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Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c9: Chapter II: Pigments, Brushes, Pencils, Etc.

Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c9

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Chapter II: Pigments, Brushes, Pencils, Etc.

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IN medieval India pigments were obtained from minerals and ochres, and from their admixtures different shades were obtained. There were a few vegetable colours, such as indigo, and a few other colours, such as lac-dye and carmine obtained from insects. On the whole, the colours used by Western Indian painters may be divided into two classes. The natural pigments comprise certain elements, compound minerals, and vegetable extracts; and the artificial pigments, all manufactured salts and the pigments owing their colours to vegetable or insect dyestuff.

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Carbon from many sources was universal black pigment, and metallic elements, such as gold and silver, were used as colouring and writing materials with the help of suitable binding media. A perusal of the illustrated manuscripts from Western India shows that the carbon and red inks, and the gold and silver powders, were not only used as colouring materials but also used extensively for the purpose of writing. As the use of gold and silver powders for writing was an expensive process, black ink was the commonest medium for writing. Red ink was used to indicate the ends of the chapters and drawing border lines, circles and straight lines, specially in the yantras. Gold and silver inks have been used in writing books to a very limited extent, because, firstly, writing in gold and silver, howsoever costly and beautiful it may be, causes strain to the eyes while reading, and, secondly, it is not easy to correct letters written in gold and silver inks. In order to show the splendour of their riches Kumārapāla, a ruler of Gujarāt, and a host of Gujarātī merchants and bankers, ordered certain great Jain works to be copied in gold and silver letters. Such manuscripts were not meant to be read, but simply to be venerated as sacred literature.

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The majority of colours in the palette of Western Indian painting came from minerals or natural salts. Some minerals were obtained in fine powders, while others were found in stones, which had to be pulverised in fine dust to obtain colours.

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No mineral colour was used in its pristine stage; all impurities were removed by the process of levigation. To separate the colours from two undesirable elements, the sand and humus, the earth is dissolved in water. Naturally, the sand is deposited at the bottom, and the peat and mould tend to float and are skimmed off. But before the coloured earth also sets at the bottom, the water is quickly drained in to another vessel. This process is repeated several times, till the colour is cleaned of all impurities. After being dried in the sun, the colour is ready to be used.

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The above mentioned method of obtaining colour is also mentioned in the *Silparatna*.¹ “After yellow ochres, and wood (?), have been brought from the river beds and hills they should be washed in pure water, pulverised and then reduced to fine powder. The fine powder is to be kept in a vessel full of water for a short time. By this process the colours will tend to float in water and the dirt will be deposited at the bottom. This process is to be repeated several times till the colours attained perfect purity. It is then besmeared on a new earthen waterpot to dry.”

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¹ *Śilparatna*, Chitralakshana, I, ss. 40–45.

White

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The nature of white used in Western Indian book illustrations, specially in the palm-leaf period, has not yet been ascertained by scientific analysis. It could not have been white lead or zinc-white, as these pigments are not mentioned in the medieval Sanskrit texts on painting. The *Mānasollāsa*, otherwise known as *Abhilashitārthachintāmaṇi*, a work composed in 1131 A.D. by Someśvara, mentions burnt conch-shell² (*śveteshu pūrayet śaṅkham*) as pure white employed by the artists. In his study of palm-leaf illustrations from Nepal, Mr. E. Vredenburg³ takes the white used there as probably white lead, but Mr. Ajit Ghose objects to this assumption, on the ground that white lead would not lend itself to tempera work.⁴ In his opinion there is every possibility that the kaolin and chalk were used for white. In the list of the formulas for mixing colours, which Muni Puṇyavijayajī obtained from two stray paper folios ⁵, however, the use of zinc-white is ordained. The possibility is that this colour was introduced in India in the 16th century, or even a little earlier, by the Muslims, as the word *safedā* for zinc-white is of Persian origin.

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² *Mānasollāsa*, Vol. II, 1, 156.

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³ Continuity of pictorial tradition in art of India, *Rūpam*, Jan. 1920, p. 9.

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⁴ *Rūpam*, July 1929, pp. 80–81.

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⁵ *Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma*, I. pp. 47, 119–120.

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The use of zinc-white by Mughal painters till recently, raises an important question whether the *safedā* used in Mughal paintings of 16th and 17th centuries was in reality the zinc-white, or was it white lead, as the process of making zinc-white was discovered in the 18th century. It seems, there has been some confusion of nomenclatures after zinc-white was available in the market. The question could, however, be only finally settled after a careful scientific analysis of the whites used in Western Indian paintings of the 15th and 16th centuries and early Mughal paintings.

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It is a well known fact that white lead was used extensively in medieval European paintings, though it has two drawbacks—firstly, it is poisonous and, therefore, the source of potential danger to workmen, and, secondly, as a water-colour pigment, it may be blackened by sulphur gases in the air. It is remarkable, however, as noticed by Prof. D. V. Thompson ⁶, that this darkening of colour is uncommon in medieval manuscripts, and, in medieval panel-paintings, this phenomenon is quite unknown. From the medieval painter's point of view, it was a further fault of white lead that it was incompatible with verdigris and orpiment in mixtures. As orpiment was frequently used in Western Indian miniatures with white, it is apparent that it is not white lead but, perhaps, burnt conch-shell, kaolin or chalk.

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⁶ Thompson, *The Materials of Medieval Painting*, p. 94.

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Fig. 138

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Another white mentioned in the *Mānasollāsa*, in connection with the plastering of the wall before painting, is *nāgā*⁷. It is said to have been found in the Nilgiris. What it actually was, we are unable to say, but, perhaps, it is kaolin or gypsum. In the *Śilparatna*⁸, white (*dhavalavarna*) used as priming was obtained from burnt conch-shell or white earth, the exudation of elephant apple and *nīm* serving as binding media.

