Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c10.s2.3

c10.s2.3

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.