Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c11.s1: Printed Calico

Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c11.s1

Language: English

Printed Calico

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Before going into the details of the patterns used in the textile printing of Gujarāt it is necessary to know the outlines of the history of textile fabrics in Gujarāt and its export to foreign lands in ancient days. It is mentioned in the *Periplus of the Erythrean Sea* (1st cen. A.D.) that Broach was the principal port of India doing business with the Occident. Barygaza, Broach as was known to the Greeks, exported the best broad sort (called Monāche) and a coarse cotton (called Sagmatogene), probably used for stuffing and padding, and a third kind of coloured cloth dyed with a product of the Indian Hibiscus produced in Gujarāt.¹ It is mentioned that even at such a remote period the Gulf of Broach was difficult to navigate. But, in spite of all the difficulties of transport, such was the renown of Indian muslin that the Occident imported it, and there was a very good demand for it in the isles of Socotra and the ports of the Red Sea.²

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¹ Schoff, *Periplus of the Erythrean Sea*, pp. 72, 73, 179-180.

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² Dioskorides, 31, 6.

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In the Middle Ages the cotton industry of Gujarāt not only supplied the home demands but also exported a large surplus to the Far East and other Islamic countries. Chao-Ju-Kua, the inspector of foreign commerce in the port of Ts'iuan-chu (Fu Kien), gives a list of products from Western Asia, Africa and China.³ He mentions the cotton products of Malabar (which he takes to be the sea-coast from Nellore to Cambay),⁴ and multicoloured cotton goods from Gujarāt.⁵ All these fabrics are expressly mentioned in the lists of the indigenous products of each country; the word 'foreign' signifying the types different from those known in China.⁶ Nan-ni-hua-lo or Sindh⁷ produced white cotton goods, flowered or of pea green colour known as 'Chite' or 'chintz'. While speaking of the Persian Gulf, the author points out that every year, the Arab caravans brought for loading the boats fine cotton goods and red plants used for making red dye, which, according to the translator, was madder.⁸ Marcopolo who passed seventeen years (1275—1292 A.D.) in the service of the Mongol sovereign gives us some interesting information about Indian cotton goods in his voyage to India. In Chapter 177 he mentions that Malabar produced fine buckram. In Chapter 179, buckram, as the product of the Kingdom of Thānā (20 miles north-east of Bombay), is mentioned. The Kingdom of Cambay (Chap. 180) is said to have produced indigo in abundance; fine buckram was manufactured there, and the country exported lot of cotton.

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³ Chao-Ju-Kua, *His Work on the Chinese and Arab Trade in the 12th and 13th centuries*, entitled *Chu-fan-chi*, translated by F. Hirth and W.W. Rockhill, St. Petersburg, 1912.

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⁴ *Ib.*, p. 83.

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⁵ *Ib.* p. 92.

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⁶ R. Pfister, *Les toiles imprimees de Fostatet l' Hindoustan*, p. 13, Paris, 1938.

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⁷ Chao-Ju-Kua, loc. cit., p. 98.

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⁸ *Ib.*, p. 134, fn. 2.

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The import of cotton and cotton goods was at its maximum under the southern Sung dynasty in the 11th and 12th centuries.⁹ We have a detailed account of the several voyages of the eunuch Cheng-Huo, which have come to us in two forms, the original given by Ma Huan, and a refacimento by Fei-Sin.¹⁰ Both the redactions say that in all the coastal districts of South Asia as well as in the islands, the printed cotton goods formed the most important item of export. Speaking of the Indian Coast, the account says that it was the Kingdom of Ku-li, stretching from Cochin in the south to Cannanore in the north, which produced a good deal of printed calicoes.¹¹ This Ku-li should then be Calicut, but the neighbouring country of K'an-pa-yi, according to M. Pelliot¹², could not be Cambay which lies much farther to the north, but Coimbatore. It, however, does not seem possible that Cheng-Huo, who made many voyages to Calicut, could never reach Cambay, the principal producer and exporter of cotton goods.

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⁹ W. W. Rockhill, *Notes on the relations and trade of China with the Eastern Archipelago and the coast of Indian Ocean during the fourteenth century*, Toung Pao, XV (1914), p. 419.

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¹⁰ These two redactions have been mixed up by W. W. Rockhill, *Toung Pao*, XVI (1915), p. 61, ff. The true state of affairs has been re-established by P. Pelliot, *Toung Pao*, XXX (1933), p. 237. The text of Ma-Huan merits more confidence than the other.

