Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c5: Introduction

Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c5

Language: English

Introduction

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THE study of Western Indian painting is of very recent growth, and before Dr. Coomaraswamy wrote his article on Jain painting in 1914¹, little was known of its existence. After the publication of the *Catalogue of Indian Collections in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Part IV*, by the same author in 1924, the study of Western Indian painting received a great impetus and various scholars, such as Dr. W. Norman Brown, Mr. N. C. Mehta, Mr. O. C. Gangoly, Mr. Ajit Ghose and Dr. M. R. Majumdar, joined hands in discovering new documents of Western Indian painting and throwing light on their technical and æsthetic achievements. Their researches have given us a chronological sequence in the development of Western Indian painting and also the distinguishing features of its technique. Mr. Sarabhai Nawab has been the last in the field and his work on Western Indian painting, named *Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma* in Gujarātī, published at Ahmedābād in 1935, besides giving us a very good account of Western Indian painting, introduces us to hitherto unknown illustrated manuscripts hidden away in the most inaccessible Jñāna Bhaṇḍārs. The new material which he has given to us not only enhances our knowledge of Western Indian painting, but in some cases is æsthetically much superior to the stereotyped paintings already published. The beautiful border decorations of the *Kalpasūtras* published by him show that Western Indian painters in the late 15th and early 16th centuries were great decorators. The most outstanding part of the *Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma* is the introductory essay by that veteran Jain scholar Muni Punyavijayajī on Jaina monastic culture and palæography. This essay is a mine of information on the art of writing and the materials employed in preparing books. It gives us valuable information about the palm-leaf, paper and cloth, the methods of preparing various types of inks and colours, and a history of the Jain Jñāna Bhaṇḍārs.

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¹ *Journal of Indian Art*, No. 127, London, 1914.

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Since the publication of the *Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma*, Sarabhai Nawab has not remained quiet but has been collecting new materials which distinctly advance our knowledge of Western Indian painting. The recent discovery of the painted wooden book-covers by Muni Jinavijayajī from the famous Bhaṇḍār at Jaisalmer also adds much to our knowledge of Western Indian painting. The accumulation of all this material necessitated a critical study of all the fresh documents and Sarabhai Nawab entrusted the work to me. While going through the new material I was prompted to examine afresh the material already published by Dr. Norman Brown.

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and Sarabhai Nawab. The result of all these enquiries has been incorporated into the present work.

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I have always believed that Western Indian painting was not an individual phenomenon confined to Rājputānā and Gujarāt but a part of the common art movement in medieval India. I have tried to show from the wall-paintings from Mālwā, the Deccan, Southern India and Pagan that they were inspired with a linear conception which was probably of Western Indian origin.

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For a thorough understanding of Western Indian painting it is necessary to have a knowledge of the technical process involved. The Mānasollāsa, a work of encyclopædic nature written in the twelfth century, is of great help in understanding the contemporary technique of painting. There is a full description of colours which I have supplemented from the colour formulas found by Muni Punyavijayajī.

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In the course of my studies I also found that the miniatures from Western India conserve rich material for the study of Western Indian costumes and textile designs. It is remarkable that in the 12th century the people of Western India wore half-sleeved jackets and shorts, though later on these were supplanted by the Indian dhotī and chādar. The women wore cholī, sārī and scarves. The skirt makes its appearance in the middle of the 14th century and was extensively used by the dancing girls in the 15th century.

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Gujarāt, as we know, was a great centre of calico printing, and it exported printed calico to Africa and Asiatic countries from the 11th to 16th century. No textile material has survived from this period in Gujarāt proper, and the only source for the knowledge of the patterns and colours employed by the textile printers of Gujarāt are these paintings. That the painters took the designs from the contemporary art of textile printing is supported by the actual appearance of such designs on the contemporary printed calico pieces from Fustāt in Egypt.

