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Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c10: Chapter III: Technical Process and the Treatment of the Human Figure and Landscape

Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c10

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Chapter III: Technical Process and the Treatment of the Human Figure and Landscape

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IN studying the technical process involved in the execution of Western Indian painting, we have to depend on the actual manuscript material as well as Sanskrit texts on the technique of painting. A few points in this connection need stressing. (1) In Western Indian illustrated manuscripts of both palm-leaf and paper periods, in common with the contemporary Bengali and Nepalese miniatures, the illustrations take the form of square panels applied to the page without organic relation to the text. Full page illustrations are rare. The square panels, according to Dr. Coomaraswamy¹, are reminiscent of the surfaces of painted walls reduced in size and added to the written page. (2) In the preparation of illustrated manuscripts, two persons were employed, the copyist of the text and the artist of the paintings. On the manuscript folios, rectangular spaces were marked off by the copyist before commencing writing; this feature is made clear from the minute examination of the manuscripts in which writing is detected running over the lines of the square panel reserved for painting. (3) The art is of pure draughtsmanship. It is an art of symbols and the lines are not calligraphic, meaning thereby that deliberate elegance of curves and sweeps are not sought for. All this results in rather an indifferent representation. (4) As observed by Dr. Coomaraswamy, generally, "there is no preoccupation with pattern, colour, or texture for their own sake," but in certain good examples of the *Kalpasūtra* manuscripts, the decoration speaks of certain preconceived plan and mastery in technical handling. (5) The physical peculiarities, particularly the angularity of features and the projection of farther eyes of the human figures, are shared with certain figure drawings of later Ajaṇṭā paintings, and more particularly with the human figures in Ellura paintings. (6) The idealised physical type manifested in broad chest, lion-waist and large eyes extended to the ear, the medieval Western Indian painting shares with the other schools of painting in India. (7) In the majority of the manuscripts, there are not only marginal legends describing the scene, but also thumbnail sketches of the subject as a guide to the painter. (8) In the treatment of landscape, the viewpoint is much elevated, so that in landscape subjects the horizon reaches nearly the top of the page, leaving only a narrow strip of the sky in which are depicted heavy storm clouds. Other features of the landscape will be discussed in due course.

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¹ *Cat. of Ind. Coll., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Part IV, p. 32.*

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Fig. 169

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According to the tradition embodied in the Sanskrit texts on painting, a picture was completed after the eight stages had been meticulously gone through. In the Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra², all these stages are enumerated, though the technical import of certain stages is difficult to understand, owing to the mutilation of the text. The following are the eight stages in painting, according to the Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra:—

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² Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra, II, p. 253, ss. 13—15.

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(1) Vartikā.—It apparently means the use of pencil for first sketches. The nature and composition of such pencils have been already described.

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(2) Bhūmibandhana.—Preparation of the ground. In the terminology of the Mughal painters, this process is known as zamīn bāndhnā.

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(3—4) Then two further stages, lekhya and rekhā-karma, are mentioned, and they seem to be analogous to the ākārajanikārekhā and ākāramātrikā-rekhā, the butbāndhanā “rapid sketching”, and ṭipāī, “correct drawing”, in the terminology of the Mughal painters.

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(5) Karshakarma.—It probably means the drawing of correct details and seems to be the same as sachchī ṭipāī, in the terminology of the Mughal painters.

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(6) Vartanākrama.—Light and shade and modelling.

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(7) Lekhanam.—Drawing; apparently final outline is meant.

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(8) Dvichakarma (?) Apparently, the text is wrong and it is difficult to assign any meaning to it.

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A better description of the technical processes involved in painting is preserved in the Mānasollāsa³, and, though it gives the technique of wall-painting, it is equally applicable to paintings on wooden panels, cloth, and palm-leaf. After the right selection of the materials for painting, the artist tries to visualise the animate and inanimate objects, forming the subject of the painting, and, after determining their proper measurements, puts them on the wall.⁴ The figure drawings have to conform to śāstric measurements.⁵ The rapid sketch was either done with the style (tinduka) or pencil (vartikā), and then the first sketch distinguishing the form (ākāramātrikā rekhā) was drawn without the use of colours.⁶ The final sketch made (ākārajanikā-rekhā) with the help of the style or pencil was finished in red ochre.⁷ Then colours were applied, various details painted, and light in high places (ujjvalam pronnatasthāne) and shade in low places were added.⁸ This was done in a single colour; white was required where there was no shadow, and in darkness black served the purpose.⁹ Different colours were used for representing different types of men; in mixed types, however, mixed colours were used¹⁰. Burnt conch-shell for white, vermilion, lac-dye and red ochre for different shades of red, orpiment for yellow, and lampblack for black, are mentioned as primary colours;¹¹ various other shades being obtained by admixture¹². A rule is set that, while painting birds and beasts, such as antelope, dappled deer, sārdūla, peacock and patridges, their appropriate body colours should be used¹³. In the representations of inanimate objects, such as trees, hills, clothes, etc., only their true colours should be used¹⁴. In applying the colours, the painters resorted to colour contrasts. Thus, orpiment and red ochre, contrasted with pink (gauravarṇa) and indigo, brought the latter into prominence. Similarly, the darker shades of blue around indigo increased its beauty¹⁵. The thinness and thickness of the wayward lines and superfluous colour dots (pāṇḍuram vindujātam) appearing on the painting were removed with the sharp edge of a knife. These corrections, however, could be effected so long as colours were not applied¹⁶. By the light handling of the brush which did not split the burnt conchshell white (plaster ?), the lines of hair on the body (romarājim) and various other white lines were drawn¹⁷. Then gold was used to paint golden ornaments¹⁸. Next the artist represented armpit shadows in lampblack and added ornaments, clothes, flowers, garlands and the lipstick paint on the lips.¹⁹ In the end, the final outline was done in lac-dye and the painting was ready.

