Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c8.s2: The Implements Used by Medieval Painters and Scribes
Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c8.s2
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The Implements Used by Medieval Painters and Scribes
c8.s2.1
*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.
c8.s2.2
*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.
c8.s2.3
*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.
c8.s2.4
*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.
c8.s2.5
*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.
c8.s2.6
Fig. 137