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Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c8: Part II. Chapter I: Carriers and Other Implements

Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c8

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Part II. Chapter I: Carriers and Other Implements

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BEFORE beginning the review of the technical processes involved in Western Indian painting, it may be worth while to consider what we should have to contemplate, if we were to attempt a survey of the technique involved in medieval art. To investigate works in metal, such as pots and pans and immense number of bronzes, Jain, Buddhist and Hindu, we will have to revert to the operations of metallurgy, the extraction of metals from their ores, refining, parting, alloying and their conversion into works of art by the various processes of casting, die-stamping, carving, turning, beating, gilding, painting, etc. The lapidary's art cannot be ignored when we want to study exquisite medieval ornaments, set with precious, semi-precious or artificial stones. We are prone to ask how they were cut, polished, carved, engraved, coloured, backed and mounted. We shall have to look up the actual examples of woodcarving to know how they were carved, gilded or lacquered. If we want to study the medieval textile pieces from Gujarāt, early samples of which have been recovered from the sands of Fustāt in Egypt, we shall have to devote a chapter to the technique of weaving and spinning, dyeing, cleaning, bleaching, blocking, printing and painting. And, above all, along with the study of materials and the instruments of medieval craftsmanship, we should be constrained to reflect upon the manner in which they were employed, "for technique means action, materials and tools in action, and the essence of technical study is the recognition of those systematic methods which combine taste and knowledge and competence, born of profession and individual experience."¹

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¹ D. V. Thompson, *The Materials of Medieval Painting*, p. 19, London, 1936.

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In medieval Indian art, an impulse towards embellishment, which is symptomatic of great luxury, resulted in building up a tremendous range of technical powers for executing that ornamentation. This tendency of medieval Indian craftsmanship, specially in the sphere of architecture, results in the elaboration of ornaments. In the art of painting, however, when new artistic impulses created fresh forms, the tendency is towards simplification of lines and colours. This may be due to the limited surface of the palm-leaf and paper; but this is not always true as some really first class manuscripts of the 15th century are beautifully illuminated. There is, however, a strenuous effort directed to improve the colour tones and effect the economy of line, which is again important, considering the limited surfaces on which the medieval artists could paint.

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A number of medieval texts in Sanskrit, such as the *Śilparatna* and the section on painting in the *Mānasollāsa*, show this tendency of elaboration. It may be admitted that the medieval Indian painting has lost much of the verve and technical perfection of Ajaṇṭā, but this was not due so much to the technical deficiencies of the artists as to the conventional subjects which their patrons asked them to paint and which left little scope for originality, as the figures of the gods and goddesses and the Jinas were hide-bound by the strict iconographic conventions, any transgression of which meant the greatest sacrilege and calamity. It cannot be denied, however, that the passion and aspiration of the artists to do everything that was possible in their line to do and even to excel in things which others could not do, were responsible for many stylistic and technical developments, which led to the formulation of those trade-secrets which the artists guarded zealously. It is due to the secretive nature of the informants that the medieval Sanskrit texts on painting are unable to explain all technical points.

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The technique in medieval Indian painting may be studied from the few remnants of wall-paintings, book illustrations, cloth paintings, and painted wooden book-covers, on the one hand, and from the Sanskrit documents on medieval painting, on the other. As observed by Dr. Thompson, "Technique in the kinetic sense must be studied from the actual works of those who practised it. The static elements of technique, the materials in which technique are exercised, can be described, and often were described by the medieval authors; and there is some interest perhaps some value derived from the knowledge of these materials which the eyes alone cannot give. Technique means the synthesis of many sorts of element, physical and otherwise, and the raw materials of painting are no more than dross; but they are necessary dross, and not without influence upon the other factors in the art. It needs our best observation, and as many sorts of knowledge as we can bring to it to appreciate 'the flowering of genius, the intellect's control, and the power of reason, in the smallest work as well as in the great things' of medieval painting".

