Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c76.203

v2.c76.203

"Cotton cloth seems to have been fairly widely used for the purpose of painting in Ancient India. Thus in the Samyutta Nikāya (II, 101-102, and III, 152) use of the strips of cloth (dussa-pata) along with well polished panel (suparimattha phalaka) and wall (bhitti) is mentioned for the purpose of painting. In the Visuddhimagga (535) of Buddhaghosa canvas (pata) is the ground or support of painting. In the Mahāvaṁśa (XXVII, 18) the representation of a palace drawn with cinnabar on cloth is mentioned. In the Mañjuśrī-mūlakalpa painting on cloth is mentioned. The cloth is to be woven by a pure virgin. An elaborate ritual is prescribed in this connection. The Kāmasūtra mentions ākhyānapata, which seems to mean a scroll containing the representation of a story. The Kāvya literature is full with references to canvas painting. It is mentioned in the Dūtavākya of Bhāsa when Duryodhana describes a canvas picture depicting Draupadī being dragged by the hair. In the Pañcadaśī Mādhavācarya while discussing the four modes of higher self incidentally compares them with the four conditions of a canvas painting. The canvas is washed (dhauta), burnished (ghaṭṭita), drawn upon (lāñchita) and coloured (rañjita)"—Moti Chand M. P. pp. 9-10.