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Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c6: Part I. Chapter I: Historical Background

Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c6

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Part I. Chapter I: Historical Background

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PAINTING in ancient India was a favourite mode of expression in art. There are innumerable references to painting in the contemporary literature which show that the art of painting had reached the highest degree of excellence both from the technical and aesthetic points of view. It is evident from literature that there were guilds of painters, which were commissioned to decorate the palaces and temples with excellent wall-paintings. Painting was also considered as an accomplishment of princes, nobles and highly placed citizens, and formed a part of the regular curriculum of studies. Not only men but also women of high social status attained proficiency in this gentle art, and there are many love stories in which the lovers are shown assuaging their grief of separation by means of the portraits of their beloved.

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This predilection for painting must have resulted in the production of a good number of paintings in ancient India, but unfortunately the levelling hand of time, the destructible nature of carriers, such as wood, cloth and plaster, and the vandalism of men have caused their destruction to such an extent that the examples of ancient Indian paintings could be counted on fingers. In the wall-paintings of Ajaṇṭā, Bāgh, Sittannavāsal, and a few remaining wall-paintings from Badāmī one may see, however, the greatness of the ancient Indian pictorial art. In the neatness of drawing, in the marvellous manipulation of a few simple colours made to yield various tonalities, and in the high aesthetic considerations which moved the artists, Indian painting in the fifth and sixth centuries remains unparalleled. In these wall-paintings one may see the culminating point of that pagan art which begins at Bharhut, develops at Sāñchī and attains tempestuous movement and emotional value at Amarāvatī. Divine contemplation, probing the dark mysteries of life, is not the key-note of the pictorial art of the Gupta period though the contemporary art of sculpture had already imbibed the ideal of lofty spiritualism. It would be idle to deny that the art of Ajaṇṭā does not imbibe spirituality to a certain extent, specially in the noble figures of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, the supreme gift of the Gupta age. But the purpose of an art could not be defined on such features of unusual occurrence. The art of Ajaṇṭā delights in the scenes of love-making, drinking parties, sumptuous palaces and crowded processions.

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The artists delighted in the study of man as they saw him, his pleasures and pains, his beliefs, and his pastimes and amusements. They painted men as they were and not as they should have been. The eventful life of the Blessed One, not only when he was born as Gautama, but also in his previous existences, afforded a right background to the painters, and they seized every incident in the life of Buddha to depict contemporary manners and customs of the people among whom they moved. In short, the pictorial art of the Gupta age is fully representative of the life and culture of the people; abstraction finds little scope in it.

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The wall-paintings of Ajaṇṭā, Bāgh, and Sittannavāsal are religious in the sense that the first two decorate Buddhist *Vihāras* and the third a Jain temple, and, therefore, they had to conform to certain religious traditions and certain hide-bound formulas peculiar to each faith. Of the frankly secular art of the early period about which we read so much in the contemporary literature, and which delighted in portraiture, we have no trace. Let us, therefore, see what the Jain literature has to say about painting.

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The legendary account attributes the origin of the art of painting (*chitta-kamma*) to Ṛṣabhadeva, the first Jain Tīrthaṃkara, from whom are also said to have originated the sciences of mathematics and symbology.¹ As painting originated from Ṛṣabha himself the profession of a painter was not stigmatised. A painter (*chittāra*) was counted among the Silpāryas and his profession was held to be a noble one.²

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¹ *Āvaśyaka Cūrṇi*, p. 156, Ratlam, 1928.

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² *Praśna Vyākaraṇa*, Sū. 70, Vol. I, pp. 175-176.

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In the formative period of the Jain church, monks, in common with the Buddhist monks, were forbidden to live in the houses decorated with paintings. This injunction seems to have been due to the sensuous appeal of painting which detracted the minds bent upon meditation. Thus it is mentioned in the *Uttarādhyayana Sūtra*³ that a Jain monk did not like to live in a beautiful house decorated with painting, fumigated and perfumed with incense and flower garlands, and fitted with doors and white ceiling. At another place,⁴ it is enjoined that a monk should not look towards the figure of a woman either in a painting or actual life. In the *Bṛhat Kalpasūtra*⁵ a ban is laid upon the monks and nuns indulging in the art of painting (*sachitta kamma*). In the *Bhāṣya*⁶, however, which is a much later work, the subject of painting is divided under two heads—(1) *Nirdosa chitra-karma* or pure painting consists of painting of trees, mountains, rivers, seas, buildings, creepers, Pūrṇa-Kalaśa, Svastika, etc.; (2) the *Sadoṣa chitra* or impure paintings are those of flying figures, goddesses and ordinary women. The practice of both kinds of paintings was forbidden to monks. This injunction, however, seems to have been relaxed in the middle ages when the Jain Jñāna Bhaṇḍārs became the repositories of many painted manuscripts and banners.

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³ *Uttarādhyayana Sū.*, XXV, 4.

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⁴ *Daśavaikālikasūtra*, VIII, 4.

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⁵ *Bṛhat Kalpasūtra*, III, p. 689.

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⁶ *Ib.*, II, SS. 2429-50.

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There are numerous references in Jain literature which give interesting descriptions of the decorative motifs and the technical process involved in painting, and also good descriptions of picture galleries. Thus it is mentioned at one place⁷ that the ceiling of Dhariṇīdevī’s palace was painted with lotus rhizomes and flowering creepers (*phulla-vallī-vara-puppha-jāi-ulloya-chittaya-tale*)⁷. At another place⁸ very interesting details of the construction of a picture gallery are given. Malladinna, the crown prince of Mithilā, ordered the erection of a picture gallery (*chitta-sabhā*) at the royal amusement park. He entrusted the work of painting to a painters’ guild (*chittagāraseṇim*) and asked its members to paint the gallery in such a way that the forms (*rūvehi*) should be frankly sensuous. The painters taking their brushes (*tūliāo*) and colours (*vaṇṇae*) proceeded to the proposed picture gallery. There they divided the wall-surface (*bhūmibhāge*) and prepared the ground (*bhūmi sajjei*). One of the master painters was so gifted that he could paint complete figures of men and animals even if he had only their partial view. This rare gift nearly ended in a tragedy. The painter once had the glimpse of the toes of Princess Malli protruding from behind the curtain and was able to paint her full portrait. The crown prince doubting the chastity of his sister banished him from his kingdom.

