Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c6.47

c6.47

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.