Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c11.2

c11.2

THE importance of Western Indian paintings does not only lie in the fact that they fill up a gap in the history of Indian painting between the wall-paintings of Ellura and the beginning of the Mughal school, but also in the fact that they throw considerable light on the life and culture of the people of Western India from the twelfth to sixteenth century. The artists, though considerably hampered in their expression owing to the restricted space of the palm-leaf, nevertheless, tried to give as many details as possible of the contemporary life, even sometimes at the cost of the composition. To quote one instance, we are aware of the ancient calico-printing industry of Gujarāt and the great demand of the printed fabrics of Gujarāt outside India from the 11th to 15th century. But beyond this scrappy information about such an important industry, we do not know anything about the technical processes involved and the favourite patterns used in this industry. All this ignorance is due to the fact that no printed calico has survived in India of this period due to climatic conditions. Happily, as we will have the occasion to refer later on, the examples of the mediaeval printed fabrics from Gujarāt preserved in the sand covered ruins of Fustāt, in the suburbs of Cairo, tell us a lot about the technical processes employed in printing, the lovely dyes and well-balanced patterns. From the Indian side, however, the only evidence of the patterns and dyes used in textile printing of those days is obtainable from the miniatures of Western India. If we compare the patterns obtained from this source with those obtained from Fustāt, we will be at once struck with the fact that Western Indian miniatures have preserved faithfully the contemporary patterns in calico-printing.