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⁷ Jñātā Dharma Kathā, I, 9.

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⁸ Ib. VIII, 78.

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Then the picture gallery (*chitta-sabhā*) of a courtezan who also seems to have been a psychologist is mentioned.⁹ The story runs that there was a courtezan well versed in the traditional sixty-four arts who had a picture gallery in which she had the portraits of all classes of men engaged in different professions appropriate to their respective castes and in different states of anger and appeasement. If any one came to engage her services she asked him first to visit her picture gallery so that she could judge from his reactions his caste, his taste in arts, and handicrafts the wickedness and strength of his character, so that she could behave with him accordingly.

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⁹ Bṛhat Kalpasūtra Bhā., II, 5. 262.

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Then there is the story of the jeweller Nanda¹⁰, who, with the permission of Śreṇika ordered the construction of a picture gallery, with hundred columns, which was decorated with woodwork (*kaṭṭhakamma*), stucco (*pustakamma*), painting (*chittakamma*) and terracotta figures (*lepyakarma*).

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¹⁰ Jñātā Dharma Kathā, XIII, 99.

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There are also many passages in Jain literature which praise the technical efficiency of the painters. In the *Avaśyakaṭīkā*¹¹ a couplet trying to establish the correctness of the maxim ‘Experience in profession means perfection’, quotes the example of a painter. The *Chūrṇi* explains that by constant practice the painter is able to get correct proportions (*pramāṇa*) of the figures without having recourse to measurement.

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¹¹ Avaśyaka ṭīkā, pp. 427a, 427.

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Reference is made to the great efficiency which at times the painters attained in their profession.¹² It is related that an artist painted a peacock feather. It was done in such a realistic manner that the king who had engaged the services of the artist to paint the picture gallery touched the painted feather under the impression that it was real.

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¹² Ib., p. 558a.

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The *Avaśyakachūrṇi*¹³, while discussing the various constituents of a *sūtra*, i.e., *bhāṣā*, ‘definition’, *vibhāṣā*, ‘option’, and *vārttā* ‘annotation’, cites the example of painting. When on the wall the right proportion of a figure is obtained it is then called *bhāṣā* or definition of painting; when its various limbs are defined then the *vibhāṣā* stage is reached and when the eyes, etc., are painted then the *vārttā* or annotation stage is reached.

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¹³ *Avaśyaka-Chūrṇi*, pp. 116a–116.

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From the references quoted above it is evident that the art of painting in ancient India had reached a very high level.

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It would be interesting in this section to trace the development of Jain painting, though it must be admitted at the outset that the difference between the Jain painting and Buddhist and Brahmanical paintings is purely of subject matter, the technical processes involved are common to all.

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The tradition of Jain painting is as old as Buddhist painting. There are very extensive rock hewn caves not earlier than the second century B.C., and mainly of the first century B.C., at Udayagiri and Khaṇḍagiri at Orissa.¹⁴ In one of the caves there are remains of paintings.

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¹⁴ *Cambridge History of India*, Vol. I, pp. 639 ff.

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The Sittannavāsal wall-paintings form the earliest published document of Jain painting; they are, it must be admitted, not different from the contemporary paintings of Ajaṇṭā. The second remarkable point about these wall-paintings is that they belong to a Digambara Jain temple. The point needs stressing as after the 10th century practically all painted manuscripts are Śvetāmbara, though wall-paintings in Digambara temples continued. Mahendra Varman I (A.D. 600—625), to whose reign the paintings of Sittannavāsal are attributed, was the follower of Jainism before he was converted to Śaivism by Appar. Sittannavāsal is a Jain temple and was carved out of the rocks by the co-religionists and friends of Mahendra Varman. This gifted prince was the author of a treatise on dancing and painting as revealed by Māmandur inscription.¹⁵ He also ordered the compilation of a treatise on South Indian painting and sculpture called *Dakṣiṇa Chitra*, in which rules were laid down for the guidance of painters and sculptors.¹⁶ It is, however, true, as observed by Dr. Stella Kramrisch¹⁷, that barring a certain physiognomical conventions in figure drawings there are no distinguishing features which separate Sittannavāsal paintings from the contemporary paintings of Ajaṇṭā and Badāmī.

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¹⁵ *Ind. Ant.*, LII, p. 47.

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¹⁶ T. N. Ramachandran, *The Royal Artist Mahendra Varman I*, J. O. R., Madras, VII, p. 235.

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¹⁷ J. I. S. O. A., V, p. 218.

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The walls and ceilings of Sittannavāsal or the Abode of the Siddhas were once fully covered with paintings from which only a few have survived. These consist of the figures of Apsarasas dancing in the clouds¹⁸, a royal couple,¹⁹ and the two lotus ceiling panels ²⁰ (Figs. 1-2), the first depicting a lotus pond with two geese and a human figure, and the second, which is the continuation of the first, has a human figure with a basket of plucked lotus flowers. The disporting elephants are deep russet or yellowish brown and the bulls appear buff coloured. These lotus ponds are thought to be a part of the *Samavasaraṇa* or a resting place made by the gods for a Tirthamkara after he had attained salvation. According to Jain mythology it was circular in ground plan and was provided with twenty thousand steps on four sides, doors, roads and ponds before each gateway. As mentioned in Jain literature, when the Lord sets out for *Samavasaraṇa* the gods prepare nine golden lotuses of a thousand²¹ petals each and place them in succession in front of the Lord. The second lotus pond which has fishes, *makara*, geese, elephant, bulls and human figures, has been identified with the *Khātikābhūmi* of the *Samavasaraṇa* in which the *Bhavyas*, i.e., the faithful, gather lotus flowers.²² As the same subject is depicted at Kailāsanāth Temple, Ellura, it seems the motif was common to both Hindu and Jain paintings. Its Jain interpretation correctly refers it to a special *bhūmi* of the *Samavasaraṇa*; it could, however, as well picture Abhiyogika gods who bring the paraphernalia for Jina’s ablutions. “They take lotuses from the ocean Puṣkarārdha, from the lake Padma—on the other mountain ranges, in every zone, they took water lotuses, etc., insatiable to them like master’s favour.”²³

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¹⁸ *Ib.*, Pl. XXVII, 1.

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¹⁹ *Ib.*, Pl. XXVI, 2.

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²⁰ J. I. S. O. A., Pls. XXV, XXVI.

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²¹ *Tiruparuttikuṇram*, pp. 192-193, quoted by Stella Kramrisch, J. I. S. O. A., V, p. 229.

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²² J. I. S. O. A., V, p. 230.

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²³ *Tiruparuttikuṇram*, p. 119.

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Fig. 10

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Fig. 11

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Fig. 12

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Fig. 13

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We have discussed above the religious significance of the lotus ponds in Sittannavāsal paintings, which is possible, though it may be equally possible that the motif has no religious significance and has been used as a pure decoration for ceiling. Such decorations are known from Jain literature. *Jñātādharma Kathā*, as already mentioned, speaks of the palace of Dhāriṇī Devī, whose ceiling was decorated with lotus rhizome.

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Till the 7th century the wall-paintings which come down to us are Buddhist in character, with the exception of the paintings from Sittannavāsal, though traces of wall-paintings from the Hindu temples of the same period have recently come to light. The remains of the wall-paintings at Badāmī are of fragmentary nature which prevents us from theorising about their technical achievements, but one thing is certain that the artistic conventions they employ are similar to those employed at Ajaṇṭā. A more detailed knowledge of Hindu painting is, however, available from the wall-paintings of Ellura. The Brahmanical group of cave temples covers a period of three centuries or more (7th to 11th century A.D.). Wall-paintings also occur in the Kailāsanāth temple (8th century A.D.), and in the minor group of unnumbered caves known as Ganesa Leṇa (8th to 11th century A.D.). They are also to be found in the Jain group designated as Indrasabhā (8th—10th centuries A.D.). The best specimens are, however, found at Kailāsa.²⁴ Though Kailāsa was hewn out in the 8th century, the wall paintings belong to different periods and there are several layers of them. In the earliest layer, which may be contemporary with the date of the excavation of the Cave, there is a representation of the gods paying homage to Śiva²⁵ (Fig. 3). In consonance with the formulas of the medieval Hindu iconography, the gods and godlings appear according to their fixed iconographic types, and the scene is laid in the land of the gods. The human element of Ajaṇṭā is dead for ever. It is, however, remarkable that angularity in drawing, a regular feature of the art of later age, does not yet appear.

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²⁴ ARAD., H. E. H. Nizam's Dominions, 1927-28, p. 20.

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²⁵ Ib., Pl. V-A.

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In the middle layer²⁶, Viṣṇu riding on Garuḍa (Fig. 4) and Śiva riding on bull (Fig. 5) are represented. A remarkable change in figure drawing may be marked in the angularity of drawing seen in the pointed nose of Garuḍa, the Gandharvas and Lakshmī. The shrinking of farther cheek and the consequent protrusion of the eye into space, though to a slight extent, may be marked. It could be said without any reservation that these paintings are the harbingers of new conventions in Indian art, which became stereotyped in Western Indian miniatures.

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²⁶ Ib., Pl. B.

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The most interesting paintings in the western porch of Kailāsa are some battle scenes depicted on the inner sides of the architraves. The drawing of the horses²⁷ (Fig. 6) in most cases is spirited and the physiognomy of the riders closely resembles the physiognomy of the persons depicted in the early twelfth century illustrated Jain manuscripts from Gujarāt. The angularity in the features is emphasised, and at times the farther eyes protrude into space. Fortunately, the dates of these wall-paintings can be determined on the basis of certain inscriptions in Nāgarī characters of the 12th or 13th century mentioning Paramārdirāja. The Paramāras of Mālwā wielded great authority in the 12th century, and the battle scenes perhaps depict some war between them and the rulers of the Deccan.

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²⁷ Ib., Pls. D, E, F.

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The chief point of interest in these paintings of Kailāsa, as observed by Mr. Ghulam Yazdani,²⁸ is that the close relationship of the wall-paintings in the lowest layer to Ajaṇṭā school is gradually lost in the upper layer until it finally becomes extinct in the paintings of the architraves which show distinct traces of Rajputānā.

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²⁸ Ib., p. 21.

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In the southern porch of Kailāsanāth we see several scenes from the Rāmāyaṇa, the abduction of Sītā by Rāvaṇa, the fight of Rāma and Rāvaṇa, the opportune help by the monkey god Hanumān and the final release of Sītā through the help of the latter. These wall-paintings were apparently executed at a later period when the temple was in charge of the people with Vaishṇavite leanings. In the painting illustrating the bringing back of Sītā to Rāma²⁹, the drawing is highly conventional, the monkey god is shown taking giant strides carrying Sītā on his head. Sītā is guarded on either side by a nymph floating in the air.

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²⁹ Ib., Pl. C.

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Fig. 14

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Fig. 15

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While talking of the Vaishṇavite influence on the Śaivite temple of Kailāsa, there is another evidence which proves that religious animosity in medieval India was confined to academic controversies between the followers of different faiths. In the western porch³⁰, a scene is depicted (Fig. 7) in which a group of women carrying water-pitchers on their heads and accompanied by soldiers is welcoming a Digambara Jain monk on a palanquin. The appearance of a Jain scene in a Hindu temple may also be due to the forcible occupation of Kailāsanāth by the Jains in the 12th century.

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³⁰ ARAD., H. E. H. Nizam's Dominions, 1927-28. Pl. F.

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There are few traces of medieval wall-paintings left in Western and Central India, and, therefore, the Pañchatantra stories painted on the maṇḍapa of the Vishṇu temple at Madanpur, District Lalitapur, U.P., known as Choṭā Kachaharī, are of special interest. The temple was built in the reign of Madana Varmā (1130—1165 A.D.), and the paintings were added probably shortly after the completion of the building.³¹ Dr. Stella Kramrisch, while describing these paintings, observes in a note³² that they are more related to Western Indian miniature paintings of twelfth to fourteenth century. Their chief interest lies in the angularity of drawing, pointed nose and the protrusion of farther eye into space. These features, together with the characteristic mode of wearing bun-like coiffeur, well trimmed beard (Fig. 8) and the conventional treatment of trees, birds and animals,³³ share with the Western Indian miniatures of 12th to 14th century.

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³¹ J. I. S. O. A., VII, p. 175.

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³² Ib., fn. 3.

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³³ Ib., Pls. XVIII, XIX.

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In the tenth and eleventh centuries wall-paintings seem to have been a common mode of artistic expression in South India. It is remarkable that most of such paintings come from the Digambara Jain temples, and also from Hindu temples. The wall paintings in the Digambara Jain temple at Tirumalai are datable on the strength of inscriptions between the tenth and fourteenth centuries.³⁴ On the stylistic grounds,³⁵ however, the Tirumalai wall-paintings may belong to the 11th or 12th century.

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³⁴ Ib., Vol. V, p. 220.

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³⁵ Ib., Pls. XXIX, XXX, XXXI.

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Two layers of paintings are visible at Tirumalai. They represent the Devatās and Kimpuruṣas flying in the clouds ³⁶ (Fig. 9), the Devas marching in a line towards the Samavasaraṇa,³⁷ the Gandharvas and heavenly nymphs,³⁸ a Deva standing amidst flowers,³⁹ and a row of nuns clad in white⁴⁰. In the second layer, which is considerably later than the first and may belong to the end of the 12th century, there is the representation of a Jain monk seated on a cushion facing another monk;⁴¹ another scene depicts ⁴² Digambara monks preaching to a lady who is offering them food; and a third depicts a four-armed, and three-eyed deity, possibly Indra⁴³.

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³⁶ Ib., Pl. XXX, 1.

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³⁷ Ib., Pl. XXX, 2.

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³⁸ Ib., Pl. XXIX, 1.

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³⁹ Ib., Pl. XXIX, 2.

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⁴⁰ Ib., Pl. XXIX, 3.

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⁴¹ Ib., Pl. XXXI, 1.

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⁴² J.I.S.O.A., Pl. XXXI, 2.

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⁴³ Ib., Pl. XXXI, 3.

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All the paintings in the interior are on black ground, while different ochres, terraverte and grey earths fill the outline of the figures. There is no attempt at modelling, though the colour tones are the same as at Ajaṇṭā⁴⁴.

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⁴⁴ Ib., p. 234.

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The chief interest of these wall-paintings, from the point of view of the history of Jain miniatures, lies in the angular treatment of the nose and chin and the protrusion of the farther eye into space. Both these characteristics appear in the figures of the flying gods, nuns and the Digambara monks.

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There are also wall-paintings in the stone-built temple of Kailāsanāth at Conjeevaram⁴⁵ datable to the last decade of the 7th century; in the Bṛhadīśvara temple at Tanjore⁴⁶ datable to about 11th century, and in the Vijayālaya Nārttamalai Cholīśvara temple datable to the 11th century.⁴⁷ The Nārttamalai paintings, which belong to the later Chola age, share with the wall-paintings of Ellura and Western Indian miniatures the angularity of drawing and certain physical peculiarities as pointed nose, etc.

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⁴⁵ Sivaramamurti, J. O. R., Madras, Vol. XI (1937), Part ii, pp. 73—76.

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⁴⁶ S. K. Govindaswami, The frescoes of the Bṛhadīśvara temple at Tanjore, Journal of Annamalai University, Vol. II, p. 1, ff.; Cola Painting, J. I. S. O. A., Vol. II, pp. 33—81. O. C. Gangoly, Discovery of Cola frescoes in Tanjore, Ind. Art. & Lts., 1925, p. 86.

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⁴⁷ J. I. S. O. A., V, pp. 319-20.

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From the examination of the wall-paintings, roughly from the 9th to 12th century, found in the South, the Deccan and as far as Mālwā, we are struck with certain characteristic features which are common to all. The crude colour modelling, the linear quality of the drawing, the protuberance of the farther eye into space, pointedness of the nose and chin, and the conventional treatment of trees, animals and birds, are common features of all. There are, of course, local variations in the details of costume and also human types, but the similarity of technique is so great that all these wall-paintings bear the stamp of a common stock. This question will be again dealt in its proper place.

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We have seen above how the traditions of Ajaṇṭā were breaking after the eighth century as seen in the wall-paintings from all over the country. To this age of the modification of technique and methods in pictorial art may be relegated the illustrated Buddhist palm-leaf manuscripts from Bengal and Nepāl. These miniatures, while giving preference to the linear technique of the age, yet preserve certain Ajantesque traits. They also furnish us a record of artistic activity in Eastern India and Nepāl from the 9th to 12th century, and their importance is very much increased when we know the scarcity of the documents of graphic art which has survived from that period.

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Fig. 16

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The majority of the illustrated palm-leaf manuscripts is that of the *Aṣṭasahasrikā Prajñāpāramitā*. There are also illustrated manuscripts of the *Pañcharakṣā* and *Mahāmāyūrī*, but they are very rare. These manuscripts could be divided into two classes, those written and illustrated in Bengal, and those illustrated in Nepāl. The outstanding manuscripts from the æsthetic point of view are : (1) A manuscript of the *Aṣṭasahasrikā Prajñāpāramitā* (No. 20, 589) in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, dated 1136 A.D. (2) A manuscript in the collection of Mr. Ajit Ghose datable to circa 1100 A.D. (3) A manuscript of the *Mahāmāyūrī* datable to the 12th century, in the Bhārat Kalā Bhavan, Benares. (4) A manuscript of the *Prajñāpāramitā* formerly in the collection of Mr. Vrendenburg written in the 39th regnal year of Rāmapāla. (5) A manuscript of the *Prajñāpāramitā* written in Nepāl, now in the collection of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and is dated in 1070–71 A.D.⁴⁸

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⁴⁸ *Rupam*, April–July, 1929, pp. 81–82.

