Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c8.s1.t3.3

c8.s1.t3.3

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