Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c10.s3.1

c10.s3.1

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