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³ Mānasollāsa, II, 1, 149—157.

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⁴ Ib., s. 149.

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⁵ Ib., s. 150.

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⁶ Ib., s. 151.

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⁷ Ib., s. 152.

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⁸ Ib., s. 153.

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⁹ Ib., s. 154.

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¹⁰ Ib., s. 155.

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¹¹ Ib., s. 156.

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¹² Mānasollāsa, ss. 158–164.

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¹³ Ib., s. 165.

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¹⁴ Ib., s. 166.

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¹⁵ Ib., ss. 167–168.

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¹⁶ Ib., ss. 168-169.

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¹⁷ Ib., s. 170.

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¹⁸ Ib., s. 176.

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¹⁹ Ib., ss. 178-179.

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In the Śilparatna²⁰, a somewhat detailed description of light and shade is given. It is said that, in lighting and shading, a thick brush should be used²¹. In the application of any colour, darkness is obtained by the thickness of the paint and the lightness by thinness, and this feature is common to all colours²². Coming to the final outlining, the Śilparatna lays down the rule that, where there is white, yellow, blue or red, the outline should be drawn in lampblack with a thin brush²³.

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²⁰ Chitralakshana, ss. 112–115.

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²¹ Ib., s. 112.

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²² Ib., s. 114.

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²³ Ib., s. 115.

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An old folio in Gujarātī in the possession of Muni Punyavijayajī gives an interesting account of the different colours used in the final outlines of the figures²⁴. Thus, the formula prescribes lampblack and orpiment for outlining the figures in parrot green; for indigo and ultramarine blue, zinc-white; for pink and rose, lac-dye; for gold, lampblack, and for shellac red, lampblack and zinc-white. From the examination of Western Indian miniatures of the paper period, it is evident that the instructions given above were actually at times used. This outlining in contrasting colours was necessary to bring out the effects of the different body colours used in Western Indian painting.

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²⁴ Atha āleshaṇī vidhilishyate, popatarange sāīni āleshaṇī tathā haratāla nī reshaṇī. āsmānī range sapedānī reshaṇī. gore range ālatānī reshaṇī. gulābī range ālatānī reshaṇī abaja range sapedānī reshaṇī. ākāśi range sapedānī reshaṇī. sonā range sāīni reshaṇī. lākhi range sāī tathā sapedānī reshaṇī. reshaṇī samāptā.

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The importance given to shading in the Mānasollāsa and Śilparatna is fully supported by the Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṇa which recognizes three ways of shading, कंगवमक्रअलसीदलउएमालेव कछलोलसितकोससकातिजाले।ए क्षतरालरजनीकरुवारुनालेवदाम इखवदनंक्षदववाले॥१६॥कलस दिलसखाधश्रिधसितवज्रसुदेरीमद नकदनचित्रधनेवदतरदनाबेना।तर एणाभामक्षप्रतिसपिताधरसयतिवे यतिलपणीरणीदशा।मदनमद॥१६ ॥राधा॥

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Fig. 170-171

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नारायणयनमइत्ययमेवमएंसंसार घोरदिसमेदरणायामत्र।एवंउमर्वछन शोषदिताखुरागौरठोइमराखपदिणाम् हसईवाक॥१७॥निशिपरमंमश्राजक प्राणदविमंगलविशचिताश्रीबालगो पालछति।इतिमाघराणेलगवहाकये viz., patrā, hairikā (and not āhāivikā as suggested by Dr. Coomaraswamy) and bindujā, “Leaf,” “Hatching”, and “Dotted”. Defining them, the Viṣṇudharmottara says, “The leaf-shading is done with lines (patravartanā), like those of a leaf; that which is faint (sūkṣmā) is hairika vartanā; while that done with an upright brush is dot-shading.” Discussing vartanā Dr. Coomaraswamy observes: “There can be scarcely any doubt that vartanā means shading, not of course shading intended to reproduce effects of light and shade, but that kind of shading of receding areas which produces an effect of roundness or relief, and is actually to be seen at Ajaṇṭā (where the use of highlights on projecting areas is also met with) and still survives in a limited way in the early Rājpūt paintings. Now as to the kind of shading, I cannot find the use of lines (rekhā) at Ajaṇṭā but it is common in Pahāṛī paintings where grassy surfaces are represented. The dotted shading (bindujā) is constantly found in early Rājpūt painting, where it is used to indicate armpit shadow. The faint or subtle shading designated by āhairikā or āhāivikā (airikā in the Kramrisch version is certainly mistaken) etymologically inscrutable, can only logically refer to a wash or tone such as is constantly used at Ajaṇṭā to create the relief effect, and survives to a small degree in Rājpūt painting.”²⁵ The correct reading of gairika vartanā in the printed edition of the Viṣṇudharmottara, and its emendations suggested by Dr. Coomaraswamy and Dr. Stella Kramrisch, is, however, hairika, as I have found out from an ancient manuscript of the Viṣṇudharmottara in the Sarasvati Bhawan, Benares. If the reading is correct, then hairika-vartanā means shading by hatching.

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²⁵ Chitralakṣaṇa, p. 18.