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¹¹ Rockhill, *Toung Pao*, 1915, p. 455.

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¹² *Toung Pao*, 1933, p. 410.

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We have good accounts of Indian commerce since the time the Portuguese opened the sea-route to India *via* the Cape of Good Hope. Before this discovery the Arabs and Persians had a complete monopoly of Indian trade with the countries of the Far East. They were the masters of the sea-routes passing through the Persian Gulf and South Arabia on the one hand, and, on the other, they were in the centre of the land routes which passed through Syria and Mesopotamia to India and China. The Venetian merchants were obliged to seek for Indian goods at Alexandria and other trading centres on the Mediterranean. The knowledge of the sources of the exotic products which the Venetian merchants desired was, however, kept hidden from them.

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It speaks very highly of the business zeal of the Portuguese that they penetrated the mysterious Orient as soon as the new sea-route was open to them. Duarte Barbosa started in about 1500 A.D., and spent sixteen years in India in the service of the Portuguese.¹³ Barbosa mentions the importance of Aden from where the Indian products were taken to Alexandria by caravans. A few years after Egypt fell to the Turks who already possessed Aleppo, the greatest emporium of the Persian Gulf. The Portuguese counteracted this by occupying Ormuz, but the trade with Alexandria still flourished. Barbosa talks about the great quantity of cotton goods, which Aden received from Cambay (Chap. 34), as also Zanzibar (Chap. 14). Thus Gujarāt, with Cambay as its principal port, was the chief exporter of cotton goods, but it was already under the Muslim rulers who were allied with the Turkish and Egyptian Sultans, the Portuguese found great difficulty in breaking the Muslim monopoly of the Oriental commerce. The population of Gujarāt was cosmopolitan, specially in the sea ports; Turks, Mamelukes (of Egypt), Persians (of the Gulf), and Khorasanis came to stay there from the sea or the north. These Moors of Cambay spoke various languages, Arabic, Turkish and Gujarātī¹⁴. They carried business transactions with rich Hindu merchants whom Barbosa calls gentios or gentils. Cambay was an ancient port touched by the boats sailing to the Occident even in the days of the Periplus, but Broach (Barygaza) on the river Narbadā was no longer a port; Barbosa like his predecessors speaks of the dangers of the Gulf for navigation.¹⁵ Later on, Cambay was abandoned for Surat, which in the course of time was eclipsed by Bombay.

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¹³ Mansel Longworth Dames, *The Book of Duarte Barbosa*, 2 vols., Lond. 1918. The first volume contains 1—87 chapters and the second from 88—127 chapters.

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¹⁴ Mansel Longworth Dames, The Book of Duarte

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¹⁵ Ib., I, p. 138. [Barbosa, Vol. I, p. 121.

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Fig. 194

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Fig. 195

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In the time of Barbosa, Cambay produced white cotton fabrics and also printed calicoes. Both the varieties were exported by sea to Arabia, Persia, other parts of India, Malacca, Sumatra, Meylindi, Magadoxo and Mombasa.¹⁶ Situated more to the south, Chaul (now abandoned) exported to Arabia and Persia good quality of muslin for turbans¹⁷. The other varieties of calico were bleached and then two pieces joined and printed. Barbosa also mentions Pulicat (Chap. 100) manufacturing great qualities of printed cotton very much in demand in Malacca, Pegu, Sumatra and in the kingdoms of Gujarāt and Malabar for making garments. Pegu was visited by a number of Muslim navigators who brought there good quantity of printed calico and multi-coloured silk goods from Cambay and Pulicat (Chap. 105). Siam also imported textile fabrics from Cambay (Chap. 109). The isles of Timor (Chap. 117), Banda (Chap. 118), Moluccas (Chap. 120), Celebes (Chap. 121) and China (Chap. 126) also received calico from Cambay and Pulicat.

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¹⁶ Ib., p. 154.

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¹⁷ Ib., I, p. 161.

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From the accounts of the travellers we get an impression that the sea coasts of India, since the beginning of the Christian era, were great exporters of cotton fabrics, and since the beginning of the 16th century the Muslim merchants of Persia and Arabia assured their distribution into the countries of the Near East, East African coast and China. Gradually, certain regions acquired the veritable monopoly of this export; Barbosa speaks of the predominance of two centres—Gujarāt with Cambay on the Western coast, and Pulicat on the Eastern coast of India.

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After the period with which we are concerned in this chapter, India became accessible to the Portuguese, the Dutch and the French, who set up their organisations in this country, and the cotton fabrics, which were very little known in Europe till then, and printed cloth, began to play an important role in the exports from India to the West.

