Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c77.79

v2.c77.79

"The mixing of these colours is left to the ingenuity of the artist. He may coat them with lac and resin. Colouring substances are: gold, silver, copper, mica, deep coloured brass, red lead, vermilion, tin, yellow, orpiment, yellow myrobalan, lac, indigo and some kind of iron oxide"—Viṣṇudharmottara, Part III, Chapter 40. In Śilparatnam (cf. Ch. 46 vs. 119-130) prescriptions for the preparation of these vegetable and mineral colours are given. "Red chalk for instance ought to be ground on stone and left covered with water for a day, red lead also ought to be ground and covered with water for half a day, red arsenic, however, should be made into powder but it should not be covered with water. Then the colours should be ground once more and again put into water for five days. Afterwards, they should be mixed with the exudation of the Nimba tree, then at last they are ready to be applied on walls and pictures".