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Fig. 172-173

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In Western Indian painting, however, the above mentioned methods of shading are non-existent, though in the palm-leaf period, attempt at modelling by thickening the outline, is seen. As observed by Prof. Norman Brown²⁶, attempts have also been made at shading by using colour washes. This kind of shading, however, does not attempt to produce the effects of roundness or relief, but slightly models the limbs where it is applied. In the paper period, however, even this rudimentary shading is absent and the drawing takes a pure linear form.

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²⁶ J.I.S.O.A., V, p. 8.

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We have seen that the medieval texts on Indian painting have preserved detailed descriptions of various technical processes involved in painting, and that they all aim at careful execution. It may be, however, remarked that, while following some of the injunctions of these learned treatises in the matters of drawing first sketches, preparation of colours and ground, etc., the painters were evolving a popular technique of their own, which abhorred modelling or shading, eschewed details and tried to simplify lines. In the paper period, the horizon of the painters seems to have extended, perhaps, by the indirect influence of Persian art, and more complicated compositions are the result, but there does not seem to be any technical advancement, except in the careful border decorations and the use of gold and ultramarine.

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From the study of the illustrated palm-leaf and paper manuscripts, the following points of technique emerge: As a first step in painting, the ground in the reserved panels was painted in vermilion in the case of palm-leaf, and covered with gold or gold-leaf in the case of paper. After the major parts of the foreground and background were painted in red, care was taken to apply colours to the figures in such a way that their golden body-colour was always exposed to view. In later miniatures on paper, sometimes yellow was applied in place of gold and the red background was replaced by ultramarine. Then the outline distinguishing the limbs was added in black or any other colour. As the result of this convention, the faces of men and women, their garments and floral decoration, all appear to be painted in gold. A minute observation from one side reveals that sometimes the nose was painted red. After this, ultramarine was applied to garments and other parts where it was required. Likewise, in the palm-leaf period, colour washes were applied sometimes as an effort towards modelling. Blank spaces were left at times intentionally, but often they appear as a result of the flaking of gold-leaf, which was used invariably to represent the monastic garments. Besides the four colours mentioned above, a deep indigo blue is seen in old palm-leaf manuscripts.

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The folios of the elaborately painted manuscripts were decorated with patterns drawn from architecture and nature. The figures of birds and beasts, dancers in various attitudes, elaborate arabesque and other floral designs, eight auspicious symbols, and at times scenes adopted from Persian miniatures, were favourite motifs for decoration.

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After the establishment of the Mughal school, however, the indigenous technique in painting was greatly improved and gradually the aristocratic phase of Western Indian art was submerged into the general current of Mughal art. Its folk expression, however, survived, though its technique was greatly modified in Rājpūt and later Gujarātī painting. A study of this phase of Western Indian painting, properly speaking, belongs to the sphere of Rājpūt and Mughal arts. But as Western Indian school continued to flourish even in this period, it would not be out of place here to give a brief description of the changed technique.

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In Mughal painting, after the paper has been burnished, the painter starts the work with fresh mind. If he is to paint an imaginary subject, he meditates upon every detail of the subject, and, after everything is clear to him, he begins sketching rapidly (but-bāndhnā) with a charred pointed twig of the arhar plant. At this stage, the sketch gives the impression of the objects sketched, though their likeness may not be exact. In making a copy of the original, the painter has either the original before him or has recourse to tracing.

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In the second stage, the painter very carefully distinguishes the details of various figures. The colour with which the outline is done is called liktī or ābrang, a mixture of the lampblack and carmine. After this, he draws the correct outline. At this stage, the painting is covered with a thin coating of the zinc-white which serves the double purpose of covering the corrected lines and filling the tissues and pores of the paper, making it smooth and impervious to the effect of liquid colours. The outlines are slightly visible through this opaque coating, and with their help the final drawing (*siyāh qalam*) is made. When this process is over, the reverse is burnished by turning the drawing on a plate glass or well polished marble slab with an agate burnisher which imparts an even and mellowed glaze to the surface. After this, the painter begins applying different colours to the drawing. After every colour coating, the painting is reversed and burnished. The process is repeated several times. If the colours overlap one another, the artist redraws the outline. Thick colour coatings are never applied, as they are prone to flake. Thin colour coatings impart to the painting an enamel-like effect. While repeating the light coatings, it is necessary that one coating is perfectly dry before the next one is applied.

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Fig. 174

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The painter first applies proper colours in the background and foreground. Then, he applies body-colours, for which, cinnabar, red lead, red ochre and the Indian red mixed with the *peorī* or yellow ochre and zinc-white are used. After this, proper colours are applied to clothing and other articles, and finally gold is applied where required.

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Thin colour washes are applied rapidly. If the same colour is to be applied at more than one place, its tone should be deepened or a little changed by the addition of another colour. It is also considered wise to apply different colours in such a way that the shade of one colour should blend entirely with the other; there should not be any sharp blending. To differentiate different colour surfaces, boundary lines are drawn.

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There are times when, in spite of all precautions, the defects of lightness and uneven distribution appear in the colours. To remove these defects, a light solution of the same colour is prepared, and the part where it is to be applied is wetted with water and the solution applied over it with light hand. Sometimes, due to the carelessness of the painter, undesired colours are applied. In such case, colours are removed with a wet brush repeatedly washed in water.

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In the end, the final outline is drawn, pearls in the ornaments painted and lac-dye applied to the feet and lips.

