Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c8.s1.t3.14

c8.s1.t3.14

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.