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We have mentioned in the first chapter that no traces of Western Indian school of painting prior to the early twelfth century are found in its homeland and that for its earlier history we have to depend on the wall-paintings of Ellura. This paucity of the documents of Western Indian school of painting in Gujarāt and Rājputānā may be attributed to the destruction of the artistic monuments by the onslaught of the Muslims who wreaked the vengeance of their iconoclastic zeal on Hindu temples and palaces. In these centuries of storm and stress, precious documents of Western Indian school of painting on palm-leaf and cloth were irretrievably lost. Fortunately, a part of such documents of Western Indian art has been saved to us and the credit for its safe preservation goes to the Śvetāmbara Jain Jñāna Bhaṇḍārs. It would not be out of place here to say something more about these ancient libraries which have preserved to the posterity invaluable documents of Indian culture.

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The foundation of the Jain Jñāna Bhaṇḍārs, paradoxically enough, is attributed to a terrible famine which occurred in the 5th century A.D. As a result of this famine, a majority of the Jain monks, well versed in the sacred lore, died. To add to this disaster, this century also witnessed the weakening of the memory of the Jain monks, due perhaps to malnutrition. If, therefore, the sacred Jain lore was to be saved from complete extinction some drastic steps had to be taken. Feeling the urgency of the occasion a council of the Jain monks under the presidency of Devardhigaṇi Kṣamā-Śramaṇa was summoned in Vīra Saṃvat 980 (V. S. 510 or 570, according to Jacobi, i.e., A. D. 453 or 513) to Valabhīpura in Kāṭhiāwār, and with the common consent of the monks assembled there, the Jain Aṅgas and Upāṅgas were committed to writing.² The cryptic notices of this council in Jain literature, however, do not tell us anything as to how these books were written, what materials were employed, what technique in book writing was followed and how they were kept in the Jñāna Bhaṇḍārs. One thing is, however, certain that learning received a great impetus in the following centuries, and there is every likelihood that many Jñāna Bhaṇḍārs were established which acted as custodians of the sacred literature.

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² Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma, Bhāratīya Jain Śramaṇa Saṃskṛti and lekhana kalā, pp. 14–15.

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Fig. 1

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Fig. 2

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Fig. 3

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Fig. 4

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From the study of the biographies of the great supporters of Jainism after the 10th century, it is evident that the Jain monks had realised the great educational value of the Jñāna Bhaṇḍārs. They took great pains in explaining to the Jain intelligentsia the importance of the religious texts and the works of the great masters; the religious susceptibilities of the common folk was stirred by pointing to them the holiness of the ancient texts, and to those, who cared more to see their names in the colophons than anything else, the temptation of perpetuating their names to the posterity was held out. Besides these measures, several functions, such as, Jñānapūjā, etc., were held from time to time to keep up the interest of laymen in learning. Actuated by the above considerations, the great Jain kings, their ministers and bankers, for the expatiation of their sins, or for hearing the recitation of their religious literature, or for the spiritual welfare of their selves or their departed kith and kin, ordered the composition of new works, or purchased the disbursed Jñāna Bhaṇḍārs and presented such collections to their revered teachers.³

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³ Ib., I, pp. 90–91.

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Siddharāja Jayasiṃha (1094–1143 A. D.) and Kumārapāla (1143–1174 A. D.), the famous rulers of Gujarāt, were also great patrons of learning. It is said of Jayasiṃha that he employed three hundred scribes to copy out books on religious and secular matters for the Imperial Library.⁴ It is said that numerous copies of the Siddhahaima Vyākaraṇa were prepared by the order of the king and distributed among the scholars in different parts of India. Kumārapāla is said to have established 21 Jñāna Bhaṇḍārs, in every one of which he placed a copy of the Kalpasūtra written in golden ink.⁵

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⁴ Prabhāvakacharita, Hemachandra Prabandha.

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⁵ Ib., p. 92.

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Among the great ministers of state who founded the Jñāna Bhaṇḍārs may be mentioned Vastupāla-Tejapāla, Pethaḍsāh, Maṇḍana Mantri, and others.

