Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c6.439

c6.439

While a pleasing and classical phase of Western Indian art was being emphasised in the cloth-paintings described above, its folk variation was not altogether neglected. This spirit of folk art is clearly emphasised in the illustrated scroll of the *Vasanta Vilāsa*. It was written in Vikrama Samvat 1508 (1451 A.D.), at Ahmedābād, by Āchārya Ratnāgar for the instruction of Shāh Śrī Chandrapāla. The copyist of the manuscript says that he copied it during the reign of Bādshāh Ahmad Shāh Qutb-ud-din, the ruler of Gujarāt. But as Ahmad Shāh was already dead in 1443, there seems to be some confusion about the date.¹⁵ The manuscript is in the shape of a long scroll and measures 36.4" by 9.2" (including the margin). It has eighty-two verses written in separate panels on a white background in black and red ink. The writing, in golden ink, has suffered most. Blue ink has been used in two panels. There are seventy-nine pictures, which alternate with a verse in old Gujarātī. The largest picture is 5.7" in length and 7.6" in breadth, excluding the margins. The size of an average picture is 3.5" × 7.7".