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⁷ *Mānasollāsa*, II, 1, 139.

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⁸ *Chitralakshana*, ss. 28-29.

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The method of preparing zinc-white for painting is as follows: The best quality of Kāshgar zinc-white is ground and sifted through a piece of muslin. This powder is gradually dissolved in *dhau*-gum solution in a porcelain basin, till it attains the consistency of thick milk. This mixture is slowly drained in to another basin, so that the impurities deposited at the bottom are left over. This process is repeated several times, till pure zinc-white is obtained. It is then dried in the sun and is ready to be used.

Carbon

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Different formulas for the preparation of inks for writing and painting on palm-leaf, cloth and paper are found in the technical literature on painting and writing. In this connection, it should be remembered that the formulas for inks differ in accordance with the materials for which they were to be used. Muni Punyavijayajī has made a detailed study of these formulas⁹ which were, however, exclusively meant for writing on palm-leaf and paper, and do not seem to have been used by the painters. The medieval Sanskrit texts on painting knew only of two formulas for the preparation of black pigment. Thus the *Mānasollāsa*¹⁰ speaks of the lampblack as the only black pigment used in medieval painting (*krshṇe kajjalamishyate*). The *Śilparatna*¹¹ gives the following method for obtaining the lampblack. "In an earthen cup filled with oil, the wick saturated with oil is lighted. Then a globular earthen pot, with the inside of its belly besmeared with dried cowdung, is placed over the flame of the lamp. The lampblack sticking inside the pot should then be scraped, kneaded in an earthen pot and allowed to dry. Then it should be mixed with the *nīm* water, gum and pure water, levigated and then dried." Black pigment, according to the *Śilparatna* again, was obtained from certain mineral. "A barley grain of blue metal (perhaps antimony) should be reduced to fine powder and then mixed with the *kapittha* juice it should be dried."

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⁹ *Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma*, pp. 38 ff.

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¹⁰ *Mānasollāsa*, II, 1, 157.

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¹¹ *Chitralakshana*, ss. 47-52.

Red Pigments

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Red is the favourite colour with nature. There are red stones, red clays and red limes, in which the oxide of iron is always present. But all such clays and stones cannot be used, as these are slightly tinged with colour which disappears when it is being separated. Therefore, only such clays are chosen in which the oxide of iron is present in sufficient quantity.

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In the medieval Sanskrit texts on painting, various shades of red are described. Thus in the *Mānasollāsa*¹², the crude cinnabar (*darada*) stands for blood red; the lac-dye (*alaktaka*) stands for lake red, and the red ochre (*gairika*) for venetian red. In the *Silparatna*¹³, the red lead (*sindūra*) is called soft red (*mridurakta*), the red ochre, as middle red, and the lac-dye, as deep red.

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¹² *Mānasollāsa*, II, 1, 157.

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¹³ *Chitralakshana*, ss. 117–118.

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Red ochre (*gerū*).—It is a colour widely used in ancient paintings, and its hue is light and warm. The Venetian red stands for red ochre in the range of European colours. It is doubtful whether it was used in Western Indian miniatures. According to the *Silparatna*¹⁴, red ochre was levigated on stone for full one day and then pure colour obtained by the washing process.

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¹⁴ *Ib.*, s. 119.

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Red lead (*sindūra*).—It was used by Western Indian painters, specially in the paper period miniatures for yellowish red. The colour was prepared by roasting white lead in open air till it attained deep colour. According to the *Silparatna*¹⁵, the red lead was ground for half a day in water and the process was repeated for twenty-four hours after five days, and then it was kept in a suitable receptacle. The *nīm* gum was used as a medium with it.¹⁶

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¹⁵ *Ib.*, ss. 120–121.

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¹⁶ *Ib.*, s. 122.

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Vermilion or crude cinnabar (*hingola*). This mineral when ground yields a bright red. The following traditional method is used in its preparation. The crude cinnabar is thoroughly levigated in a mortar with the help of sugared water or lime-juice which is a better substitute. Then the cinnabar is allowed to settle and the yellowish water is carefully drained off. The process is repeated fifteen times, or even more, to obtain purest cinnabar. It is again levigated with sugared water or lime-juice and gum, and, after being thoroughly mixed, it is formed into tablets and dried.¹⁷

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¹⁷ *Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma*, I, pp. 45, 119.

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In order to ensure that the above mentioned preparation of cinnabar has the right proportion of gum, the cinnabar powder should be examined several times in the course of preparation. For this, a simple experiment is suggested in which a paper is spotted with cinnabar solution, folded and kept in a damp place. If the ends do not stick immediately, then the gum is in right proportion. To determine whether the cinnabar does not possess the right proportion of gum, the cinnabar spot on the paper should be allowed to dry, and if the colour is easily flaked with the fingernails, then it is apparent that it requires more gum.

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Fig. 139] [Figure: Fig. 140] [Figure: Fig. 141

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Realgar or red arsenic (*manaḥśilā*). This brilliant red was very rarely used in medieval Western Indian miniatures. It is a first cousin of the orpiment and is also a sulphide of arsenic. It yields as beautiful an orange yellow as the orpiment. According to the *Śilparatna*¹⁸, realgar (*manaḥśilā*) was reduced to fine powder and then used as a colour.

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¹⁸ *Chitralakṣaṇa*, ss. 120-121.

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Red lakes (*lākṣārasa*). Vermilion was, no doubt, an useful and admired colour, but still it was not adequate enough to produce deep, rich, saturated transparent reds, or even a full range of violet and rosy colours. To obtain dark reds on a small scale, painters are obliged to use other pigments, such as red lakes of organic origin.