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We have so far been taking notice of the plain or printed calico of Gujarāt and its export to different parts of Asia and Africa. The notices taken by the foreign travellers are, however, cryptic, and we are not told anything about the technical processes involved in weaving and printing. This ignorance about one of the oldest handicrafts of this country would have continued, had not two factors come to our rescue—the publication of Western Indian miniatures from the 12th to the 16th century, which have preserved in the treatment of the costumes the patterns employed in textile printing, and the discovery of a number of printed calico pieces from the sands of Fustāt, ably discussed and classified by R. Pfister in his work *Les toiles imprimees de Fostat et l'Hindoustan*. In this book the learned author has come to the conclusion that, of a very large number of printed calico pieces discovered at Fustāt, a very small part is of Egyptian origin, the rest being from India. The author himself admits the difficulties besetting such a pioneer study, because, firstly, India does not supply any textile fabric manufactured between the 12th and 16th centuries, and, secondly, because India had already, before the Muslim conquest, submitted to the influence of the neighbouring countries, such as Persia, Central Asia and China, and, in the art of printing, these foreign influences are much more pronounced than in the monumental art whose sacerdotal character resisted innovation. The textile patterns in the contemporary literature remain superficially touched. As we shall see later on such kind of painstaking research gives a chronological basis for the patterns used in the printed calicoes of Gujarāt from the 12th to 16th century.

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Roughly speaking, the patterns found in Western Indian miniatures may be divided into two parts: (1) the patterns found in the palm-leaf miniatures, dating roughly from 1100 to 1350 A.D., and (2) the patterns found in the palm-leaf miniatures from 1350 to 1450 A.D., and also in the miniatures on paper. There is, however, no great difference in the patterns of both periods.

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In the painted wooden book-covers, datable to the middle of the 12th century, the following patterns appear:—

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(1) Plain stripes with certain panels decorated with closely placed horizontal lines¹⁸ (Fig. 190).

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¹⁸ *Bhāratīya Vidyā* (Hindi-Guj.), III, Pl. *a*.

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(2) The field decorated with what appear to be tie-dyed patterns; the borders decorated with the zig-zag¹⁹ (Fig. 190).

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¹⁹ *Ib.*

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(3) In the *sārīs* of the womenfolk, the field is divided into a number of compartments some filled with closely placed horizontal stripes and spirals, criss-cross, zig-zag and closely assorted flowers ²⁰ (Fig. 209).

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²⁰ *Ib.*, Pl. *i*.

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(4) Cross stripes and the simple circles of the tie-dye (Fig. 210) ²¹.

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²¹ *Ib.*, Pls. *i-i*.

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In the palm-leaf manuscripts, dated 1171 A.D., the following interesting patterns appear on the *sārīs* of the sixteen Vidyādevīs:—

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(1) The field divided into compartments decorated with simple meanders (Fig. 211) ²².

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²² *Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma*, Fig. 16.

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(2) The field decorated with blocked squares on which fourleaved flowers appear (Fig. 212) ²³.

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²³ *Ib.*, Fig. 17.

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(3) Peacock feather design (Fig. 213)²⁴.

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²⁴ *Ib.*, Fig. 19.

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Fig. 196

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Fig. 197

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Fig. 198

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(4) Panels filled with denticular patterns and chevron (Fig. 214) 25.
(5) Rosettes, and small flowers with closely placed petals (Fig. 215) 26.
(6) Expanded lotuses with their pericarps; there is no rim (Fig. 216) 27.
(7) Rimmed rosette in a circle (Fig. 217) 28.
(8) Simple cross pattern (Fig. 218) 29.
(9) Zig-zag alternating with floral meander (Fig. 219) 30.
(10) Zig-zag alternating with solid lozenges (Fig. 220) 31.
(11) Tie-dyed circles with four petalled flowers (Fig. 221) 32.
(12) Denticles alternating with chevron (Fig. 222) 33.

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Patterns from the palm-leaf manuscript of the *Neminātha-charita* dated 1241 A.D.

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(1) Thick cross pattern (Fig. 223) 34.

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Pattern from the *Kalpasūtra*, dated 1279 A.D.

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(1) Stepped square pattern (Fig. 224) 35.

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Pattern from the *Kalpasūtra* dated 1372 A.D.

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(1) Geese pattern.—The blue *sārī* decorated with the rows of geese carrying what appear to be pearl necklaces in their beaks (Fig. 225) 36.

