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Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c9.s8: Gold

Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c9.s8

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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.

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