Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c12.13

c12.13

The culture of Gujarāt was affected in the beginning of the 14th century by the forces of Islam, and its effect is clearly visible on the art of painting. In the early fourteenth century Kalpasūtra palm-leaf manuscript from Iḍar, the aesthetic taste seems to have undergone some radical changes. Islam, through the importation of Iranian manuscripts, taught the Indian painters a love for gold, trailing with it a sense of resplendent glory and immense riches. The indiscriminate use of gold in the palm-leaf, and later on in paper manuscripts, did not in any way improve upon the aesthetic qualities of the art, but it certainly gave an opportunity to the rich Jain patrons to lavish wealth on their religious books which they venerated. There is also a marked departure in draughtsmanship. The primitive vigour of the 12th century is lost and is replaced by a controlled manipulation of fine lines. Even in painting the hair minute strokes are employed to depict each strand, a thing unknown in the art of the twelfth century. The decoration is also not merely suggestive, but tends towards realism. In this period of transition, Western Indian art was clearly formulating new art conventions, which became classical in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. A natural question arises whether these innovations improved the æsthetic qualities of the art. The answer should be in the negative. The addition of gold indiscriminately used to paint the Jinas and the ornaments give a tawdry and unæsthetic look to paintings. The draughtsmanship loses its primitive vigour, and certain conventions, such as protruding of the farther eyes, the pointed nose and the chin, unnecessary exaggeration of the chest and distorted treatment of the fingers, become regular art conventions to be followed without questioning. The art of that period reflects the wealth of its patrons, but is devoid of that æsthetic vigour which alone gives art its permanent values.