Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c6.187

c6.187

The next in chronological order are two miniatures in the palm-leaf manuscript of the Jñātā Sūtra and three other Aṅgas of the Śvetāmbara canon, with the commentary of Abhayadeva, now in the Nagīndas (also called Śāntināth Temple) Bhaṇḍār of the Śvetāmbara Jains at Cambay⁶. The manuscript is dated 1127 A.D. The first miniature (Fig. 15) represents Śrī Mahāvīra Svāmī seated on a throne in padmāsana; on his either side stands a chaurī-bearer. The second miniature (Fig. 16) represents the fourhanded Goddess Sarasvatī standing in tribhaṅga pose; the donors Desala and Subhaṃkara are seated on the floor with folded hands, and haṃsa, the vehicle of the goddess, is seen there. The smiling face of the goddess is well rendered and the outline is flowing and sensitive; the farther eye does not protrude into space. The tribhaṅga pose seems to have been however adopted from the contemporary sculpture and is very rare in Western Indian painting.