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The word "lake", as applied to pigments, is derived from a material known as lacca, from which lake pigments were prepared. What was ordinarily known as lacca is, however, not known. It may, however, be surmised that the material was dark red incrustation of resin which is produced on certain kind of trees by certain kinds of insects. This resin is the source of shellac. If the crude material is boiled in water containing a little alkali, the colouring matter is dissolved in water and sold as lac-dye. The colours which lac-dye can be made to produce are quite violet, and they are apt to be not very brilliant. The lac-lake in European painting was primarily a panel-painting colour, being too dark and dull for books and not stable enough for walls.¹⁹

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¹⁹ Thompson, loc. cit., pp. 109-110.

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In the medieval Indian texts on painting, however, *lākṣārasa* or lac-dye, as a colour, is very well known. In the *Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṇa*²⁰, lac-resin (*lākṣā*) is mentioned as one of the colouring materials. In the *Mānasollāsa*²¹, lac-dye (*alaktakarasa*) is prescribed for transparent red (*rakta*), and it was also used for obtaining various mixed shades. In the *Śilparatna*²², it is described as a deep transparent red (*atirakte tu samyojyam varṇe lākṣārasam*). From the colour lists of Western Indian painters supplied by Muni Punyavijayaji²³, lac-dye (*ālato*) was used as red, and also mixed with other colours to obtain various shades.

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²⁰ *Viṣṇudharmottara*, III, 40.

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²¹ *Mānasollāsa*, II, 1, 156.

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²² *Chitralakṣaṇa*, s. 118.

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²³ *Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma*, I, pp. 119-120.

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The following method of preparing lac-dye is given by Muni Punyavijayaji²⁴:— Pure water should be made to boil at a high temperature. In this bubbling hot water, the powder of lac-resin should be gradually mixed. The water should be stirred all the time to prevent the solidification of the resin. After this, the temperature of the water should be raised, and at the interval of every ten minutes the powders of the lode and borax should be thrown in. To ascertain whether the colour was ready, a simple experiment is suggested. Dipping the pen in the solution, a few lines should be drawn on the hand made paper. If the ink does not split, then the colour is ready. The concoction is then taken down from the fire, and, after the water has dried up, the residue is used as colour.

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²⁴ Ib., p. 40, fn. 55.

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The following is the proportion of the ingredients in the formula : ¼ seer water, 1 tolā good dry resin of the pīpal known as lākhdānā, ½ tolā Pathānī lodh and one anna weight of borax. The quantities of these ingredients have to be multiplied proportionately if more lac-dye is required. If the lac-dye was used on palm-leaf then madder, one-fourth of the quantity of resin was added as it deepened the shade.

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Pothī.—A variety of Indian lake was also obtained from the dark red berries of the poī-plant. The colour, as mentioned in the lists of colours by Muni Puṇyavijayajī was known as pothī.²⁵

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²⁵ Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma pp. 119-120.

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Kermes.—The kermes seems to have been used on a small scale in the palm-leaf miniatures from Western India, though in the miniatures on paper its use seems to have been general. Though the Sanskrit texts on painting do not mention kermes as a colouring material, some very interesting information about the kṛmirāga or carmine is obtained from the Jain literature. Commenting on the gāthā 567 of the Bhagavatī Arādhanā, a book of great sanctity to Digambara Jain community, Āśādhara observes that in the Sanskrit commentary and glosses, kṛmirāga was an insect product and was used in dyeing valuable shawls. In the Prākṛt commentary, the following story about its origin is quoted. In the country of the Charmaraṅga Mlechchhas, it was a custom to draw out human blood with leeches and collect it in vessels. After a few days, weevils were produced which yielded the kṛmirāga for dyeing shawls.²⁶ There is another interesting story of a Persian merchant in the Bṛhatkathā-kośa²⁷ in which he buys a girl named Chumkārikā, feeds her for six months, and draws her blood with leeches and produces the kṛmirāga insects thereby.

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²⁶ Hariṣeṇa, Bṛhatkathā-kośa, ed. by A. N. Upadhye, Intro. p. 88, Bombay, 1943.

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²⁷ Ib., 80, 2 ; 102 (1)

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From the foregoing descriptions of the kermes, it is apparent that the production of carmine was a closely guarded secret, and the cock and bull stories about its origin were designedly spread to prevent close enquiries. Another interesting point which emerges from the stories is that the kṛmirāga was not an Indian product and the Charmaraṅga Mlechchhas (probably the people of Samarqand) and the Persians had the monopoly of its production.

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The Arabs called a red insect-dyestuff “kermes.” This Arabic designation was taken over into medieval Latin in the form of the adjective Kermesinum, from which the Italian cremisino, the French Cramoisie and the English Crimson were derived.²⁸

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²⁸ Thompson, loc. cit., p. 113.

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India in the 17th century imported kermes which is called cochineal owing to the confusion of the nomenclatures from Persia, though it does not seem to have been very popular in this country. Sir Thomas Roe stands testimony to this fact. According to him, “Cochineal will never sell as certainty. Few know it. For a pound or two one may give a good price ; but it is no commoditie of use. Those of Sinda only buy it. The Persians bring a little and retaille it at 35 ruppies a great seere. Its restricted use seems due to the fact that it was used for preparing the carmine for painting only and not much could be absorbed that way.

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Fig. 142

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Fig. 143

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Fig. 144

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Fig. 145

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Fig. 146

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The *krimdānā* is a species of insects which breed on cacti. Only the female insects of the species yield a colour known as the *kirmizī* or *gulālī*. The following method is followed in its preparations :—

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The kermes is tied in a piece of cotton cloth with the *Pathānī lodh* and *bujnuk*. It is allowed to soak in water for the whole night. Afterwards, it is boiled on slow fire and then strained. When the water has evaporated the residue should be mixed with very acid curd (*dahī*). If black-shaded carmine is desired, no curd should be added.

