History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c20.s3.t3.26

v1.c20.s3.t3.26

In all these texts dealing with the art of painting, the term vartika is used which generally means a brush or pencil. But in these texts they are used to connote a crayon or pastel for drawing. We come across the words tiṇḍukavarti and kiṭṭavarti with which the outline of a picture is drawn and they are distinguished as a twig of a special variety of ebony and a black secretion with carbon and prepared as a roll or pastille or varti for sketching (Śiv. R. Vi.2.28).