BOOK REVIEW

Jain Mural Paintings of South Gujrat

The work under review is the survey aswell as aresearch and documentationwork of Mural Paintings in the [ainTemples of south Gujarat. The writerVasudeo smart, died in 1999, was adiploma holder in Painting from J.J.school of Painting, Mumbai. He wasassigned for documentation of wallpaintings of caves by Government ofIndia. Vasudev Smart had documentedand copied the frescos and JainKashthapat paintings from Surat,Bharuch and Ankleshwar and tried topreserve and value the [ain art.

The study of Gujarat Painting is arecent growth and before Dr Coomara-swami wrote his article on Jain Paintingsin 1914little was known of its existence.After the publication of another articlefain Art by the same author in 1924, thestud y of western Indian Paintingreceived a great impetus and variousscholars such as Dr. W. Narnam Brown,M.C. Mehta, O.c. Ganguli, Ajit Ghoshand Dr. M.R.Majumdar joined hands indiscovering new documents of westernIndian Paintings and throwing light ontheir technical and aesthetic achieve-ments.Vasudeo Smart's work which wasedited by Jagdeep Smart is the latest inthis area.

The original monograph was writtenin Gujarati by Smart and its Englishversion has been completed by SanatBhatt. In the editorial note, the editormakes two points, one that he hasaccommodated two wall paintings donein fresco styles besides the wooden patpaintings because both of them are in ahighly damaged condition and on theverge of being lost soon. They are thepaintings of Nandi-swardwip in thetemple of Adishwarnath at Rander andDhaidwip in the temple at Ankleshwar.Secondly the monograph aims atincorporating in itself all that has beenfortuna tel y saved till now. Thephotographs were added to make these

more authentic.Besides the introductory first chapter

of Jain Architecture, Sculpture andpainting, the monograph has five morechapters on [ain Pat paintings, Jaintemple ofRander and Surat, [ain templesof Bharuch, [ain temples of Ankleshwarand lastly the Epilogue. It has anappendix of the names of places visitedduring the completion of the Project, ashort bibliography and a number ofphotographs and documentation ofMural paintings in the [ain temples ofsouth Gujarat.

In the chapter 'Jain ArchitectureSculpture and painting' the writer hasdescribed Indian Art in a nutshell andhurriedly shifted to Jain art and architec-ture giving a short description of paint-ings ofAjanta, Kailashnath, Lankeshwar,Indrasabha and Ganeshan. He hasdescribed in detail the Swetambar andDigambar centres of art architecture andsculpture. He essentially speaks from theSwetambar [ain tradition which has a largefollowing in the western and northernIndia. He has given a religious andcultural history of Gujarat and theevolution of Jain school of paintingswhich is also known asApabhransh schoolor the Gujarat school of painting.

Pat painting is religious and ritualisticin character. It is a painting on a lengthofcloth. Ithas to pass through four stagesof preparation, viz.-Dhaut (washed),Ghatil (rubbed and polished), lanchhit(stretched), and Rangit (dyed). The writerdescribes the preparation of Pat chitraswhich are painted on Khadi or handwoven cotton cloths. The artists begintheir work with sketching lines in redochre and fill itwith different colours andfinally decorate whole painting with goldand silver.

According to the theme and thepurpose, the Pat can be divided in fourmajor types - 1. Map of Jain astronomyand Geography, 2. Spiritual and tantric

SUMMERHILL HAS REVIEW • 31 • Summer 2002

•••••••••

lain Kashthapat Chitra by Vasudeo Smarted. by Jagdeep Smart.English version.

Sanat Bhatt, Acharyashri Om Karsuri AradhnaBhavan. Sural and Shri Vav Jain Sangh.

Vav. (Banaskantha).2002., pp. 75, plates 98, Rs.lOOO.OO

pats, 3. places of pilgrimages and 4.Miscellaneous pats of appeals orrequests, flags and flaglets. The purposeof the first type of pat painting is toinstruct Jain munis and followers and thepurpose of tantra based pat is spiritualand worldly benefits; mystical symbolsand letters of mantras are written inDevnagari script in red. The purpose oftirth pats, the third type, is to understandand offer prayers at the major tirthaswhile miscellaneous pats have differentpurposes - Vignapti patra pat is to invitesome [ain Muni to spend chaturmas;Kshamapana patrika is for forgiveness; andVahi is a record book. These pats depictthe genealogies of the [ain temples.

In the third chapter of this monograph,the writer has described pat paintings of[ain temples ofRander and Surat. Randeris now an integral part of Surat. Thetemples of Adiswar, Neminath,Manmohan Parshvanath, Ajitnath andChandraprabhuji of Digambar sect arefound in Rander. Adiswar temple is oneof the oldest and the best. This hasbeautiful pat painting along with someminiature paintings.