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While studying the materials of Western Indian painting, there are certain difficulties which must be made clear. The documents have been published and described by competent authorities, mostly from the historical and æsthetic points of view their technical aspects have been touched only superficially. By this observation I do not mean to cast any aspersion on the great pioneers whose efforts in most cases were circumscribed by the difficulty of access to the documents in the original. This is especially true in the case of Jain palm-leaf illustrated manuscripts housed in the great Jain Bhaṇḍārs, brought to our notice for the first time by Dr. W. Norman Brown and Mr. Sarabhai Nawab. The difficulty in procuring illustrated paper manuscripts is not so great, as many public and private collections in India, Europe and America possess them and many studies of such class of manuscripts have appeared from time to time. A word of caution is, however, necessary with regard to this class of manuscripts. As is well known, the manuscripts generally owned by the museums and private collections are stereotyped versions produced in great numbers for the satisfaction of the religious instincts of the Jains. To expect the fineness of execution from such class of manuscripts is rather too much, as they are the works of mediocre artists. A parallel to this may be found in Mughal painting. As is well known, Akbar ordered the preparation of the illustrated manuscript of the Mahābhārata for his personal library, and at the same time asked his noblemen to take copies of the illustrated Razm-Namah, as the Mahābhārata was known in Persian translation², made by ordinary painters. Stray leaves of such versions have come down to us, the original being in the Palace Library of Jaipur. A comparison of these leaves with their original proves the technical differences in their execution. Similar is the case with the illustrated manuscripts of the Kalpasūtra introduced to us for the first time by Mr. Sarabhai Nawab, in which the artists have such grasp of decorative elements that all our preconceived notion of Western Indian painting are shattered. These manuscripts were apparently prepared by highly accomplished artists for their patrons. Surely, while giving our verdict on the technical achievements of Western Indian painting, such documents must be consulted.

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² Badāyūni, Muntakhāb-ut Tawārīkh, tr., Vol. II, p. 331.

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For the study of the technical side of the medieval European painting with special reference to grounds and carriers, colours, binding media, etc., modern scientific analysis and observations have been of great help. In India this scientific study of the technique of miniature painting has not yet commenced, and, therefore, we have to satisfy ourselves with personal examination of the miniatures and collate our observations with the information given in the medieval texts on painting. In the following pages, I have tried to sum up various technical aspects of Western Indian painting, basing my results on my personal observations and the researches of my predecessors.

Carriers and Grounds

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The word 'ground' is a little ambiguous. For instance, if a picture is painted on brick-wall covered with plaster, then either the brick or the plaster may be called the ground: But by common consent now, the plaster, in this case, is usually called the ground and the brick-wall the carrier. In a painting, say on palm-leaf, the palm-leaf becomes the ground and the priming on which the painting is done, becomes the carrier. The distinction between the ground and carrier was at times lost, most obviously so in writing or drawing directly on palm-leaf or paper.

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Fig. 108 to 119

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Fig. 120 to 131

Palm-Leaf

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Before the advent of paper, which was probably introduced in India, at the earliest, in the 12th century, palm-leaf, coarse cloth and wooden panels served as writing and painting materials. But once paper was introduced, it gradually ousted palm-leaf. The increasing cost,³ difficulties of transportation from the South and Burma, the troublesome methods of writing on palm-leaf, and the political turmoil resulting from the internecine warfare between the Rājpūt states, on the one hand, and the Muslim invaders on the other, all combined to make the use of palm-leaf almost prohibitive. Yet again, paper, which probably came from Central Asia and Persia, was more easily available, and the burnished paper served as an excellent writing material. This easy availability of paper appealed greatly to the Jain writers and painters, though palm-leaf, which had served as writing material for centuries past, continued to be used on a much lesser scale for some time, till paper finally replaced it altogether. The art of writing on palm-leaf has been forgotten to such an extent that we are unable to say by what methods the writers made ink stay on the smooth palm-leaf surface, and we are unable to confirm which inkmaking formula from the several available is the simplest and best.

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³ There is a palm-leaf in the Jñāna Bhaṇḍār at Pāṭan datable to 14th century which gives the purchase price of palm-leaf. It works out at six annas per leaf. Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma, I, p. 25, fn. 31.