Representation of the Human Figure

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Conforming to an ideal of beauty idolised in ancient Indian literature, the human figure dominates Indian painting. The man in Indian art has always a frail and mobile form of a youth. An elegant profile, little body without muscular development, large shoulders, delicate waist, and the lion-like stature constitute the idealised canon of physical beauty. The female form is characterised by its full sensuous development. The heavy swelling breasts simulating full rounded form of a water-pot, well moulded haunches, the slender waist gracefully poising the torso, the eyes comparable to the lotus-petal or fish with the black pupils alight with *joie de vivre* and terminating in long eyelashes, and the majestic gait of an elephant are some of the physical characteristics of women, which appealed greatly to the æsthetic sense of the Indians, and formed an idealised convention for their representation in ancient Indian paintings of Ajaṇṭā, Bāgh and Sittannavāsal.

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Indian art, however, would have lost most of its glory, had it confined itself entirely to the representation of these idealised types. It also knows of realistic types borrowed from life. In art, the correct representation of the human body in full view, profile, back-view, squatting or stooping are due to the knowledge of the science of foreshortening visible in variety of poses. Discreet modelling brings out the relief of the body, though, at the end of the ancient period, the linear aspect dominates the form, and the stability and repose of the human body are preferred more and more. The movement disturbing the static equilibrium of lines is not liked : it loses its surging vehemence and is transformed into serene pose. The rich and impetuous exuberance of the ancient Indian form is succeeded by an ideal of beauty ruled by the unchangeable laws of iconography and visibility. To represent the human figure in full visibility became a passion with the medieval Indian artists. To quote the *Viṣṇudharmottara*, "In representing certain figures the artist should avoid to place one figure before the other,"²⁷ or "the indistinct, unequal and inarticulate delineation should be avoided."²⁸ These injunctions of the *Viṣṇudharmottara* have been scrupulously observed in the spirit of artistic testament in the age following that text.

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²⁷ *Viṣṇudharmottara*, Part III, tr. by Stella Kramrisch, p. 55.

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²⁸ *Ib.*, p. 46.

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This predilection to represent the human body in full visibility resulted, in the course of many centuries, in the growth of a series of conventions. The bold foreshortening of the poses, formerly in existence, is more and more avoided, and the different parts of the body are treated as if they are fully exposed to view. The head, which the ancient art portrays under all conditions with a marked preference for the three-quarter view, in the course of time, changes to profile.²⁹

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²⁹ Stchoukine, *La peinture Indienne*, p. 104.

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It may be objected that the representation of a figure is in direct contradiction with the principle of full visibility, since in profile one side of the face remains invisible. But the full-view and the three-quarter view also suffer from this defect of incompleteness, because they also cannot render the individual contour of the face. The Indian artist had to make his choice among these attitudes. He had to sacrifice the outline of the head or give up the representation of one eye. He adopted the latter course. Due to these conventions which fettered originality, the human figures in medieval Western Indian painting have an air of detachment, and congealed in their poses they have a doll-like appearance.

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Fig. 176

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Fig. 177

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An analogous process is revealed in medieval sculptures in which the poses of the figures, formerly free, become rigid in the course of a few centuries and take to frontal aspect which correspond to the profile in painting. As the superb sculptures of Ellura, in the course of a few centuries, were metamorphosed in the static figures of the temples of Orissa and Mount Abu, similarly the human figures in the wall-paintings of Ajaṇṭā transformed themselves in the illustrated manuscripts from Western India. It is possible that this change in character was due to the tendencies of Western Indian school which laid emphasis on the linear aspect of art.

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The human figure in Western Indian school, in spite of the angularities in the treatment of the limbs, conserves the vestiges of the idealised form of the classical Indian beauty. The man still imitates the stature of a lion with his large chest and narrow waist, and the woman continues to imitate the torso in the form of an hour-glass with swelling breasts, narrow waist and well arched robust hips. Excessively large heads, measuring about one-fifth of the total height of the body, represented habitually in ‘profile perdue’, an attitude which rendered one eye less visible, is the vestige of a convention appearing at the end of the classical period. Careful of not hiding any detail of his model, the Western Indian artist represents this eye projecting into space beyond the facial line. In the palm-leaf period, this projecting tendency is less marked, but, in the paper period, it becomes a full fledged convention. The eyes are of two types, sometimes exceedingly long and narrow, and sometimes very small or very large. The pupils in the first case are represented by a circle and a point, and in the second case, by a black spot. The displacement of the pupils, that one may observe sometimes, denotes the desire of the artist to render the direction of the look. The eyebrows are very long and often reach the ears. The primitive character of these eyes stands in contrast with the treatment of the eyes in Ajaṇṭā frescoes, in which they are so beautifully rendered that one may regard them to be the outcome of some different tradition.³⁰

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³⁰ Stchoukine, *La peinture Indienne* pp. 105-107.

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One of the outstanding features of both male and female figures in Western Indian painting is the protuberance of the farther eyes beyond the facial line into space. Mr. Ajit Ghose³¹ attributes this phenomenon to the artist's desire to show that he was painting something flat, though his aim was plastic. Dr. Norman Brown³² advances the theory that this phenomenon is the direct result of copying the Śvetāmbara images putting on glass-eyes which extend beyond the natural eyes to a distance of a half-inch or more, and such images, if viewed from an angle, show the farther eyes protruding into space beyond the line of the cheek. Dr. Coomaraswamy's objection that this phenomenon also occurs in the contemporary Vaiṣṇava miniatures and in the wall-paintings of the Kailāsanāth Temple at Ellura, is not taken seriously by Dr. Norman Brown as, in his opinion, no direct contact could be established between the wall-paintings of the 9th century and the miniatures of the 15th century, and as in the Kailāsanāth Temple wall-paintings the painter probably intended to represent the eyelashes in the protrusion. It would be interesting in this connection to make further enquiries into the tradition of the protuberance of the farther eyes.