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The geese pattern was very favourite with the calico-printers of ancient India. In the *Kādambarī* (7th century) 37 white *dhotī* decorated with the geese pattern is mentioned. 38 In a communication to M. Pfister, 39 who discovered a printed calico piece from Fustāt, Dr. Coomaraswamy was inclined to give this pattern a northern or Gujarāt origin.

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(2) Delicate three petalled flowers in red on white ground. 40

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Patterns from the palm-leaf manuscript of the *Kalpasūtra* from Idar; end of the 14th century.

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(1) Dotted pattern (Fig. 226). 41
(2) Horizontal blue stripes alternating with the panels of dotted circles in red (Fig. 227). 42
(3) Cheques with the compartments filled with diamonds (Fig. 228). 43
(4) Chequered square blocks (Fig. 229). 44

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²⁵ *Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma*, Fig. 20.

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²⁶ *Ib.*, Fig. 22; *see also* Pfister, *loc.cit.*, Pls. VI and c.

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²⁷ *Ib.*, Fig. 23.

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²⁸ *Ib.*, Fig. 26.

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²⁹ *Ib.*, Fig. 28.

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³⁰ *Ib.*, Fig. 29.

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³¹ *Ib.*, Fig. 31.

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³² *Ib.*, Fig. 32.

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³³ *Ib.*, Fig. 34.

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³⁴ *Ib.*, Fig. 45.

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³⁵ *Ib.*, Fig. 49.

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³⁶ *Ib.*, Figs. 79, 184, 186, 191, 198.

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³⁷ *Kādambarī*, p. 19.

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³⁸ *Harshacharita*, p. 198. For further references see Dr. Coomaraswamy's article on *Hamsa-dukūla* sārī, in the Museum of Fine Arts Bulletin, Boston, June 1927.

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³⁹ Pfister *loc. cit.*, Pl. II, a, pp. 32-34.

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⁴⁰ *Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma*, Fig. 79.

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⁴¹ *Ib.*, Fig. 83.

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⁴² *Ib.*, Fig. 84.

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⁴³ *Ib.*, Figs. 86-89.

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⁴⁴ *Ib.*, Fig. 92.

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Patterns from the *Kalpasūtra* in the Dayāvimala collection; 15th century.
(1) Stylised flowers (Fig. 230).⁴⁵
(2) Rosettes; the interspaces filled with small four petalled flowers (Fig. 231).⁴⁶
(3) Arabesque (Fig. 232).⁴⁷
(4) Flowers with curled stems (Fig. 233).⁴⁸
(5) Solar symbol or sun-flower (Fig. 234).⁴⁹
(6) Panels of chevron alternating with denticles (Fig. 235).⁵⁰
(7) Cheques with compartments decorated with four petalled flowers (Fig. 236).⁵¹
(8) Appears like Chinese cloud pattern (Fig. 237).⁵²
(9) Arabesque and solar symbol (Fig. 238).⁵³

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⁴⁵ Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma, Fig. 117; see Pfister, loc. cit., Pl. IV-c.

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⁴⁶ Ib., bottom panel.

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⁴⁷ Ib., Fig. 119.

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⁴⁸ Ib., Fig. 120.

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⁴⁹ Ib., Fig. 122.

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⁵⁰ Ib., Fig. 129.

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⁵¹ Ib., Fig. 132.

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⁵² Ib., Fig. 141.

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⁵³ Ib., Fig. 140.

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Patterns from a *Kalpasūtra* of the 15th century.
(1) Compartments filled with arabesque and criss-cross (Fig. 239).⁵⁴
(2) Animals and birds pattern; the field divided into compartments filled with the figures of geese, elephants and horses (Fig. 240).⁵⁵
(3) Rosettes with the interspaces filled with stylised leaves (Fig. 241).⁵⁶

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⁵⁴ Ib., Fig. 196.

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⁵⁵ Ib., Fig. 1.

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⁵⁶ Ib., Fig. 187.

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Analysing the patterns described above, we find that the following motifs were common; plain stripes, denticles, tie-dyed circles, spirals, cheques, meanders, blocked squares, chevron, rosettes, lozenges, cross pattern, small flowers, dotted circles, stylised flowers, arabesques, wheel pattern and zig-zag. As the space at the disposal of the painters was limited, all the details of the contemporary textile patterns could not be represented. But whatever details they have given show that the craft of calico printing was very much developed.

Linked texts (2)

Harṣacarita — Bāṇabhaṭṭa, Sanskrit
Kādambarī — Bāṇabhaṭṭa, Sanskrit