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The palmyra tree, which yielded palm-leaves for writing and painting, is known tāla in Sanskrit, its Hindī and Gujarātī equivalent being tāḍ. This palmyra is of two species śrī-tāḍ and khar-tāḍ, the latter grows in Gujarāt and elsewhere and its fronds are thick, liable to break at the slightest pressure, and its fibres have the tendency to rot and weaken in the course of time. Palm-leaves from this variety are not used for writing or allied purposes. Śrī-tāḍ, the second variety, grows abundantly in Madras, Ceylon, Burma, Bengal and elsewhere. Its fronds are smooth and delicate, measuring at times more than 37" × 3", which is their usual size. Its fibres do not decay easily and its elasticity prevents it breaking even under undue pressure. The fronds of this palmyra yielded palm-leaves for writing.

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It has been found from experience that the palm-leaves as they grow old develop a tendency to affect adversely cloth or paper coming in their contact. Muni Puṇya-vijayajī⁴ has observed that in the palm-leaf manuscripts certain paper leaves replacing the lost or decayed palm-leaves, in course of time, appear even in worse condition than the original leaves of the manuscripts. This may be due, as explained by Muni Puṇyavijaya, to certain acid property of the ink which weakens the texture of the paper. From his personal observations also, he has found that the cloth wrappers of the palm-leaf manuscripts develop a tendency to turn black within a few years. Now, here is a point for museum chemists to determine the chemical properties of the various kinds of inks employed in writing on palm-leaves and find out the actual cause of the deterioration of paper and cloth coming in contact with those inks.

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⁴ Ib., p. 29.

Cloth

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It is a well-known fact that cloth was used very extensively in ancient India for painting. Even entire books were at times written on cloth. Thus a Jain Jñāna Bhaṇḍār, located in Vakhatjinīserī at Pāṭan, possesses a cloth manuscript containing the *Dharmavidhiprakaraṇa Vṛttisahita*, *Kachchhūlirāsā* and eight chapters of the *Trisha-ṣṭiśalākāpurusha-charita*.⁵ Its date is made out as Saṃvat 1408 or 1410 (A.D. 1351 or 1353) and its leaves simulate palm-leaves. There are, however, a number of *Samavasaraṇa* scenes, cosmographical charts, charts dealing with such subjects as mythical two and half islands, Jambūdvīpa, Navadvīpa, Hṛmkāra, Ghaṇṭākarṇa, various mantras and tantras, canonical subjects as the *Saṃgrahaṇīsūtra*, *Kṣetra-samāsa*, *Prāyaśchitta*, the six *sthānas* of the *Samyamaśreṇi*, sixty-two *mārgaṇas*, etc., painted on cloth and dating from the 14th to 16th century.

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⁵ *Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma*, p. 26.

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Scrolls of cloth were generally prepared for the purpose of painting. To obtain a paper scroll, the paper pieces of required sizes were pasted in length, but cloth pieces were generally of great length, and, therefore, a cloth scroll did not require cutting and joining. It was folded breadthwise in two or more folds as required, and the long strips obtained by cutting served the purpose of scrolls. These scrolls served the purpose of illustrating the *Pāñchatīrthis*, for writing documents and the religious orders of the Jain teachers during the rainy season, horoscopes, etc. They were occasionally used for writing and illustrating large poems, such as the *Vasanta Vilāsa*.

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Surface preparation.—Before the painting was started on cloth, a priming of the paste made from the wheat or rice flour was applied to fill up the pores of the cloth. After the priming had dried, the cloth was thoroughly burnished with an agate burnisher.⁶ This was the regular method of preparing surface in Western Indian paintings on cloth. In the cloth-paintings from Bengal and Orissa, however, a different method was followed. Here, the cloth, which was usually of an even surface, was coated with a thin layer of plastic clay which had been carefully pounded and usually mixed with cow-dung beaten to thin paste. When dry, the surface was rubbed till it became smooth, and it was then ready for painting.⁷

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⁶ *Ib.*, p. 31.