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³¹ *Artibus Asiae*, 1929, pp. 188 ff; pp. 278 ff.

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³² Norman Brown, *The Story of Kālaka*, pp. 16-17.

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Going back to Ajaṇṭā, we find that the human face is represented in three-quarter view, *i.e.*, one side of the face is fully represented, while two-thirds or three-quarters of the other side is usually represented. This was a well established convention in the art of Ajaṇṭā, but with the decadence of art we find in the later paintings of Cave Nos. I—II at Ajaṇṭā the development of a new tendency in which, though the three-quarter view is maintained, some changes are effected by representing the farther cheek somewhat lesser than the three-quarter part, with the result that the forehead, the nose and the chin remained in the same position as in the three-quarter view of the earlier paintings, but, with the pinching of the farther cheek, the farther eye began to protrude beyond the facial line till a stage is reached when this feature is conventionalised in Western Indian painting.

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Coming to the wall-paintings of the Kailāsanāth Temple (8th century), and Ganesa Lena (8th to 11th century), and Indra Sabhā (10th century), constituting the Jain Group of temples,³³ we find that the three-quarter view of Ajaṇṭā paintings has been modified. The pinching of the farther cheek has been carried a step further, with the result that it practically disappears, only the part near the nose being shown. In majority of cases the farther eye does not protrude into space, but there are occasions ³⁴ (Fig. 6) when the convention appears clearly. This convention at Ellura may be described thus: The representation of one side of the face is in profile, while the convention of the three-quarter view is maintained on the other side in the representation of the farther forehead, including the eye-brow and a part of the chin.

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³³ *Ann. Rep. Arch. Dept. H. E. H. Nizam's Dom. 1927-28, p. 20.*

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³⁴ *Ib., Pl. D. & F.*

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This convention seems to have gained a firm foothold in the twelfth century, as is evident from the painted ceiling of a *maṇḍapa* of the Viṣṇu temple at Madanpur ³⁵ datable betwen 1130—1165 A.D. The interest of these paintings lies in the fact that they have the same characteristics, such as the pointed nose, the farther eye protruding into space and the angularity in drawing ³⁶ (Fig. 8), as in Western Indian school.

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³⁵ *J. I. O. S. A., VII, p. 175.*

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³⁶ *Ib., Pls. XVII, XVIII.*

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In the earliest miniatures on palm-leaf and wooden panels as the *Jñātāsūtra* (A.D. 1127) and three other *Angasūtras* (Figs. 15-16), the tendency of the farther eye to protrude into space is noticeable, but it is not yet very pronounced as in somewhat later paintings. In a manuscript containing the *Ogha Niryukti*, etc., dated 1161 A.D., there are sixteen miniatures of Vidyādevīs. Here in most cases the farther eyes are shown protruding into space, though in certain cases the delineation of the farther cheeks controls the protrusion (Figs. 17—42). In an illustrated palm-leaf manuscript of the *Mahāvīracharita* (Figs. 43—45), dated 1237 A.D., though there is a lapse of more than hundred years, the art conventions have not undergone any change. The tendency of the farther eye to protrude into space is, however, more pronounced, but it is controlled by the representation of a part of the farther cheek which acts as a rest, as it were, for the protruding eye. But further we proceed, the tendency becomes more and more prominent till the farther eye protruding into space without any support becomes an outstanding feature of Western Indian painting.

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Fig. 178

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From the history of the development of the convention of protruding eyes, it is apparent that there was a sort of struggle between the old convention of three-quarter view and the new convention leaning towards profile, and gradually the latter was ousting the former. The rigid convention of three-quarter view was of much older standing to be eliminated all of a sudden, and, therefore, as an unconscious compromise between the old and the new, the painters allowed to remain in the new convention the representation of a part of the farther forehead and the eye which protrudes into space, owing to the pinching of the cheek. How far the ancient convention of three-quarter view has degenerated towards profile in Western Indian painting can be judged by the simple method of drawing a line from the middle of the forehead to the chin of a human figure. It will be seen then that, except for the farther eye and the portion of the forehead, the head is in profile. In later Western Indian paintings even the length of the farther forehead diminishes, and only the farther eye protruding into space remains to tell the origin of this view from three-quarter view.

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In this connection, we may revert to Dr. Norman Brown’s theory which attributes the protuberance of the farther eye to painters copying the Śvetāmbara Jain images putting on additional glass-eyes which, viewed from the side, showed that the farther eye protrudes beyond the line of the cheek into space. This is quite an ingenious explanation of the phenomenon, but there are a few serious obstacles in the way of accepting his theory. It has been pointed out above that this phenomenon occurs in more or less degree in Indian wall-paintings from the 7th century to the 12th, and, if we accept Dr. Norman Brown’s theory, we will have to assume that the Hindū and Buddhist idols, in common with the medieval Śvetāmbara Jain images, wore glass-eyes—an assumption for which there is no proof. As a matter of fact, the wearing of glass-eye or *netra*, as it is called, could not claim great antiquity. At least, we have not come across any reference to glass-eyes as a part of an idol in medieval Sanskrit texts on iconography. It is remarkable, however, that during the Mughal period or a little earlier such kind of decoration seems to have come into vogue, and not only the Jain but also the Vaishnavite images of the Vallabhāchārya sect of that period were decorated with the enamelled silver eyes. The practice continues even today. It is probable that this hideous invention was made with a view to impart æsthetic beauty to otherwise dull and commonplace images of the Mughal period. As I have said before, the reason for such a deformity is not to be sought in the extraneous circumstances, but in the historical development of the technique itself and I hope, I have been able to advance enough proof to support my thesis. In ancient India, there was more or less an uniformity of conventions relating to the model human types, aesthetic view-point and other artistic technicalities. These conventions, after the 7th century, continued in a decadent form. As from Sanskrit, different forms of Prākṛit and Apabhramaśas, the languages of the people, were evolved, so from the old pictorial traditions, which are truly the language of the artists, sprung medieval art traditions. They have provincial peculiarities as the regional dialects, nevertheless they are derived from a common source.