Blue Pigments

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Symbolically and æsthetically, the colour blue has appealed to Indian mind from very ancient days. In the wall-paintings of Ajaṇṭā, the brilliance of ultramarine supplements and vivifies, as it were, the dullness of the red and yellow ochres. The sparkling deep blue, used to delineate jewels in ornaments and garments, adds a peculiar charm to the figures, and the ultramarine tinged clouds and birds have a beauty of their own.

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*Indigo.*—The medieval texts on painting acclaim with one voice as indigo being the chief blue of the painters in the middle ages. The *Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṇa*²⁹ mentions *nīla* or indigo as one of the colouring materials, and, in the *Mānasollāsa*, the shade of indigo (*nīlī*) is compared to blue lotus, and its admixture with various colours to obtain various shades is described. Though indigo has not been used in the wall-paintings of Ajaṇṭā or Ellura, its use is apparent in the illustrated palm-leaf manuscripts from Bengal, Nepāl³¹ and Western India.

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²⁹ The Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe, ed. by W. Foster, p. 485, Lond., 1899.

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³¹ *Rūpam*, 1920, p. 9.

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Indigo was known to the ancient Egyptians, and it was imported by the Greeks and Romans from India, whence its name. It was extracted from a certain plant known to botany as indigoferæ. It was primarily used as a dye, but was also used as a blue pigment. The importation of indigo to Europe from the Orient continued through the Middle Ages, and the best quality in European markets was known as Baghdād indigo or Gulf indigo.

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*Ultramarine azure (rājāvarta, lāzvard).*—There is evidence to show that blue was extracted from the lapis lazuli in quite early times, long before any of the recipes for its extraction was known to European texts on colour-making. As its name suggests, this colour was brought ready made from some land ‘across the seas’ to Europe. The lapis lazuli, from which ultramarine blue was extracted, is almost exclusively found in Badakshān and Persia. Its source as a colour was known since a long time, as attested by the wall-paintings of Ajaṇṭā³². The *Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṇa*³³ counts the lapis lazuli (*rājavarta*) as a colouring material, and in the *Harshacharita* (middle of the 7th century)³⁴ the ultramarine tunics (*rājavartaka mechakaiḥ kañchukaiḥ*) are praised. In the *Mānasollāsa*³⁵ the shade of the *rājavarta* is compared with the colour of the flowers of *Linum Usitatissimum* or common flax plant, which shows that its author was well acquainted with this colour. The *rājavarta* or *rājavarta*, wrongly translated by Dr. Stella Kramrisch as ‘deep coloured brass’³⁶, is apparently the Sanskritised form of the Persian *lāzward*, meaning lapis lazuli, the source of ultramarine azure. It could be, therefore, said that the stone was imported from Persia, and, perhaps, the colour was also imported ready made, as no process for its manufacture is mentioned in Sanskrit texts.

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³⁰ *Viṣṇudharmottara*, III, 40.

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³² G. Yazdani, *Ajaṇṭā*; Vol. I, pp. 1-2.

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³³ *Viṣṇudharmottara*, III, 40.

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³⁴ *Harshacharita*, p. 202.

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³⁵ *Mānasollāsa*, II, 1, 161.

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³⁶ *The Viṣṇudharmottara*, p. 51, Calcutta, 1928.

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In the palm-leaf period of Western Indian painting (circa 1200—1400 A.D.), ultramarine blue was not used. But in a palm-leaf manuscript of the *Kalpasūtra*, owned by the Sheth Anandjī Mangaljīnī Peḍhīnā Jñāna Bhaṇḍār at Iḍar, which Prof. Norman Brown dates at the close of the 14th century,³⁷ there is a miniature depicting the birth of Śrī Mahāvīra (Fig. 59) in which the border of the *oṛhanī* of the queen, lying on a couch, is outlined with a thick streak of ultramarine blue. As the miniatures in this manuscript have also gold in their colour scheme, and to which we will have to refer later on, it seems possible that the ultramarine blue was reintroduced in India by the Persians, sometimes in the 14th century. In Western Indian miniatures on paper, however, ultramarine is the favourite blue.

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Even the best and darkest lapis lazuli contains a good deal of material which is not blue, such as calcite which is white, and iron pyrite which sparkles like gold. If lapis lazuli is powdered, then the result is disappointing as a pigment, as, unless the stone is unusually deep coloured, the powder is not blue at all but simply grey. Under a microscope, this powder may be seen to consist of a few particles of blue among a great many colourless particles. The blue cannot be separated from the impurities by washing with water. More complicated methods had to be invented in the Middle Age in Europe to extract good ultramarine from the lapis lazuli; and there is no documentary evidence to show that the necessary invention was known before the 13th century.³⁷

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³⁷ *J. I. S. O. A.*, V (1937), p. 6.

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³⁷ *Thompson*, loc. cit., p. 146.

Yellow Pigments

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In the ancient wall-paintings of Ajaṇṭā, yellow extracted from yellow ochres was only used. In the *Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṇa*³⁸, orpiment (*haritāla*) is mentioned as one of the colouring materials. In the *Mānasollāsa*³⁹, the only yellow spoken of is orpiment. In the medieval Indian palm-leaf manuscripts, orpiment was used for correction and as a yellow pigment. Two kinds of orpiments, *dagaḍī* and *vargī*, are known and only the latter is used as pigment. The orpiment is thoroughly levigated to the consistency of fine wheat flour and sifted. This powder is again levigated with the gum Arabic solution. To determine the right proportion of the gum, the same experiment, as in the case of cinnabar, is suggested.⁴⁰

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³⁸ *Viṣṇudharmottara*, III, 40.

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³⁹ *Mānasollāsa*, II, 1, 157.

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⁴⁰ Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma, I, p. 82.

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Fig. 147

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Orpiment is a sulphide of arsenic and found in nature as stone. Its colour is light, vivid yellow, sometimes pure yellow, but more often slightly inclined towards orange. In its natural state, it has a mica-like sparkle which recalls the lustre of metallic gold.

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Peorī.—It is certain that peorī was never used as yellow in the miniatures of the palm-leaf period, and no Sanskrit text makes any allusion to it. It seems that the colour was introduced from outside, probably from Persia, in the 15th century. In Jaipur it is still known as gogilī, an Indianised form of the Persian gāvgil, ‘cow-earth’. Peorī seems to have been equally favourite as orpiment in the miniatures on paper after 1400 A.D. The peorī was obtained from the urine of the cow fed on mango leaves for a few days. The urine was boiled and, after the water had evaporated, the sediment was rolled into balls which were dried at first on charcoal fire and then in the sun.⁴¹ The colour is deep yellow and very pleasing to the eye.

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⁴¹ Watts, Dict. of Economic Products of India, Vol. IV, Part I, pp. 132-133.

Green Pigments

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White, black, red, blue yellow are only basic colours, according to Sanskrit texts. The rest of the colour shades were obtained by admixtures. Thus green has not been mentioned as a separate colour; its various shades were obtained by the careful admixtures of blue, yellow, white, etc. Terraverte green, however, was known as a separate colour to the painters of Cave No. XVI at Ajaṇṭā and Ellura⁴².

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⁴² Paramasivan, Technique of the painting process in the Cave Temple at Ajaṇṭā, Ann. Rep. Arch. Dept. of H. E. H. Nizam's Dominions, 1939, p. 29; Technique of the Painting Process in the Cave Temple at Ellura, Ib., p. 38.

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Green was used in palm-leaf painting not as a separate colour, its shades being obtained by admixtures. After the 14th century, however, several greens seem to have been added to the palette of the painters.

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Terraverte.—The different varieties of green earth yielded rather a dull transparent green soapy in texture. Terraverte is specially used in the 17th century painting, to represent green foreground. However, as already observed, its use was known as early as the 7th century.

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Harābhāṭā or harāḍhābā seems to have been malachite green. This mineral occurs in several modifications in nature, some pale, others bright grassy green; some are very hard and stony, and some better suited to colouring, rather friable. Speaking from the geological point of view, azurite is a parent, and the malachite usually represents a changed form of the original blue deposit. The colour is pale, bright, opaque and crystalline. It was extensively used to depict grassy fields, mounds, etc.

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*Zangal*.—Verdigris became a favourite green with the painters in the 15th century and later. It is an acetate of copper prepared by treating pieces of copper with vinegar. Verdigris is an excellent green very pleasing to the eyes when fresh, but after sometime it is darkened and black spots appear. Moreover, its effect on paper is disastrous. The parts on which it is applied become so fragile in course of time that a little mishandling makes the paper crumble.

Mixed Colours

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In the medieval Sanskrit texts on painting, a list of mixed colours is usually given to serve as a guidance to painter. These colours were universally used in wall-paintings and miniatures on wood, cloth, palm-leaf and paper.

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The following lists of mixed colours (*miśravarna*) are found in the *Mānasollāsa*⁴³ and the *Silparatna*⁴⁴.

Mānasollāsa List

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(1) Cinnabar mixed with conch-shell lime yields a red-lotus hue.

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(2) Lac-dye mixed with conch-shell lime yields the shade of the *rasa* (?) (variant *chora*) plant.

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(3) Red ochre mixed with conch-shell lime powder yields the shade of smoke.

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(4) Orpiment mixed with conch-shell lime yields the shade of the *chorāśva* (?) plant.

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(5) Lampblack mixed with conch-shell lime also yields the shade of smoke.

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(6) Indigo mixed with conch-shell lime yields the pigeon gray.

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(7) Indigo mixed with orpiment yields green.

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(8) Lampblack mixed with red ochre yields dark brown shade.

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(9) Lampblack mixed with lac-dye yields the shade of the *pātala* flower.

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(10) Lac-dye mixed with indigo yields the deep purple of the *Jambū* fruit.

List of Mixed Colours in the Silparatna

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(1) White mixed with red yields a fair colour (*gaurachchhavi*).

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(2) White, lampblack and yellow mixed in equal proportion yield a speckled shade (*sāra*).

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(3) White and lampblack mixed in equal proportion yield an elephant grey.

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(4) Red and yellow mixed in equal proportion yield the shade of the *bakula* fruit or flame.

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Fig. 148

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Fig. 149

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Fig. 150

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Fig. 151

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Fig. 152

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Fig. 153

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Fig. 154

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(5) Red with yellow in proportion of two to one yields a deep red (*atiraktaka*).
(6) Yellow mixed with white in proportion of two to one yields a tawny colour (*piṅgala*).
(7) The body colour is obtained by the following admixtures :—
(i) yellow mixed with lampblack in proportion of two to one;
(ii) lampblack and yellow in equal proportion.
(8) Orpiment mixed with deep brown yields the shade of a parrot's feather.
(9) Lac-dye mixed with vermilion yields deep red.
(10) Lampblack mixed with lac-dye yields the deep purple of the *Jambū* fruit.
(11) Lac-dye, *Jātiliṅga*, white and vermilion mixed in equal proportion yield the body colour of the members of higher castes.
(12) Lampblack mixed with indigo yields the shade for hair.

