be handed over to a pupil to be burnished with the piece of agate already referred to. While the apprentice was engaged in preparing the surface, the master painter would sketch out roughly his design on an inferior piece of paper preparatory to handing it over to another pupil to be traced. The preliminary sketch was made with a piece of charcoal or specially prepared pencil called among Indian artists a *lekhnī*. One of the *silpas*, or ancient treatises on the traditional practices of the Hindus, states that the latter was made as follows. Indian red (*gairikā*) was ground fine, and combined with dried cow-dung. To this mixture gum and water were added, the whole being worked into a paste and rolled into sticks, which could be used like pencils when dried. It seems most likely that the *lekhnī* was employed by the mural decorator, for the miniature painter would no doubt prefer sticks of charcoal as being more suitable to his medium. The first outline on the surface of the burnished paper was always made with Indian red (*gairikā*), which being unmixed with any gum or similar adhesive could be easily removed if any alterations were required. Over the lines of his preliminary sketch in red the painter made his more finished drawing by means of a black outline, which deviated here and there from his original red sketch wherever he thought this might be improved. A sketch showing the two outlines, one correcting the other in places, is given on Plate LXXI, Fig. 2. The drawing in the black colour was a fixture as the pigment was mixed with gum, so that any alteration to this had to be made by obliterating it with white paint. Black was an important colour in Persian and Mughal pictures, as it was used not only for the purposes of outline drawing, but it occasionally acted as a striking note in the colour scheme, some portions of the picture, a horse, a piece of decoration, or a garment, being painted a brilliant black. Two qualities of this pigment were known to the Mughals. One mixture was called *siyāhī* and used for painting, and the other, a somewhat different preparation employed only in writing, was called *mustafā’ī roshnā’ī*. The latter is said to have been invented by a famous Muhammadan calligraphist of the name of Mustafa, and consisted of the same black pigment as that in the artist’s palette except that it was mixed with the juice of ‘harrā and āmlā’ (*Terminalia Chebula* and *Phyllanthus Emblica*). This black pigment was the soot deposited when burning mustard oil (*tili-tel*), an extract of the *Sesamum indicum*. A small *chirāgh* or lamp, like a saucer with a rudimentary spout, was filled with the oil, which was lit by means of a cotton wick. A foot over the light a bell-shaped earthenware receptacle (*ghant*) was suspended in which the soot was allowed to collect. When sufficient was deposited in the *ghant* it was very carefully mixed with gum arabic and thus converted into *siyāhī* or Indian ink. There were elaborations of the process, and the Indian artists relate that the painters of China came to India to learn how to prepare it, since when it was also known as Chinese ink.