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Vastupāla-Tejapāla became interested in the Jñāna Bhaṇḍārs on the advice of his teachers Vijayasena Sūri and Udayaprabha Sūri.⁶ Pethaḍ Sāh, the minister of Māṇḍogaṛh, founded Jñāna Bhaṇḍārs in seven cities including Broach.⁷ The credit for preserving the manuscripts in a large measure, however, goes to bankers and merchants. Actuated by the desire of service to their faith, they ordered the copying of innumerable manuscripts both illustrated and otherwise, and it is solely due to their efforts that so many documents of Western Indian painting are preserved for us.

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⁶ Upadeśataranginī, p. 142.

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⁷ Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma, p. 93.

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It is remarkable that in the Jñāna Bhaṇḍārs not only Jain books were kept, but also books of different faiths for criticism and comparison and ready reference. This shows that the Jain monks in the middle ages were not narrow-minded communalists, but understood the importance of an all comprehensive library. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they were the torch-bearers of Indian civilization in the dark ages.

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The Jñāna Bhaṇḍār is an institution which is a part and parcel of the Śvetāmbara Jain community and there are hundreds of such Bhaṇḍārs with small or large collections of manuscripts all over Gujarāt and Mārwār. The most important of these Bhaṇḍārs are Sanghavī no pāḍāno Jñāna Bhaṇḍār, Pāṭan, Śāntināth Jñāna Bhaṇḍār of Cambay and the Jñāna Bhaṇḍār of Jaisalmer. These Bhaṇḍārs are famous for their collections of palm-leaf manuscripts from the 11th to 15th century. The less important Bhaṇḍārs have paper manuscripts dating from the 15th to 17th century. All these Bhaṇḍārs are joint property of the Śvetāmbara Jain community which meets all charges for their upkeep.

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In the understanding of a particular school of painting historical data is incidental, its chief appeal lying in its æsthetic appeal. Unfortunately, there are divergent views about the æsthetic appeal of Western Indian school. One view praises its primitive vigour, strong draughtsmanship and pristine colours, while others see in them signs of decadence. The true æsthetic appreciation of this school, however, lies somewhere midway between these two extreme views. There is little doubt that the early palm-leaf illustrations are imbued with a sense of direct expression which is a characteristic of the primitives. In the course of time, however, the early formulas are hardened into conventions which are repeated with such mechanical precision that the paintings loose much of their æsthetic significance. Some of the sixteenth century manuscripts are, however, distinguished by their beautiful border decorations. The patterns are drawn from the rich repertoire of temple decoration and the painters have not neglected the contemporary decorative motifs from Islamic architecture and book-painting. The treatment of dancing girls framed against floral background is very pleasing. The figure composition in the carefully executed manuscripts are well balanced, but the inordinate use of gold mars the harmony of colours. In the ordinary illustrated manuscripts, however, the conventions are followed with such rigidity that the manuscripts appear to be the printed copies of the original. These copies must have been turned out to meet the popular demand which wanted to gain religious merit without being out of pocket by large sums.

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Western Indian painting could be roughly divided into three periods: palm-leaf period, paper period and late period. In the first two periods Western Indian school retains its distinguishing characteristics, but in the third which begins in the 17th century those characteristics, such as angularity in drawing, protuberance of the farther eye, etc., are lost under the Mughal influence, and Western Indian school merges in the general trend of Indian art. I have left this third phase out of the scope of my book as it should find its rightful place in some work on Rājput painting.

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In conclusion, I want to express my heartfelt thanks to Mr. Sarabhai Nawab, without whose co-operation this work would not have seen the light of day. He has not only supplied me with new material, but also helped me in understanding the various points of Jain iconography. My thanks are also due to Muni Jinavijayaji for allowing us to make use of the rich material from Jaisalmer Bhaṇḍār and to Mr. J. Jacobs for going through the proofs.

Linked texts (1)

Kalpasūtra — Bhadrabāhu, Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit