Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c6.159

c6.159

Rai Krishnadasa, after discarding all designations, proposes a new one and calls it ‘Apabhramśa’ or ‘Corrupt Style’ as this designation does not convey any idea of stylistic evolution. “As in this age of decadence the ‘Apabhramśa’ or ‘Corrupt Style’ in the sphere of art spread all over the country, in the same way Apabhramśa became the principal medium of literary expression. Not only that, but also the beginning and the end of the Apabhramśa style coincide with the literary history of Apabhramśa. This coincidence of the nature and progress of the Apabhramśa style in painting and literature lends support to the appropriateness of our designation. This underlying unity between literature and painting seems to have been noticed by the great contemporary poet, Rājaśekhara, who, while describing the gathering of the poets in the Kāvyamīmānsā, allots to the painters the same class as the poets of the Apabhramśa language.”[10]