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⁷ *Ind. Arts and Lts.*, Issue XI, 1926, p. 43.

Paper

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The invention of paper in 105 A.D., by one Tsai-Lun in China, was of far-reaching consequences, as it foretold the dawn of the new age in which paper plays such an important part. But in India four hundred years earlier, in B.C., 327 according to the observations of Nearchus the Cretan, a friend and follower of Alexander the Great, a kind of thin glazed sheets, made by felting cotton-wool, were used for the purpose of writing. We may place reliance in the authority of Nearchus, as unlike other historians of the time he never indulged in mythical stories. He was an honest reporter and took pains to verify the stories before he reported them. In the absence of any direct proof, however, it is difficult to say whether the writing material found in Panjāb was true paper.

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Fig. 132 to 135

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Sometime back, it was regarded as an established fact that the Arabs in the 8th century used cotton-wool and raw cotton for making paper. This belief led J. H. Royle, the author of *The Fibrous Plants of India*, to say that the art of paper-making from cotton-wool was learned by the Arabs from the Hindus. Researches in this field by the German scientists, who examined Archduke Rainer's collection of ancient Arabic manuscripts in 1874, have proved that the Arab paper was made of linen and that the Arabs had no knowledge of making paper entirely of cotton.⁸ If this is correct, then the theory of the Indian origin of paper-making in Arabia is negatived. Moreover, it is an undisputed fact that the Arabs learned the art of paper-making, after the battle of Kangli in 751 A.D., in Western Turkestan, from a Chinese workman. The first paper-making factory was opened at Samarqand and another was started at Baghdad, in 794 A.D., in the reign of Hārūn-al-Rashīd. Samarqand produced several sorts of paper by the 10th century, the most expensive being a variety of thick paper covered with gold dust, which was extensively used till 1500.⁹

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⁸ Indian Print and Paper, March 1936, p. 25.

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⁹ Basil Gray, *Persian Painting*, p. 23, London, 1930.

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Papyrus and parchment, which had served hitherto as materials for writing, were substituted by paper. In the 10th and 11th centuries of the Christian era, the craft of paper-making had spread all over the Muslim world. Paper was introduced in Europe after the Moorish conquest of Spain and the Arab occupation of Sicily. It is also an undisputed point that some parts of India, especially Western India, obtained the knowledge of paper-making through Arabs. According to William Raitt, Zain al-Ābedin (1420—1470), a ruler of Kashmir, imported paper-workers from Samarqand, whose technique is still followed by the paper-makers of Kashmir.

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In connection with the introduction of paper in India, it is interesting to note a reference in the *Fan yu tsa ming*, a Sanskrit-Chinese lexicon of the 8th century. Here, the Sanskrit equivalent of the Chinese *tche*, meaning paper, is *Kakari*, a word unknown to Sanskrit literature in India, though *kāgar*, in the sense of feathers, is used in certain dialects of Hindi. The word recurs in Yi-tsing's *Fan yu tsien tseu wen* (No. 233) under the form *kākali*. These words could be compared with the Persian *kaghad*, ancient Uigür *kāgdā*, and Mongol *Qaghudasum*. As is already known, paper-manufacture was started in China. It is also a fact that in the Sasanide Iran, paper was regarded as a precious commodity and was employed in writing royal mandates. It is, however, interesting to note that, though paper was introduced in India, in the 12th century¹⁰, it had entered the Sanskrit vocabulary of extra Indian origin in the 8th century. It proves that Sanskrit knowing Indian colonists in Central Asia knew the use of paper long before it came to the mother country. The different forms of the word for paper in modern Indian dialects, Hindi Kāgad, Urdu Kāgaz, Kashmiri kākaz, have, however, been derived from the Persian Kāghad and not from kākali—kakari.¹¹

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¹⁰ Buhler, Ind. Pal., p. 91.

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¹¹ P. C. Bagchi, *Deux lexiques Sanskrit-Chinois*, Tome II, pp. 351-352.