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The pointed nose seems to have been considered as a point of beauty by the artists of that age, as we are well aware from the contemporary literature which compares the nose with the parrot's beak. This preference for the angularity of the nose is also found in the sculptures of Orissa and Gujarāt. Hence, Western Indian miniatures also did not mind reproducing this sign of beauty.

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The hands, though drawn in various attitudes, are not flexible, and the delicately poised mudrās of Ajaṇṭā are entirely absent.

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Loyal to the tendency of showing the human body to the best advantage, Western Indian school equally emphasises all parts of the human body. It is, however, noticeable that the characteristic vigour and serene repose of the ancient figure drawing are absent.

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There is no variety in the treatment of human figures in Western Indian art. Dieties, Tīrthamkaras, kings, warriors, monks, princes and princesses, attendants, both male and female, are represented. Among them may be noted the curious type of the old ascetic with white beard, who stays for a long time as a favourite subject with the Indian painters. It is the same with the groups of dancers and musicians which are found right from Ajaṇṭā and Ellura to the miniatures from Bīrbhūm in Bengal and numerous Mughal and Rājpūt paintings.

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To sum up, the various characteristics of figure drawing in Western Indian painting we arrive to the following conclusions: The face is invariably represented in one-and-a-quarter-view; the nose juts out pointedly beyond the farther cheek and reminds us of a parrot's beak; the chin, in proportion of the face, is smaller and removed farther from the high cheek bones; the paḍol-shaped eyes, represented in close proximity, have their ends lengthened, and their pupils are very much smaller in their proportions; the farther eye protruding into space has the appearance of being attached separately; the chest is exaggerated; the attitudes and mudrās are contorted; the animals and birds have a doll-like appearance; comparatively, few colours with the predominance of red and yellow have been used, and the final outlining has been done in the lampblack and is so sharp as to give an impression of being drawn with a steel pen, as it were; in the mediocre works, the drawing is generally weak.

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Fig. 179

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Fig. 180

Representation of Animals

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No Indian landscape is complete without animals. The animals, according to the Hindu way of thinking, do not form a separate world as opposed to human beings. The belief in the transmigration of the soul places the animal world on the same footing as human being, though on the lower rung of the ascending scale of evolution. But, in this chain of successive existences determined by *karma*, the mineral, vegetable, animal and human existences are able to take two opposite directions; the spirit of an animal could incarnate in a human body, or the human spirit could fall so low as to enter the body of a beast, or fall still lower and enter the vegetable or animal kingdom. The end of each existence is to liberate oneself from successive existences till final liberation is achieved. This theory of the close bond between the human and animal life, further strengthened by the theory of Ahimsā which became a landmark in the Buddhist and Jain teachings and resulted in the non-violability of animal life, inculcated the love and sympathetic understanding of animal life, not known elsewhere.

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The anthropocentric tendency of Indian art in transferring the nature to the arena of human action brings the two entities close together. This close bond between man and beast was a great obstacle to the objective representation of the latter. But whatever Indian art loses from this, on the realistic side of animal representation, is amply made good by the keen and sympathetic study of animal life.

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The representation of animal life occupies an important place in the ancient Indian art. In the wall-paintings of Ajaṇṭā, a number of animals are represented with such a keen insight for their life and movement that they stand even to this day as a testimony to the great skill of the artists of Ajaṇṭā. The variety and the spontaneous execution of the animal figures are so natural that they rule out the application of hidebound formulas. It is evident that at Ajaṇṭā animal drawings were inspired directly from the models, and not from the animal chart or memory drawings as was a common practice in later times. The elephant is a favourite animal with the painters of Ajaṇṭā, and in no art of the world it has been represented with such sympathetic understanding. The elephant at Ajaṇṭā is not the ferocious brute of the African forests, but a gentle animal nurtured in the stables of a king. Even if he is represented in the wild state, he is not devoid of gentleness and humour. Monkeys³⁷ are represented with a keen sense of observation, and the antelopes³⁸ have the same grace and nimbleness with which they are characterised in Sanskrit literature. The representation of the bulls³⁹ shows how closely their habits were observed by the painters; the lion⁴⁰ and the horse⁴¹ are also represented in a realistic manner. The bird drawing does not seem to have been favourite with the painters, only the geese are the favourite birds of Ajaṇṭā painting.

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³⁷ Herringham, Ajaṇṭā, Pl. XI.

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³⁸ Ib., Pl. VIII.

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³⁹ Bagh Caves, Pl. XVIII.

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⁴⁰ Ib., Pl. XX.

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⁴¹ Herringham, Ajaṇṭā, Pl. XI.

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They may be seen disporting in the decorative floral scroll⁴², or flying in the air,⁴³ or associated with the palaces.

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⁴² Herringham, *Ajaṇṭā*, Pl. XLII, 57.

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⁴³ *Ib.*, XLI, 54.

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In the ancient treatises on painting, animals are often associated with the landscape. According to the *Viṣṇudharmottara*, the pictures of the six seasons have birds and animals as their indispensable attributes.⁴⁴ The same work recommends to paint the sky swarming with birds, the forest crowded with animals and birds, and the water with fish and tortoise.⁴⁵ The *Mānasollāsa* is the first technical text on painting, which gives elaborate description of the body measurements of a horse⁴⁶ and an elephant.⁴⁷ Fed up with such elaborate discussions the author concludes: "Innumerable are the beings which could not be described. The intelligent artist should paint them according to their forms. Their realistic representations should be as their reflections in a mirror."⁴⁸

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⁴⁴ Stella Kramrisch, *Viṣṇudharmottara*, pp. 58–59.

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⁴⁵ *Ib.*, p. 57.

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⁴⁶ *Mānasollāsa*, II, 1, 835–873.

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⁴⁷ *Ib.*, 874–898.

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⁴⁸ *Ib.*, 899–900.

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In Western Indian miniatures, however, the representations of birds and animals take a different character which represents the triumph of convention over realism. The animals are treated generally in a conventional and decorative manner, though the representations of the bull, the elephant and the deer have not lost, in spite of their archaic appearance, certain beauty of movements. The elephant, invariably represented as white, retains some of its former majesty and appears bedecked and painted ready to be mounted by the king, or to be led in a procession.⁴⁹ The bull, retaining some of its former realistic character, has often an exaggerated hump and a deformed mouth.⁵⁰ The deer retain their free movement⁵¹, and the monkey is still imbued with some of its mischievous and restless character.⁵² The massive horses evoke comparison with the horses in the equestrian Mughal portraits (Figs. 80, 99).⁵³ They differ from the horses represented in Persian painting at the end of the 15th century, but on the other hand they resemble the horses represented on the pottery of Rhages.⁵⁴ Horses with tapering necks and crocodile-like snouts are also found (Fig. 156),⁵⁵ and are reminiscent of the horses depicted in Persian painting of the 16th century. The tiger is treated conventionally (Fig. 155),⁵⁶ and its body is usually marked with lines to indicate the stripes. The geese seem to have been favourite with the painters of this period. They are not only seen perched on the housetops and trees, but also serve as a decorative pattern on the *sārīs*. The peacock is distinguished by the stylisation of its wings, legs and the beak elongated out of proportion (Fig. 149).⁵⁷ The parrot is distinguished by its bold and simple design. The serpent is treated in a realistic manner. In general, the ornamental treatment of the animals and birds tends to exaggerate, and, consequently, it eliminates the realism of the ancient school. This artistic conception of the fauna persists throughout the middle ages and even continues in the Rājpūt art of the 17th century and later.

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⁴⁹ *Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma*, Figs. 1, 164.

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⁵⁰ *Ib.*, Fig. 164.

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⁵¹ Mehta, *Gujarati painting in the 15th century*, No. 38.

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⁵² *Ib.*, No. 77.

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⁵³ *Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma*, Fig. 257.

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⁵⁴ Stchoukine, loc. cit., p. 91.

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⁵⁵ *Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma*, Fig. 180.

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⁵⁶ *Ib.* Fig. 164.

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⁵⁷ *Ib.* Fig. 191.

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Fig. 181

Treatment of Nature

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The love of nature is a characteristic feature of Indian mind which was capable of developing the highest thought in the quietitude of nature. The sylvan quiet of the forest where nature reigned supreme was conducive to the highest metaphysical speculations of the great Indian Seers. The sublime beauty of nature even proved a healing balm to the mind disturbed with the calamities of human life. Exiled from his kingdom and deprived of his rightful succession, Rāma found consolation at the sight of the Chitrakūṭa. With the eyes of an artist, he saw the Chitrakūṭa breaking into thousand peaks and the rocks assuming forms resplendent in the shades of gold, silver, purple and azure; their slopes appearing like a green banner aglow with golden embroidery and covered with the carpet of languishing multi-coloured flowers.⁵⁸ Again, haunted by the sorrow of separation from his wife, Rāma saw in the sombre cloud-sky, without moon and stars, the state of his own suffering mind.⁵⁹

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⁵⁸ Rāmāyaṇa, II. 94.

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⁵⁹ Ib., lv, 27.

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It is unfortunate, however, that such understanding of nature as we have described above is not found in the rare examples of Indian painting which have survived. In Ajaṇṭā painting, architecture dominates the scene, though decorative motifs have been borrowed from nature. The landscape rarely represented at Ajaṇṭā may be classified into two groups. (1) The elements which appear separately, such as trees, flowers, plants, etc., which are represented in a realistic manner. The rocks, however, are represented conventionally. (2) Their artistic groupings in the interest of the composition and perspective show that the painters at Ajaṇṭā were already acquainted with the problems of three-quarter dimension in relation to space. The architectural details are introduced to bring coherence in the groupings, and at Ajaṇṭā they may be called “architectural landscape.” All these architectural details are represented, as if they were to be seen by a person from the housetop. This point of view in perspective gave liberty to the artists even to represent the details which, according to the laws of ordinary perspective, should be hidden from view.

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To supplement our meagre information of the ancient Indian landscape painting we have to fall back on the various rules laid down in the Viṣṇudharmottara for landscape painting. It lays down that in painting the traditional six seasons, the summer has to be associated with a deep pool, languid men, the deer seeking the shade of trees, and the buffaloes wallowing in mud. The rainy season has an appropriate landscape with the sky overcast with heavy clouds through which the lightning flashes, and which are at times beautified with the rainbow. In this season, birds are shown perched on trees, and the lions and tigers are shown taking shelter in caves. The appropriate landscape for autumn has the trees heavily laden with fruits, the earth covered with ripening corn-fields, and the tanks beautified by lotuses and geese. The landscape at the approach of winter has frosty horizon, the harvested fields, and the ground wetted with dew-drops. In the winter landscape, the sky is covered with a heavy fog, men are shown shivering, while the crows and elephants are jubilant.⁶⁰ Then certain broad principles of landscape painting are laid down. The sky should be shown without any special colour, and swarming with birds. In the night, however, it should be covered with stars. The earth should be shown with the luxuriant growth of plant life. The mountain should be represented by the conglomeration of rocks, peaks, trees, waterfalls and snakes. A forest should be represented by the thick growth of various species of trees and swarming with birds and beasts. The water should be shown in conjunction with innumerable fishes, tortoises, lotus flowers and other aquatic animals and plants.⁶¹

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⁶⁰ Stella Kramrisch, The Viṣṇudharmottara, III, pp. 58.