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Muni Puṇyavijayajī has collected several lists of mixed colours from various manuscripts. The inclusion of zinc-white, *peorī*, verdigris, etc., in those lists however proves that these lists deal with the colours employed in the illustrated Western Indian manuscripts of the paper period, roughly from the 15th to 18th century.

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I. In the first list obtained by Muni Puṇyavijayajī⁴⁵ from Mr. Maṇilāl Paṇḍyā of Pāṭan, the proportionate weights of the different constituent colours in mixed colours are given. The following are the descriptions of the mixed colours given in this list:—
(1) The admixture of zinc-white 4 *ṭak*, *peorī* 1 *ṭa*., and red lead 1½ *ṭa*., yields fair body colour,
(2) The admixture of red lead 4 *ṭ*. and indigo 1 *ṭ*. yields the shade of the date palm (*khārika*).
(3) The admixture of orpiment 1 *ṭ*. and indigo ½ *ṭ*., yields yellowish blue shade.
(4) Zinc-white 1 *ṭ*., and lac-dye 1½ *ṭ*., yield a deep rose (*gulālī*).
(5) The admixture of zinc-white 1 *ṭ*. and indigo 1 *ṭ*., yields a sky blue.
(6) The admixture of red lead 1 *ṭ*. and *peorī* ½ *ṭ*., gives orange colour.

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II. List of mixed colours obtained from the folio of an old manuscript in the possession of Mr. Maṇilāl Lakshmīchand Pāṇḍe, an expert Jain sculptor.⁴⁵
(1) See No. (1) in list I.
(2) Zinc-white 4 *ṭ*. and indigo (*pothīgalī*) 1 *ṭ*., yield date palm shade.
(3) Orange yellow. See No. (6) list I.
(4) Yellowish blue. See No. (3) list I.
(5) Deep rose. See No. (4) list I.
(6) *Peorī* and indigo one *ṭ*., each, yield betel-leaf green.
(7) Sky blue. See No. (5) list I. (8-9) Zinc-white and red lead, one *ṭak*, each, yield wheat colour. Red lead and *pothī*-red one *ṭ*., each, and four *ṭ*. zinc-white, yield the same shade.

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⁴⁵ Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma, I, p. 47, fn. 63.

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⁴⁵ Ib., pp. 119-120.

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(10) Verdigris and peoṛī, one *t.* each, yield a parrot feather green (*sūyāpaṅkha*).
(11) Pure (*amlasār*) sulphur 4 *t.*, indigo 2 *t.* yield sky blue.
(12) Cinnabar 1 *t.*, indigo 2 *t.*, pothī-red one *rattī*, and zinc-white one *t.*, yield shade of brinjal.
(13) Zinc-white 4 *t.*, and peoṛī 2 *t.*, yield pale yellow (*pāṇḍura*).
(14) Indigo 1 *t.*, peoṛī 2 *t.*, lac-dye, black ink and red lead three drops each yield mango green (*āmbarāṅga*).
(15) Lampblack (*syāhī*) and pothī-red one *t.*, each yield a musk shade.
(16) Red lead 4 *t.*, and indigo 3 *t.*, yield *khākī* colour.
(17) Zinc-white 4 *t.* and mango green 1 *t.*, yield *argajā* (muddy brown) colour.
(18) Peoṛī and pothī two *t.*, each, yield *chokhā* (?) colour.
(19) Zinc-white 3 *t.* and peoṛī 1 *t.*, mixed with wheat brown, yield the shade of wood. (20-21) Zinc-white, red lead or red ochre and zinc-white, yield the body colour of the Mughals (*mughlīraṅg*).
(22) Zinc-white and peoṛī yield fair body colour.
(23) Red lead and orpiment yield wheat colour.
(24) Peoṛī and indigo yield yellowish blue.
(25) Orpiment and indigo yield mango-leaf green.
(26) Zinc-white and indigo yield sky colour.
(27) Zinc-white, peoṛī and red ochre, yield the colour of matted locks (*jaṭā*).
(28) Red lead and peoṛī yield the colour of lion.
(29) Zinc-white, indigo and red lead, yield *abjī* colour. (30-31) Zinc-white, orpiment and indigo yield elephant gray. Zinc-white, red lead and orpiment also yield the same shade.
(32) Indigo, lampblack, red lead and orpiment, yield the shade of yellow peoṛī.

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III. This list was obtained from the folio of a manuscript in the collection of Mr. Govardhandās Lakshmī Shankar Trivedi.

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(1) Mountain gray. Obtained from misī (?) and vānī (?)
(2) Ash grey (*bhabhūtīno raṅg*) is obtained by the admixture of indigo, chalk and a little quantity of lac-dye.
(3) The colour of cloud (*meghvarṇa*) is obtained by the admixture of indigo and chalk.
(4) Purple (*vēgaṇīo raṅg*) is obtained from indigo and lac-dye.
(5) Smoke colour (*dhumrāno raṅg*) is obtained from the admixture of a little indigo and lac-dye and chalk.
(6) Pistachio green (*pistāno raṅg*) is obtained from chalk, red lead and a little lac-dye.
(7) Fair body colour is obtained from the admixture of chalk, red lead and lac-dye.
(8) Light mountain gray (*dhuṅdhalo pahāṛī*) is obtained from the admixture of a little indigo and lac-dye and chalk.

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Fig. 155

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(9) Wheat colour is obtained from orpiment, red lead and chalk.

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(10) Deep purple (*kālorīganio*) is obtained from the admixture of indigo in sufficient quantity and a little lac-dye.

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(11) The colour of blue *chāsa* is obtained from the *ṭikoḍī* and verdigris.

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(12) Body-colour of a woman is obtained from orpiment and zinc-white.