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It is difficult to determine the exact period in which the Jain authors took to writing on paper. Muni Punyavijayaji¹² quotes two references from the Kumārapāla-prabandha written in 1435 A.D. by Jinamaṇḍana-gaṇi, and Upadeśatarangiṇī written in the 16th century by Ratnamandiragaṇi. In the first reference it is related that Kumārapāla one morning after paying his respects to his teachers and monks proceeded on an inspection of his office (lekhaśālā). There, clerks (lekhakāḥ) were seen writing on paper (kāgadapatrāṇi). He asked for the reason of this unprecedented use of paper as writing material from his teacher and was told that as śrītālapatras had been exhausted in writing of the Jñānakośa, the use of paper could not be helped. The second reference mentions that Vastupāla once ordered the preparation of six copies of the Siddhānta, written on palm-leaves and paper.

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¹² Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma, I, p. 25, fn. 30.

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From the above references, it may be surmised that Śrī Hemachandra and Mahāmātya Vastupāla allowed the use of paper for writing books, and, therefore, the Jains of Gujarāt were acquainted with paper even in the 12th century. This assumption, could, however, be disputed on the following grounds: (1) The references quoted belong to the 15th and 16th centuries, and, therefore, their testimony to an event which took place four hundred years earlier, is not wholly trustworthy. (2) Muni Punyavijayaji, whose knowledge of Jain manuscripts is unparalleled, stands testimony to the fact that no paper manuscript prior to the 12th and 13th centuries are found in any Jain Jñāna Bhaṇḍār, and the earliest manuscripts on paper, which he had seen, belong to the 13th or beginning of the 14th century. In the Jñāna Bhaṇḍār of Sanghavinā Pādā, Pāṭan, there is a paper manuscript of the Stutichaturviṃśatikā, dated V.S. 1211 (A.D. 1154), but Muni Punyavijayaji is doubtful about the sanguineness of this date. That, however, is not the case with the fragment of a paper manuscript found in the Jain Jñāna Bhaṇḍār at Jaisalmer by Jina-vijayaji.¹³ It is a colophon from a very old manuscript of the Dhvanyāloka-lochana by Ānandavardhanāchārya, written for Jinachandra Sūri. Its date is determined by Jinavijayaji between V.S. 1213—1223 (A.D. 1156—1166). If his surmise is correct, then this solitary folio is perhaps the part of the oldest paper manuscript so far known in India.

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¹³ Bhāratīya Vidyā (Hindi-Gujarātī), III, p. 242.

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There is very little information available about the paper industry in this country from the 12th to 15th century. It is also not certain whether paper was being manufactured in this country on any considerable scale, as it was not very difficult to get paper of Persian and Central Asian manufacture through the Arab merchants. In the 16th century, however, paper was being extensively produced in this country, as is evident from the name of several manufacturing centres mentioned by ‘Alī Efendī, the author of the *Manāqib-i-Hunarwārān*.¹⁴ Speaking of the great centres of paper manufacture under Islamic domination, he says that the Turkish paper from Samarqand was of very good quality and the most ordinary kind was manufactured at Damascus. The best paper of Samarqand manufacture was known as *Sultānī*. The paper manufactured in northern China was *khatāī*, and the paper manufactured at Tabriz, which was of slightly yellowish texture, was known as *gaunī*. The Indian paper was generally known as *Hindī*. Various centres of paper manufacture in India are mentioned. Thus *Daulatābādī* denoted paper manufactured at Daulatābād, formerly known as Devagiri, *‘Adilshāhī* denoted paper manufactured within the domains of ‘Adil Shāh in Karnātaka and Mahārāshtra, and *Nizāmshāhī* was the paper manufactured at Nizāmābād. It is remarkable that ‘Alī Efendī does not mention any paper manufacturing centre in Northern and Western India. Perhaps he had no knowledge of the Kashmīrī paper industry started by Zain al-Ābedīn in the 15th century. *Ahmadābādī* paper is also not mentioned. It is also possible that all the varieties go under the generic title *Hindī*. Paper was also classified from the nature of the material from which it was made. Thus *harīrī* was the name given to silk paper.