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It is true that there are characteristics of technique and subject common to all these manuscripts as observed by M. Foucher,⁴⁹ but the charge of extreme dulness brought against these miniatures is not right. Repetition was inevitable when the miniatures are viewed in their iconographic context, but both from the points of view of technique and careful handling of the subject these miniatures prove the high antiquity of their tradition. While criticising these paintings we have to allow due concession to the restricted surface of the palm-leaf which could afford space only to limited decoration and within which the composition was confined to the delineation of a few figures. The miniatures are not organically and decoratively associated with the script and they occupy spaces left by the script to be filled by the painter. The standard size of the palm-leaf is 23" × 2¾", and usually the miniature measure 2¾" × 2½". The subject is confined to the illustrations of different incidents in the life of the Buddha and the numerous divinities of later Tantric Buddhism (Fig. 10).

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⁴⁹ A. Foucher, *Etude sur l'iconographie Bouddhique de l'Inde*, I, pp. 36–37. Paris, 1900.

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As observed by Mr. Ghose,⁵⁰ "The technique is calligraphic. The draughtsmanship is unusually strong and having regard to the material—fragile and soft palm-leaf on which the drawing is made, the beauty of line and colour cannot but evoke our admiration. The forms are first drawn in outline and then filled in with washes of colours. The outline is then drawn out in red for those figures which are coloured red, yellow or white, but in black for those the colour of which is green. In the drawing of the figures there is no regard of scale. A very noticeable and general characteristic which has been pointed out by Vrendenburg (*Rupam*, 1–2, 1920, p. 10) may be stated here. This is downward pointing angle in the middle of the upper eye-lid of the several of the faces by means of which the down-cast look is emphasised. It is the form distinguished as Padmapalāśa. Decorative settings taken from architecture such as trefoil arch are made use of. The lotus rinceaux in such settings is worthy of mention. Geometric and animal motifs, such as the stag is used as side decoration at the end of the chapters. The costumes and settings of the scene give us an accurate and attractive picture of contemporary life and manners. The execution is as admirable as the draughtsmanship.

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⁵⁰ *Rupam*, April–July, 1929, p. 80.

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This rather long description of the technique is quoted, in order to show the wide technical differences between the Buddhist miniatures from Bengal and the Jain miniatures from Western India. The employment of palm-leaf for painting, the miniatures not forming organically or decoratively a part of the script, the representations of the incidents from the lives of the founders of Jainism and Buddhism, and the depiction of the Tantric gods and goddesses, are the common features of the illustrated palm-leaf manuscripts from Bengal and Western India. But after these the similarity ends and the differences begin. In Western Indian miniature technique there is no attempt at strong draughtsmanship and the angularity is an outstanding feature. There is constant break in the line, and the drawing is usually careless. In Pāla painting the figures were usually first outlined and then filled with colours, but in Western Indian miniatures the figures were first modelled in colours and then outlined. The final outlining in Pāla paintings was done in deeper shades of the colours of the figures, but in Western Indian miniature painting black was the usual colour employed. The eye-lids in Pāla paintings are shaded, but this convention is non-existent in Western Indian miniatures. Pāla paintings are said to have preserved certain features of the contemporary life and manners of the people; in this way as well Western Indian miniatures are of far greater interest for the history of Indian costume and contemporary manners and customs in Western India.

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A natural question which presents itself is that, though Eastern and Western schools of painting are more or less contemporary at least in their formative stages why such pronounced differences have arisen. The answer to this query is offered by the Tibetan historian Tārānātha (1608 A.D.). Giving the history of Indian painting, he says that in the time of the Blessed One the artists were imbued with supernatural power and produced astonishing works of art. He quotes the authority of the Vinayavastu and other works to show that the wall-paintings, etc., of these masters were such as to deceive people by their likeness to the actual objects depicted.⁵¹ The tradition of these masters lasted for some centuries after the Nirvāṇa of the Buddha. Then the art was taken up by the Devas or the heavenly artists who had adopted human form. Later on Nagās and Yakshas, the vegetable and water spirits, practised painting from the time of Aśoka to the time of Nāgārjuna (70 A.D.). Resuming the history, Tārānātha says that the art of the Nagās and Yakshas was forgotten rapidly and a Fig. 23 to 28 number of provincial schools came into being. In the reign of Buddhapaksha (between 5th and 6th century A.D.), the great painter and sculptor Bimbasāra produced great works of art. His works were executed after the style of the Devās. The number of his followers was extremely great, and as he was born in Magadha the artists of his school were styled Madhyadeśa artists. Another school which is named ancient school of the West was founded by Śringadhara of Maru (Mārwār) who was an accomplished artist and painter. He worked under Harshavardhana (610—650 A.D.). Two other painters named Dhīmana and his son Bitpalo, hailing from Varendra, and who worked in the reign of Devapāla and Dharmapāla, adopted in their cast-metal works and paintings the ancient style of the Nāgas. “The father and son gave rise to different schools; as the son lived in Bengal the cast images of gods produced by their followers were called the gods of the Eastern style, whatever might be the birthplace of their actual designers. In painting, the followers of the father were called the Eastern school; those of the son, as they were most numerous in Magadha, were called the followers of the Madhyadeśa school of painting. So, in Nepāl, the earlier school of art resembled the old Western school, but in the course of time a peculiar Nepālese school formed itself which in painting and casting resembled rather the Eastern school; the latest artists have no special character. In Kashmīr too there were in former times followers of the old Western school of Madhyadeśa; later on a certain Hasurāja founded a new school in painting and sculpture, which is now called Kashmīr school. Wherever Buddhism prevailed, skilful artists were found, while wherever the Mlechhas ruled, they disappeared; where again the Tirthya doctrines (orthodox Hinduism) prevailed unskilful artists came to the front.”

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⁵¹ W. L. Heeley, Extracts from Taranath's History of Buddhism in India, Ind., Ant., IV, p. 102.

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Fig. 17 to 22

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Now let us examine the various points of interest raised in the history of Indian painting by Tārānātha.

