Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c9.3

c9.3

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.