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¹⁴ Martin, Miniature Painting in Persia, I p. 105.

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Fig. 136

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With the increased use of paper in India various centres began its manufacture, and in the course of time Kashmīr, Delhi, Patnā, Shāhābād, Kālpi, Ghosunda (Mewār), Ahmedābād and Kāghazīpurā near Daulatābād became famous for their good paper. These centres manufactured paper in great quantities to meet the demands of the provinces within which they were situated. The designations of the various kinds of paper were based on different cities and localities where it was manufactured such as Kashmīrī, Daulatābādī, Bangālī, etc; on the names of the manufacturers, such as *Sāhebkhānī*, etc.; on the materials or special technique used, such as *sanni* (made of flax), *mahājāl* (made from old fishermen’s nets), and *nukhayyar* (watered paper). The writers from constant experience found out the best kinds of paper for their requirements, and those varieties, in course of time, became standard qualities. To quote an example, to the users of handmade paper in Gujarāt *Kashmīrī*, *Kānpurī* and *Ahmadābādī* are still standard qualities, and in the United Provinces *Ahamdābādī*, for writing the account books, and *Serāmpurī* for rough works, are standard qualities.

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Various raw materials such as bamboo, jute, flax, etc., were used as materials for paper manufacture. The *Kashmīrī* paper is manufactured from the waste cocoons and is soft and strong. The best quality of this paper is kept aside for the use of the State. The best Kālpi paper was manufactured from the old discarded fishing nets and was known as *mahājāl*. This paper was very white as the flax obtained from a fishing net is perfectly water bleached.

Wooden Panels

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Wooden panels were used generally in medieval times by the merchants to note down their daily transactions, which they transferred to the account books at their leisure, and the writers to write the rough versions of their books before transferring them to the palm-leaf or paper manuscripts. They were also extensively used as book-covers, and, in that case, they were often illustrated with diverse scenes pertaining to life of the Jinas, incidents from the lives of the great Jain monks, etc. They also served as exercise books for children and often alphabets were painted over these for the children to copy.¹⁵

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¹⁵ *Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma*, I, p. 32.

The Implements Used by Medieval Painters and Scribes

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*Cutting.*—There was no standardization in the different sizes of paper in medieval times. The required sizes were obtained by cutting from a large sheet with the help of an iron ruler. At the time of cutting the sheet, in order to ensure its immobility, it was fixed with iron clips. This method is still used in cutting the slippery Kashmir paper.

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*Burnisher.*—To ensure the smooth running of the pen and brush and equal distribution of the ink and colours, paper was burnished by the stationers or paper-makers. Dampness is the enemy of the burnished paper, as on such paper ink is prone to spread. Damp affected paper is burnished after being dipped in the solution of alum and allowed to dry partly before being burnished with an agate or touch-stone burnisher.

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*Jujval, Hindi, Jadval.*—In drawing straight lines, reed pens and brushes are of no use and, therefore, painters and writers made use of bow-pens made of iron. As the bow-pen has pointed brush-like projections at both ends, it possibly got the name '*yugavala*', 'double point.' After dipping the point in the ink, it was used for drawing straight lines on borders and also for making geometrical patterns on the *yantras*. Bow-pens were manufactured till recently by the blacksmiths of Mārwār, but their place is now being taken by the nibs, styles and bow-pens of European manufacture.

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*Prākāra.*—Compass was generally used for drawing circles in painting and the *yantras*. Their sizes differed. Bow-pen was attached to it while drawing. It is still manufactured in Mārwār on a small scale.

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*Kāmbi.*—In a palm-leaf manuscript, as the width of the leaves was not much, the border lines could be drawn in free hand without much difficulty. But in paper manuscripts, where the leaves attained greater dimensions, it was not possible to draw the border lines without the help of a ruler which was not round in shape but flat, and which did not slip when adjusted for drawing. Its name is probably derived from the *kambi* or bamboo strips, from which rulers seem to have been manufactured in the earlier stages.

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Fig. 137

Linked texts (9)