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The earliest phase of Indian art in Tārānātha’s history which speaks of human masters with miraculous powers producing astonishing works of art, who flourished for a few centuries after the Buddha, then their mantle falling on the artists who were gods in human form, to be followed by the Yaksha and Nāga artists, is too nebulous and legendary to merit any serious consideration. I. Stchoukine⁵² puts forward a suggestion that the legend preserves in the names of the Devās, Yakshas and Nāgas, the memory of the Iranian, Greek and Dravidian artists. This is, however, a pure surmise, its only support being the presence of Iranian and Greek influences in Indian art, specially in the period of Aśoka and later on in Gandhāra sculpture and architecture.

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⁵² I. Stchoukine *La peinture Indienne*, p. 10.

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After the decay of the Yaksha and Nāga styles, it seems various regional schools came into being, the most important among them being the school of Madhyadeśa or Magadha founded by Bimbasāra in the time of king Buddhapaksha. We do not know who this king was, though it is probable that he was some Gupta king. If that, be so, then the school founded by Bimbasāra refers to the Gupta school of painting and sculpture in the 5th and 6th centuries.

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Then follows the foundation of the old Western school by one Śringadhara, an artist from Mārwār in the 7th century. This school does not seem to have been localised in Western India, but its traditions seem to have travelled as far as Nepāl where, according to the testimony of Tārānātha, the earlier schools of art resembled the old Western school. In Kashmīr as well in ancient days there were followers of the Western school, until Hāsurāja founded a new school.

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It is difficult to make any surmise about the distinguishing features of the old Western school founded in Mārwār, as no painting from Mārwār or Western India from those early times has survived. But if sculpture be the index of the art conventions of those times, then the angularity in the treatment of human figures may be counted as the distinguishing features of the Western Indian art of Bundelkhand, Mālwa, Rājputānā and Gujarāt. It would have been an interesting study to trace the migration of the art conventions of the old Western school to the Deccan and the South, but unfortunately no wall-paintings of the 7th or 8th century have survived from Western India. In the middle layer of the wall-paintings at Kailāsa, Ellura, datable to the 9th century, one is confronted with peculiar conventions such as angularity in the representation of human figures, pinching of the farther cheek and the consequent protrusion of the farther eye into empty space. As these conventions are still in embroynic stage in the later cave paintings of Ajanṭā, they may be attributed to the extraneous influence probably of Gujarāt and Rājputānā. The influence of Western Indian art at somewhat later period may be marked in the Viṣhṇu temple at Madanpur, in Lalitapur District, U.P., adjoining Mālwa. The battle scenes in the Western porch of Kailāsanātha, Ellura, depicting rows of horsemen, and the inscriptional evidence, indicating their connections with the Paramāras of Mālwa, also show Rājpūt or Western Indian influence.

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The conventions of Western school did not confine itself to the Deccan only, but travelled further south and its influence is clearly visible in the 11th century Chola wall-paintings in the Vijayālaya Choleśvara temple at Narttamalai.

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This old Western school is said by Tārānātha to have penetrated as far east as Nepāl and as far north as Kashmīr. Unfortunately, our knowledge of the painting of Kashmīr is practically nil. As regards the Nepālese painting, whatever we know of this merely shows that it was a mere shadow of the Pāla school of Bengal and Bihar. Its linear conception, however, seems to have been borrowed from the Western school. It is, however, in the 17th and 18th centuries that we find distinct Western Indian influences on Nepālese cloth-painting, but this seems to be due to the second migration of the art conventions of Rājputānā and Gujarāt, greatly influenced by the Mughal technique. In Orissa as well, this old Western Indian style seems to have exercised certain influence. No earlier document is available but the painted book-cover of the *Vishṇupurāṇa*⁵³, dated 1421 in Saka era (1499 A.D.), depicting the last six of the ten incarnations of Vishnu, shows definite characteristics of Western Indian style. The angularity in drawing is a characteristic feature and the small chin and pointed nose point to the physiognomical conventions of Western Indian art. In the 16th and 17th centuries, however, the style of the book-cover painting changes,⁵⁴ but again conforms to Western Indian art traditions modified by Mughal influences. In the book-cover⁵⁵, depicting the dance of Krishna, the trees in the background conform to the realistic treatment of the landscape in Jahāngīr period. In another book-cover⁵⁶, dated 1653 A.D., Krishna flattering his beloved depicting the tradition is Rājpūt. All this technical improvement may be attributed to the second surge of Western Indian influence, but the older conventions survived and a book-cover, dated in 1744 A.D.⁵⁷, shows the same angularity in figure drawing which we have seen in the painted book-cover dated 1499 A.D.

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⁵³ J. C. French, *The Land of the Wrestlers, Ind. Art and Lts.*, I (1927), Pl. II-A.

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⁵⁴ Ib., Pl. II-B, V.A.

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⁵⁵ Ib., Pl. II. B.

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⁵⁶ Ib., Pl. V. A.

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⁵⁷ Ib., Pl. V. B.

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Fig. 29 to 32

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Fig. 33 to 37

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Western Indian school seems to have exercised some influence on the wall-paintings of the Buddhist temples at Pagan, Burma. Iconographically, the wall-paintings of Pagan belong to both major schools of Buddhism—the Therāvāda and the Mahāyāna including Vajrayāna and Tantrayāna. There was, however, such an element of eclecticism in the religious life of Pagan for nearly two hundred and fifty years that the Brahmanical deities like Śiva, Brahmā, Sūrya, Vishnu and Garuḍa, appear freely moving among the members of allied faiths⁵⁸.

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⁵⁸ J. I. S. O. A., VI, p. 138.

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There is no authentic record to establish a chronological sequence of the paintings in Pagan temples. But on the stylistic grounds it is evident that the earliest phase of Pagan paintings is datable from the 10th to 14th century⁵⁹, and its latest phase, as seen in the wall-paintings of Upali-thein, is datable to the 17th and 18th centuries. The first phase of the Indo-Burmese painting is characterised by the importation of simple Indian models⁶⁰, probably from Bengal. This phase may best be studied in the wall-paintings of Abeyadana (C. 1100 A.D.), Kubyaukkyi (C. 1100 A.D.), Nagayon (C. 1100 A.D.), Myebantha (C. 1100 A.D.), and Patothamya (C. 10th century)—the last two are situated at Pagan and the rest at Myinpagan.

