Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c10.s1.23

c10.s1.23

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.