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(13) Blue (*nīlo-raṅg*) is obtained from indigo and orpiment.

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(14) Rose colour (*gulābī raṅg*) is obtained from zinc-white and lac-dye.

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(15) Deep-blue (*gohīro nīlo*) is obtained from the *ṭikoḍī* and indigo.

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In the above list the colours should be mixed in different proportions in accordance with the experience of the artist⁴⁶.

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⁴⁶ Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma., p. 120.

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IV. This list was obtained by Mr. Sarabhai Nawab from some paper manuscript.

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(1) Sky colour (*āsmānīraṅg*) obtained from zinc-white and indigo.

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(2) Fair colour (*goro-raṅg*) obtained from zinc-white and red lead.

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(3) Blue colour (*nīlo-raṅg*) obtained from the *peoṛī* and indigo.

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(4) Purple (*vaīgaṇio raṅg*) obtained from cinnabar (*hiṅgola*) and indigo.

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(5) Rose colour (*gulābī raṅg*) obtained from zinc-white and lac-dye (*alto*).

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(6) Blue obtained from verdigris and *peoṛī*.

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(7) *Zaharī* obtained from verdigris and indigo.

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(8) Elephant grey obtained from lampblack and zinc-white.

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(9) Orpiment and indigo yield green.

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(10) *Hurmuzī* earth (*hirmach*) and indigo yield deep purple (*bhukharo*).

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(11) Lac-dye (*ālatā*) and red lead yield the shade of henna.

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(12) Zinc-white, *peoṛī* and cinnabar yield fair colour.

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(13) Cinnabar and *peoṛī* yield saffron colour (*kesario raṅg*).

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(14) Indigo, lac-dye and zinc-white yield the shade of *sosan* flower.

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(15) Red lead, *peoṛī* and zinc-white yield wheat colour.

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(16) Cinnabar and zinc-white yield the shade of lac-dye (*mahāvarṇo*).

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(17) Cinnabar, zinc-white and lamp-black yield a dark body colour (*sāmalo raṅg*).

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V. This list of mixed colours was obtained by Mr. Sarabhai Nawab from another manuscript. It repeats much of the information already given in other lists.

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(1) Parrot feather green. *See list II, No. (10).*

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(2) Pure orpiment and indigo yield a deep blue.

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(3) Sky blue. *See No. I, (5).*

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(4) Cinnabar and zinc-white yield fair colour.

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(5) Rose colour is obtained from zinc-white and *pothī-red*.

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(6) The colour of the sky (*ākāsī raṅg*) is obtained from lamp-black and zinc-white.

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(7) *Peoṛī* and red lead yield very fair colour.

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(8) Golden colour (sonāno rang) is obtained from orpiment, zinc-white and red lead.

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(9) The hue of shellac (lākhī rang) is produced from lac-dye, cinnabar and red ochre.

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After enumerating various mixed colours, the list gives a few instructions for applying colours. Thus it ordains that where only verdigris is used some sugar should be mixed with it (ekato janghāl dījii tyāre sākar nāshihi). A beautiful blue (abjā) could be obtained from zinc-white and ultramarine (lājhava rang).

Gold

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In Western Indian miniatures of the paper period, gold is extensively used as colour. It was very favourite with the painters as it suggested power and grandeur, and as its gleaming lustre appealed to the eyes.

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In the present state of our knowledge it cannot be said when gold came into use in gilding images and painting, but there is little doubt that in the early centuries of the Christian era gold leaves were used for decorating the stucco images and stūpas in Gandhāra. In the wall-paintings of Ajaṇṭā and Ellura, the use of gold is unknown, though the Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṇa⁴⁷ mentions gold as a colouring material, and in the Mānasollāsa and the Śilparatna elaborate processes for preparing the gold-powder are given. In the illustrated Jain manuscripts from Western India, the use of gold is only seen at the end of the palm-leaf period. In the illustrated palm-leaf manuscript of the Kalpasūtra, owned by the Sheth Ānandjī Maṅgaljīnī Pedhīnā Jñāna Bhaṇḍār at Īdar, use of gold seems to have been made for the first time. As this manuscript has been assigned to the end of the 14th century on good grounds by Dr. Norman Brown, it is not unreasonable to assume that the Indians learned the use of gold in painting from Central Asia⁴⁸. That the mid-fourteenth century saw the introduction of gold in Western Indian painting is further supported by certain 14th century cloth-paintings described elsewhere.

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⁴⁷ Viṣṇudharmottara, III, 40.

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⁴⁸ J.I.S.O.A. V, pp. 5-6.

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The use of gold as colouring material and also as border decoration was introduced by the Timurides in the 15th century. According to Dr. Goetz, in the 16th century, this method of decoration extended from Bokhāra to various Persian centres and thence to India⁴⁹, though it is now known that the Indians used gold in their paintings at least two hundred years earlier, and, on the strength of literary sources, its use extended as early as the 7th century A.D.

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⁴⁹ Kuhnel and Goetz, Indian book-painting p. 45, Lond. 1926.

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In the Mānasollāsa⁵⁰, a detailed description of how to prepare gold powder is given. It seems that the vīraṇa grass with sharp pointed tips mixed with gold-leaf was levigated slowly with the pestle on a stone slab. Then the powder was put in a bronze vessel mixed with water; it was washed several times till the sand and dust were completely eliminated. After this, this gold powder (*hemakalka*) was ready to be used mixed with the size (*vajralepa*) in very small quantities. While applying gold to a painting, only the tip of the brush was dipped in the colour and only golden ornaments were painted with it. When the gold had dried, it was burnished with a boar’s tusk in order to impart gloss to the colour.

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⁵⁰ Mānasollāsa, II, 1, 171-177.