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⁵⁹ Ib., p. 139.

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⁶⁰ Ib., Pl. XXIX.

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The second phase of Pagan painting embodying quite a different tradition, is represented by the wall-painting of Paya-thon-zu and Nandamanna group of temples at Minnanthu and Pagan. Abbe Chas. Durioiselle⁶¹ determines the date of the foundation of Nandamanna between 1112 and 1130 A.D., and, on the consideration that the paintings of Nandamanna and of Paya-thon-zu are identical in technique and character, he assigns to both early 12th century. Dr. Ray, however, assigns thirteenth century to the paintings on stylistic grounds³².

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⁶¹ A. S. R., 1915-16, p. 83.

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The more or less idiom of Eastern Indian art in the first phase of Pagan painting is attributed by Prof. Ray⁶³ to the importation of Talaing culture along with the Therāvāda Buddhism after Anawrahata's sack of Thaton in 1057 A.D. The Talaings as we know had long before imbibed the elements of Indian culture, and the Indian influence in the paintings, sculptures and bronzes of Pagan was due not in a small measure to their civilization.

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⁶³ *Ib.*, pp. 140-141.

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The gradual suppression of the plastic conception by the linear conception in Indo-Burmese art as observed by Dr. Ray ⁶⁴ is not due to the process of Burmanisation of the Indian plastic concepts, but was merely an echo of the analogous process going on in India in the 11th and 12th centuries. As in Eastern Indian and Nepalese paintings, so at Pagan, two tendencies, one plastic and the other linear, run their course side by side till a time is reached when the Eastern Indian conception is finally superseded by the medieval linear conception. But this linear conception as yet retains some of its plastic qualities and, as observed by Prof. Ray,⁶⁵ even the examples of Paya-thon-zu and Nandamanna try to avoid the extreme sharpness and pointedness which are typical of Western Indian painting.

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⁶⁴ *Ib.*, p. 143.

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⁶⁵ *Ibd.*, pp. 143-144.

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While such changes in art concepts were going on in Burma, analogous changes were being effected in Eastern Indian painting in the 11th and 12th centuries. This gradual transformation from the plastic conception to the linear was perhaps due to the new Western Indian standpoint in art. To quote Dr. Ray,⁶⁶ “The beginning of the linear conception can be traced back to Ellura paintings; but it was perhaps in Western India that the conception found its wide expression though in a twelfth century example from the Sundarbans, Bengal, we have one of its earlier versions (D. P. Ghosh, *J. I. S. O. A.*, II, No. 2), and even earlier than this in certain Pāla examples already cited. It now appears that this linear conception, wherever it might have originated, must have become an all-India property by about 10th or 11th century. Pāla sculpture, however, kept itself almost free from this tendency, but Pāla painting could not, painting being itself two dimensional. Eastern India transformed the tendency to Nepāl, and as we now see, to Burma as well, in the trail of her missionaries and her colonial adventurers.”

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⁶⁶ *Ib.*, p. 144.

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The traces of this Western Indian linear conception are found in the twelfth century wall-paintings from the temples of Paya-thon-zu⁶⁷ (Fig. 11) and Nandamanna⁶⁸ (Fig. 12). In these paintings one may see the Eastern Indian traces of line which could at once model and went into sweeping curves. In the Paya-thon-zu and Nandamanna the modelling capacity of line is lost, though the wide sweep and curves of the Eastern school are yet there. But in spite of all these vestiges of ancient art, the sharp angularity becomes a characteristic feature of this art. The pointed nose, short chin, the farther eye protruding into space, are the common features of this phase of Pagan art and early Western Indian painting, but, as pointed out by Prof. Ray⁶⁹, the linear conception in both schools differs. The line in Western Indian school is pointed with occasional half-hearted efforts at curvature. It lacks the emotional sweep of Pagan painting. Thus the linear conception of Western Indian painting, hard and sensitive, though modifying the character of Pagan painting, was, however, unable to supplant entirely the lyrical sensitiveness of the Eastern school.

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⁶² *J. I. S. O. A.*, VI, p. 138.

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⁶⁷ *A. S. R.*, 1915-16, Pls. XLIX-LIII.

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⁶⁸ *J. I. S. O. A.*, VI, Pl. XXXI, 1-2.

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⁶⁹ J. I. S. O. A., VI, p. 145.

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Fig. 38

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After examining at length the influence of Western Indian art traditions on the wall-paintings from different parts of India and Burma, we come to the conclusion that in the tenth century, or even a little earlier, the fresh conventions of the Western Indian style left their homeland and travelled to the remotest corners of India, influencing the contemporary Pāla painting in Eastern India and Nepāl and penetrating as far as Pagan and Nepāl. These traditions seem to have travelled with the advancement of Rājpūt culture from Gujarāt and Rājaputānā. As Apabhramśa became the common medium of literary expression in this age, so the linear conception of Western Indian school became the medium of artistic expression all over the country. There is no doubt that the regional schools maintained some of their earlier characteristics, which was inevitable as the art conventions which those schools had followed for many generations could not be completely suppressed, but generally changes were effected in conformation with the new conventions. Henceforward, the ancient Western Indian school loses its geographical connotation and merges into the general trend of the medieval Indian art.

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CHAPTER II

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NOMENCLATURE

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ILLUSTRATED manuscripts both on palm-leaf and paper, paintings on cloth and painted wooden book-covers, dating from the 12th century and onwards, are found mostly in Jain collections. The earliest known specimens as well as the greatest number appear in the Śvetāmbara Jñāna Bhaṇḍārs in Gujarāt, and for this reason their style has been variously designated as ‘Jain’ or ‘Śvetāmbara Jain’ and ‘Gujarāt’. Mr. Sarabhai Nawab, in order to avoid controversy, has designated the style as ‘Gujarāt school under the patronage of the Jains’, which is a sort of compromise between the hieratic and provincial designations of the style. Rai Krishnadāsa calls it ‘Apabhramśa school’, his analogy being drawn from the field of linguistics where ‘Apabhramśa’ denotes the popular language as opposed to Sanskrit, the language of the cultured. Now let us examine the arguments of the scholars in favour of their respective designations before we hazard our own opinion.