This temple has one fresco whichdepicts the subject of Nandiswardwip,the eighth of the mythological islands isdescribed in this book. The paintingdescribes the Gods with their handsfolded in prayers along with naturalobjects, flora and fauna, animals and theMulnayak sitting on padmashana. Thisfresco is remarkable for its masterlyand balanced composition, carefuldelineation of minute details of thefigures painted on bold lines with the useof a limited number of colours such asred, yellow, black and gold. The entirefresco is decorated with tiny dots ofcolours.

Surat has also very beautiful andmagnificent pat paintings in its temples.The important ones are Chinta-maniParshvanath and Chandraprabhu Swami

Mulnayak sitting on padmashana. Thisfresco is remarkable for its masterly andbalanced composition, carefuldelineation of minute details of the figurespainted on bold lines with the use of alimited number of colours such as red,yellow, black and gold. The entire frescois decorated with tiny dots of colours.

Surat has also very beautiful andmagnificent pat paintings in its temples.The important ones are Chinta-maniParshvanath and ChandraprabhuSwami temples. Two pats in ChintamaniParshvanath temple are remarkable.They are: Ashtapad Pat andSametshikharji. The ChandraprabhuSwami Temple has also two woodenpat paintings. There is a symbolicrepre-senta tion of Sun a t the centreencircled with floral design anddifferent figures of men and womenengaged in Ras or Garba. The depictionof sun and the conglomeration of thehuman figures, winged divinities,celestial damsels, musicians and flyingbirds all moving around the centre ingracefully rhythmic movements give acosmic dimension to the painting.

The fourth chapter deals with thetemples of Bharuch of which a specialmention of the two panchtirth pats of ShriSuvratswami temple is essential. Thelarger one is a painting of Sametshikharji and the other is tha t of a pilgrimageof Girnarji. The first one is painted onthe pat of 8'3/1 x 7'00 and contains thepictures of 18 temples. These aresurrounded by hills and trees,especially the mango trees. There areanimals, birds and natural objects.Female figures wear yujarati andRajasthani clothes such as blouse,petticoa t, upper garments, sari andornaments like nose ring, earring,bangles, waist, band, etc. Some of themcarry their children on their waist withfolded hands in prayer.

In the fifth chapter the writer hasdescribed many temples of

BOOK REVIEW

Ankleshwar. The colour map ofAdhaidwip on the walls of theSrichintamani Parshvanath Digambar[ain temple is in a highly damagedcondition. It contains many oceans,mountains, forests and rivers. This hasmarvellous configuration of straightlines and carved lines. The coloursused are yellow, coffee, dark green andblack; straight lines depicts variousKhetras, Khands, mountains, rivers,oceans etc.

In these pat paintings the influenceof Rajput, Mughal and Maratha stylescan clearly be seen. The clothes andornaments men and women wear inthese paintings lead us to believe thatthe artists were Maharashtrians and sowas the style of their paintings. Theinfluence of the folk paintings ofGujarat and that of Rajasthan can alsoclearly be marked in the paintings onthe ceilings of the temples of ShriChandraprabhu Swami.

The themee of the paintings areevents, activities and festivities relatedto [a in way of life and thought.Tirthankaras, Panchtirthas, monks andmunis, [ain laichies, different incidentsin the lives of Rushabhdev andNaminath, the manifestation andsermonising of the Lord, differentactivities of the village people, presidingGoddesses, divine figure, forms of Godsand Goddesses, musicians playingupon various musical instruments,Gods seated in their heavenly chariots,birds, animals, and so on are found inthese paintings. Besides these, one cansee dense groves, wells, tanks, largeponds, magnificent temples, forts andhighly decorated bullock-carts, horsecarriages, camel-carts, flying chariotsand elephants with howdahs on theirbacks and golden palanquins.

These paintings can be divided intothree major groups, viz. murals orpaintings on the walls, wooden patpaintings and pat paintings on cloths.

SlJ'v1MERHILL IIAS REVIEW • 32 • Summer 2002

The back drop pieces, exquisitelywoven and embroidered with gold andsilver threads, were hung behind theMul Nayak in the sanctum sanctorumof the temple. Unfortunately the age oldtradition of Jain art is fast disappearing.Priceless pieces of art are simplydestroyed or sold at the time ofrenova ting or rebuilding the oldtemples. The newer temples are not ofthat quality which could be comparedwith the older ones. The old hanginglamps of glass, pat paintings, woodenpillars and bases with exquisitecarvings or paintings, celestial damselsand other ornamental pieces, etc. arefast disappearing from the Jain templesof recent times.

Anyway this art book, enriched withthe photographs of the wooden palpaintings in the [ain Temples of SouthGujarat remind us of our past glory andrich heritage. Though there are someprinting and spelling mistakes yet thebook is a good study of mural paintingsin the Jain Temples and can safety berecommended to all readers who wantcomprehensive and thoroughknowledge of lain Kashihapat Chiira.

V.N. Singhteaches History

in B.J.S. Rampuriya Jain CollegeBikaner

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