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Fig. 156

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From the above description of the preparation of gold powder, an interesting point emerges. It is emphasised that gold powder was to be used in very small quantities. Apparently, it was considered too precious to be wasted and only ornaments were to be painted with it. This injunction apparently explains the absence of gold in the 12th and 13th century palm-leaf miniatures, and its cautious use in the 14th century miniatures and cloth-paintings. In the 15th century, however, gold is profusely used, and that may be due to the cheapening of gold price.

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The *Silparatna*⁵¹, a 16th century Sanskrit text on architecture and painting, gives methods for making gold powder and also applying gold-leaf to paintings. The methods are very similar to those employed by the Mughal painters and it is possible that the author of the *Silparatna* derived his information from the Persian sources.

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⁵¹ Chitralakshana, ss. 123—130.

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According to the *Silparatna* gold-leaves were at first reduced to very tiny pieces, and then mixed with the sand and water they were thoroughly levigated in a smooth stone mortar. After the gold leaves were reduced to powder, it was put in a glass cup and the sand and dust removed by the washing process. When the powder was cleaned of all impurities, it was ready to be used with the glue. After the application of gold, the surface was burnished with a boar’s tusk to impart it a glossiness.

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In the second process of applying gold, the design which required the application of gold was at first drawn with the size, and then a similar design cut from the gold-leaf was imprinted on it. Gloss was imparted by rubbing with a cotton-wool ball. It is remarkable that this method was followed in the 15th century illustrated manuscripts from Western India.

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The following methods for making gold and silver powders in Western India have been recorded by Muni Punyavijayaji⁵².

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⁵² Jaina-chitra Kalpadruma, I, p. 44.

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1. To prepare gold- or silver-powder to be used as ink or paint, gold- or silver-leaves were put one by one in a hard stone mortar and levigated with the help of clean *dhau-gum* solution. After the powder was ready, it was dissolved in sugared water and thoroughly stirred. When the gold-powder had settled at the bottom of the pot the water was slowly drained. This process was repeated several times till no trace of *dhau-gum* remained. After being dried, the powder was ready to be used.

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2. To prepare gold-powder in small quantity, a glass dish was besmeared with the *dhau-gum* and a gold- or silver-leaf was imprinted on it and thoroughly reduced to powder by the quick motion of the fingers. The rest of the process is the same as in 1.

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The modern method of preparing gold-powder by the Mughal painters of Delhi differs very little from the methods mentioned above. In this method, to reduce gold-leaves to powder, at first, a light coating of honey is applied to a porcelain dish and then the gold-leaf is imprinted on it so carefully that no crease or bubble appears. After this, it is thoroughly reduced to powder with the light movement of the fingers. Several gold-leaves are treated in this way, and if the fingers are unable to move, due to the stickiness of the honey, a few drops of water are sprinkled now and then. After the gold-leaves have been thoroughly reduced to powder, more water is added and the mixture is strained through a closely woven piece of cloth which is always stirred to avoid gold settling on the strainer. This process ensures that uncrushed particles do not remain in the fine gold-powder. This solution is then allowed to settle for fifteen hours. By that time, the gold-powder settles down at the bottom of the basin and then the water is drained off slowly. The mouth of the basin is then covered with a glass cover to avoid dust. The required quantity of gold-powder is taken from the vessel and used with the size as binding medium. The right proportion of the size is required, because if the size is in lesser quantity then the gold-powder does not stick to the painting; and if it is in greater quantity then the gold looses its lustre and cannot be burnished.

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We have already seen the method of imprinting cut gold-leaf design as given by the *Silparatna*. In cheaper Mughal paintings, and specially in the miniatures of Jaipur school, instead of applying gold-powder the use of gold-leaf is preferred. The process is analogous to that mentioned in the *Silparatna*, except that the size with which the design has to be drawn possesses a little proportion of sugar in it.

Binding Media

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Size.—In the *Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṇa*⁵³, the following formula for making the size is given :—"The buffalo hide clippings are boiled in water until they become soft like butter. The water then has to evaporate and sticks have to be made of the paste and dried in the sunshine. When required it is boiled in a mud vessel with water; it will make any colour fast with which it is fixed." A similar process for manufacturing the size is given in the *Mānasollāsa*⁵⁴. After describing the processes involved in the manufacture of the size, the author enjoins that, added in right proportion, it tempers the colours and stops their flaking.⁵⁵

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⁵³ Tr. by Dr. Stella Kramrisch, pp. 16-17.

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⁵⁴ *Mānasollāsa*, II, 1, ss. 132-140.

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⁵⁵ *Ib.*, s. 136.

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It is mentioned in the *Viṣṇudharmottara* that in wall-paintings three layers of priming were laid in the *chūṇam* mixed with the size. In the *Mānasollāsa*, it is said that the size should be used with white earth and applied to the wall in three coatings to obtain good ground. Burnt conch-shell powder and nāga-white from the Nilagiris also served the same purpose.

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Fig. 157

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Fig. 158

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Fig. 159

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Fig. 160

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Fig. 161

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Fig. 162

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Fig. 163

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Fig 164

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Besides the size, the *Viṣṇudharmottara*⁵⁶ commends the exudation of the *sindūra* tree (*Grislea Tomentosa*) as an astringent for tempering the colours. In the *Silparatna*⁵⁷, in addition to the size, exudations of the *kapittha* and *nīm* are suggested as astringents for the ground made of burnt conch-shell and oyster-shell powders. These were also used as binding media for the lampblack and *śyāmadhātu*.⁵⁸ With the red lead, the *nīm* exudation served as astringent.⁵⁹ In another place, the exudations of the *kapittha* and *nīm* are ordained to be used with all colours.⁶⁰

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