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⁶¹ Ib., p. 57.

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In the description of the landscape above such a realism is aimed at for whose successful fulfilment extensive surface of the wall, and not the restricted surface of the palm-leaf or wooden panels, must have been required. How much of the above instructions were capable of fulfilment at the hand of the artists, and how much remained only a theory, we are unable to say in the absence of documents. But it was by no means an impossibility, looking at the great technical achievement of the artists of Ajaṇṭā. Anyway, the dream of the gorgeous landscape described above is realised to a certain extent in Rājpūt and Pahāṛī paintings of the 17th and 18th centuries.

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Symbolism in Indian art also solved many difficult problems of landscape painting. There the rivers may be represented in the form of a woman standing on her appropriate vehicle, carrying a pitcher in her hands and her knees bending; there is the impression of a peak on the forehead of the human personification of a mountain; the sea in human form carries a pitcher and the water replaces the halo; the tank is represented by a pitcher.⁶²

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⁶² Ib., p. 56.

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In Western Indian miniatures of the 14th century and later, the realistic tendencies of the early landscape are replaced by purely decorative conception. The monochrome red background in these miniatures leaves no place for the converging perspective. The figures are not disposed one behind the other as in the contemporary Bengali paintings of the 11th and 12th centuries, but are superimposed. The heights of the figures do not depend on the real dimensions of the subjects depicted, nor are their representations governed by the position of the objects in space, but on the importance of the figures in the composition. Thus, the height of a man at times is greater than that of an elephant, trees or a building, because the former represents a Jina or a prince and hence his importance must be emphasised by enlarging the figure. In such a primitive and highly conventional view-point of the perspective, landscape finds little space. In the miniatures of the *Subāhu Kathā* (Figs. 51-52), we find for the first time certain elements of landscape, such as trees, birds and hills, but their treatment is conventional. In the 14th century cloth-painting of the *Pañchatīrthī* (Figs. 177-185), however, blue hills edged with white and studded with trees is a definite improvement in the conventional landscape. In the fifteenth century miniatures, the following features of the landscape may be marked :-

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Fig. 182

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Fig. 183

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The sky is represented by conventionally treated clouds painted on red ground. The sun and the moon are represented, the former by a gilded disc and the latter by a golden crescent. The water is represented by basket patterns, sometimes associated with aquatic birds 63 (Fig. 188) and lotus flowers or fish and other aquatic animals. 64 A series of sinuous triangles (Fig. 148), 65 or piled up arches represent the mountain. It is associated with animals, such as the deer, the tiger, the hare, etc. 67 The most artistic representation of a mountain is shown in an illustrated manuscript of the *Kālpasūtra* reproduced by Prof. Norman Brown.⁶⁸ The bright golden ball of the rising sun, encompassed with the double rim in blue and white against a red background, shines just above the variegated mountain peak. The deep shadows fill the cavities, and a solitary bird is shown flying through the mist hanging over the mountain.

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⁶⁸ Norman Brown, *Ib.*, Fig. 38.

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In Western Indian miniatures, trees are conventionally treated. The foliage is often composed of a series of circles or bouquets. Such trees give the impression of an umbrella. Their white or gilded trunks are covered with fine sinuous lines, perhaps simulating their barks. In another type, the leaves are painted separately, their sinuous branches and trunks are very delicate, and their knots are delineated with a few curved lines 69 (Fig. 73). In the third type, the tree-top is thickly covered with indigo leaves and the flowers in the shape of rosettes and buds are picked out in red 70 The coconut (Fig. 102) 71 and the palm trees (Fig. 101)⁷² and the mango 73 and the plantain trees are often represented realistically. Very vew architectural details are represented. A pair of columns suffice to represent a palace. In the *Pañchatīrthīpaṭ*, however, elaborate designs of Jain temples are given. It is quite possible that the lack of architectural details in Western Indian painting is due to the lack of space at the disposal of the artist.

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⁶³ *Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma*, Fig. 257.

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⁶⁴ Norman Brown, *Miniature paintings of the Jaina Kalpasūtra*, Fig. 30.

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⁶⁵ *Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma*, Fig. 186.

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⁶⁶ Norman Brown, *Ib.*, Fig. 33.

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⁶⁷ Mehta, *Gujarati painting in the 15th century*, No. 26.

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⁶⁹ *Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma*, Fig. 110.

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⁷⁰ *Ib.*, Fig. 112.

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⁷¹ *Ib.*, Fig. 196.

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⁷² *Ib.*, Fig. 181.

The Laws of Grouping and Composition

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Any study of Indian art based solely on the analytical principles is bound to remain incomplete, if the basic principles which give it permanent values are ignored. Once the analysis is over the synthesis of all the consistent elements remain to be treated. In other words, this synthesis resolves itself in the study of the means employed by the Indian artists to realise unity in their works. We are thus brought to the problems of composition, line and colour.

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