Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c77.96

v2.c77.96

**Ultramarine azure (lāzwardī).**—The ultramarine azure was used in Indian pictures from ancient times, though lapis lazuli from which this colour was produced is not a product of India. The blue par excellence in Ajanta paintings is ultramarine. This, however, came from outside the Deccan, probably from Persia. Ultramarine is also used in the illustrated palm-leaf manuscripts of the Prajñāpāramitā from Bengal and Nepal from the tenth century onwards, and also in the illustrated manuscripts of the Kalpasūtra and Kālakācāryakathā belong- to the period between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries”—Mughal Painting, pp. 24-25.