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1. Dr. Coomaraswamy at first gives the designation of Jain painting to these miniatures¹, but later on, in agreement with Mr. N. C. Mehta, calls it Gujarātī school².

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¹ Cat. of Ind. Col. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Part IV.

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² Coomaraswamy, History of Indian and Indonesian Art, pp. 119—120.

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2. Dr. W. Norman Brown objects to the nomenclature Jain as suggested by Dr. Coomaraswamy and later on adopted by Mr. Ajit Ghose³, and gives it a more specific title of ‘Śvetāmbara Jain School’⁴. His arguments in favour of his nomenclature are as follows:—(a) The term Jain is too inclusive, for no painting in this particular style is reported among the Digambara Jains. (b) The nomenclature could not be Gujarātī as there are stylistic differences between the Vasanta Vilāsa and Śvetāmbara miniatures, and that their geographical provenance is not limited to Gujarāt but also extends to Rājputānā. On the strength of these considerations, he comes to the conclusion that the Śvetāmbara Jain would be a more appropriate title. In support of his new nomenclature, he points out a characteristic feature of these miniatures in which the eye in a three-quarter view of the face protrudes beyond the facial line. This feature, he explains, has been borrowed by the painters from the Śvetāmbara icons in which the original eyes are covered with additional glass eyes extending out of the facial line. Seen from three-quarter view, they protrude beyond the line of the cheek into space.

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³ Artibus Asiae, 1927.

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⁴ Ind. Arts and Lts., III (1929), p. 19 ff.

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Fig. 39 to 40

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Later on, Dr. Norman Brown seems to have revised his opinion.⁵ “If a name based on community interest is desired,” he says, “then Śvetāmbara would seem to be the choice; for the style does not appear among the Digambara Jains and, therefore, the designation ‘Jain’ would be too inclusive. But we could not be absolutely certain that the style originated among the Śvetāmbaras—although in the following pages I shall indicate reasons for thinking it did—and it might, therefore, be better to adopt a name after the provenance of the style and call it ‘Western Indian’ to which I can see no possible objection.”

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⁵ The Story of Kālaka, pp. 13-14.

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3. In his study of the *Vasanta Vilāsa*, a painted scroll, dated 1451 A.D., in which the miniatures are executed after the so-called Jain style, Mr. N. C. Mehta comes to the conclusion that the title ‘Jain’ for such a highly secular subject would be a misnomer and the designation ‘Gujarāt’ would be better 6. In a later study of the *Vasanta Vilāsa*7, he says that there is nothing specially Jain in the so-called Jain painting and that all the characteristics of the so-called Jain school are common to the folk-art prevalent in Western India. In support of his view, he quotes some 15th century pieces of painted stucco in the collection of Mr. Purushottam Vishram Mawji of Bombay, which formed the interior decoration of a contemporary house, “which exhibit the same features of simple colour schemes, angular faces, eyes drawn out to the ears, eyebrows in simple curves, and a certain indifference to elegance, and careful, refined and finished workmanship, as are found in the medieval *Kalpasūtras*.”

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4. Mr. Nawab, as a compromise, designates the so-called Jain school as ‘*Gujarātī Jaināśrita Kalā*’ or ‘Gujarāt school of painting under the Jain patronage.’ To support his designation, he advances the following reasons :—(a) Gujarāt (in wider sense) was responsible for the execution and preservation of the illustrated manuscripts, and the artists were generally the natives of Gujarāt. (b) The word ‘Jain’ is added simply to show that the pictorial subject-matter of this school is Jain and that the patrons of the artists were also Jains.⁸

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⁸ Nawab, Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma, pp. 11-12.

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5. Rai Krishnadasa in his *Bhāratkī Chitra Kalā* (Indian Painting) examines afresh the question of the designation of the so-called Jain school.⁹ He disagrees with the designation Jain, as art at no time in India bore religious labels. According to Rai Krishnadasa it was possible that different religious systems in India gave some distinguishing feature to art based on their individual conception of life, but on the whole there was unity of purpose and technique in Indian art. The finding of the majority of the documents of medieval painting from the Jain Bhaṇḍārs, depicting Jain religious subjects, does not prove anything, except that the Jains were a rich community financially strong enough to spend money in getting innumerable copies of their sacred books as acts of religious merit, and, fortunately enough, many of such copies have survived. He objects to designate the school as Jain on the assumption that the style originated from the monk painters. There is every possibility that the work was carried out by illiterate artists who followed the sketches in the margin as their guide. He objects to the designation ‘Gujarāt’, because it smells of provincialism for which there is no justification as many illustrated manuscripts and wall-paintings in the so-called Gujarāt style were executed in places far away from Gujarāt. Examining the view of Dr. Norman Brown that the school could perhaps be designated as Western Indian on the information of Tārānātha, he holds that its geographical connotation is not right as, according to Tārānātha himself, the style reached Kashmīr and Nepāl. Supporting his contention that the so-called Western Indian school was not only confined to Rājputānā and Gujarāt, he quotes as evidence the manuscripts of the Kalpasūtra illustrated at Garh Māndū, twenty-three miles from Dhār in Mālwā and Jaunpur in eastern U. P., written in 1465 A.D. by Venīdāsa Gauḍa, some illustrations from an unknown Avadhī poem in the Bhārat Kalā Bhavan, the illustrated manuscript of Laur and Chandā, a folk-tale of Panjāb in the Lahore Museum, the illustrated book-covers of Orissa, the folk paintings of Bengal and the wall-paintings of Ellura and Pagan. Elucidating his arguments in favour of discarding the designation Western Indian school, he says that there is validity in the argument that this style is devoid of all positive qualities, and that its outstanding characteristics are not due to progress. These features are not new, but owe their presence to the degeneration of ancient art conventions. The only truth in Tārānātha’s mention of Western school is that this decadence started in Mārwār in the 7th century.

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