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Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c9.s5: Yellow Pigments

Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c9.s5

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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.

c9.s5.7

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.

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