[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Architecture and art](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art) › [Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.chandra-1949) › c6.31 # Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c6.31 Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c6.31 - **Language:** English ### [c6.31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.chandra-1949.c6.31) 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. - [Previous: c6.30](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.chandra-1949.c6.30) - [Next: c6.32](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.chandra-1949.c6.32) - [Up: c6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.chandra-1949.c6) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.chandra-1949.c6.31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.chandra-1949.c6.31) · Pramāṇa