NCERT Textbook - The Manuscript Painting Tradition | Fine Arts for Grade 12 PDF Download

 Page 1


The Manuscript Painting Tradition 1
T
he third Khanda of the Vishnudharmottara Purana, 
a fifth century text has a chapter Chitrasutra, which 
should be considered as a source book of Indian art in 
general and painting specifically. It talks about the art of 
image making called pratima lakshana, which are canons 
of painting. The Khanda also deals with the techniques, 
tools, material(s), surface (wall), perception, perspective 
and three-dimentionality of human figures. Different limbs 
of painting, such as roopbheda or looks and appearance; 
pramana or measurments, proportion and structure; bhava 
or expressions; lavanya yojana or aesthetic composition; 
sadrishya or resemblance; and varnikabhanga or use of 
brush and colours have been explained at length with 
examples. Each of these have many sub-sections. These 
canons were read and understood by artists and followed 
through centuries, thus, becoming the basis of all styles and 
schools of painting in India.
Paintings from the medieval period have earned a 
generic name, for example miniature paintings, owing to 
their relatively smaller size. These miniature paintings 
were hand-held and observed from a closer distance due to 
their minutiae. The walls of a patron’s mansions were often 
decorated with mural paintings. Hence, these miniatures 
were never intended to be put up on the walls.
A large section of paintings are appropriately referred to 
as manuscript illustrations as they are pictorial translations 
of poetic verses from epics and various canonical, literary, 
bardic or music texts (manuscripts), with verses handwritten 
on the topmost portion of the painting in clearly demarcated 
box–like space. Sometimes, one finds the text not in the front 
but behind the work of art.
Manuscript illustrations were methodically conceived in 
thematic sets (each set comprising several loose paintings 
or folios). Each folio of painting has its corresponding text 
1_1.Manuscript Paintings.indd   1 01 Sep 2020   02:51:29 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
Page 2


The Manuscript Painting Tradition 1
T
he third Khanda of the Vishnudharmottara Purana, 
a fifth century text has a chapter Chitrasutra, which 
should be considered as a source book of Indian art in 
general and painting specifically. It talks about the art of 
image making called pratima lakshana, which are canons 
of painting. The Khanda also deals with the techniques, 
tools, material(s), surface (wall), perception, perspective 
and three-dimentionality of human figures. Different limbs 
of painting, such as roopbheda or looks and appearance; 
pramana or measurments, proportion and structure; bhava 
or expressions; lavanya yojana or aesthetic composition; 
sadrishya or resemblance; and varnikabhanga or use of 
brush and colours have been explained at length with 
examples. Each of these have many sub-sections. These 
canons were read and understood by artists and followed 
through centuries, thus, becoming the basis of all styles and 
schools of painting in India.
Paintings from the medieval period have earned a 
generic name, for example miniature paintings, owing to 
their relatively smaller size. These miniature paintings 
were hand-held and observed from a closer distance due to 
their minutiae. The walls of a patron’s mansions were often 
decorated with mural paintings. Hence, these miniatures 
were never intended to be put up on the walls.
A large section of paintings are appropriately referred to 
as manuscript illustrations as they are pictorial translations 
of poetic verses from epics and various canonical, literary, 
bardic or music texts (manuscripts), with verses handwritten 
on the topmost portion of the painting in clearly demarcated 
box–like space. Sometimes, one finds the text not in the front 
but behind the work of art.
Manuscript illustrations were methodically conceived in 
thematic sets (each set comprising several loose paintings 
or folios). Each folio of painting has its corresponding text 
1_1.Manuscript Paintings.indd   1 01 Sep 2020   02:51:29 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
2 An IntroductIon to IndIAn Art —PArt II
inscribed either in the demarcated space on the upper portion 
of the painting or on its reverse. Accordingly, one would have 
sets of the Ramayana paintings, or Bhagavata Purana, or 
Mahabharata, or Gita Govinda, Ragamala, etc. Each set was 
wrapped up in a piece of cloth and stored as a bundle in the 
library of the king or patron.
The most important folio-page of the set would be the 
colophon page, which would furnish information regarding 
the names of the patron, artist or scribe, date and place 
of commission or completion of the work, and other such 
important details. 
However, due to ravages of time, the colophon pages 
have often gone missing, compelling scholars to attribute 
missing particulars on the basis of their expertise. Being 
fragile pieces of artworks, paintings are susceptible to 
mishandling, fire, humidity, and other such calamities and 
disasters. Considered as precious and valuable artifacts and 
also being portable, paintings were often gifted to princesses 
as part of their dowries when they got married. They were 
also exchanged as gifts between kings and courtiers as acts 
of gratitude and traded to distant places. Paintings also 
travelled to remote regions with moving pilgrims, monks, 
adventurers, traders and professional narrators. Thus, for 
instance, one would find a Mewar painting with the Bundi 
king and vice versa.
Reconstructing the history of paintings is a phenomenal 
task. There are fewer dated sets compared to undated ones. 
When arranged chronologically, there are vacuous spells in 
between, where one can only speculate the kind of painting 
activity that could have thrived. To make matters worse, the 
loose folios are no longer part of their original sets and are 
dispersed in various museums and private collections, which 
Sravakapratikramasutra-curni 
of Vijayasimha 
Mewar, written by 
Kamalchandra,1260 
Collection: Boston 
1_1.Manuscript Paintings.indd   2 01 Sep 2020   02:51:29 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
Page 3


The Manuscript Painting Tradition 1
T
he third Khanda of the Vishnudharmottara Purana, 
a fifth century text has a chapter Chitrasutra, which 
should be considered as a source book of Indian art in 
general and painting specifically. It talks about the art of 
image making called pratima lakshana, which are canons 
of painting. The Khanda also deals with the techniques, 
tools, material(s), surface (wall), perception, perspective 
and three-dimentionality of human figures. Different limbs 
of painting, such as roopbheda or looks and appearance; 
pramana or measurments, proportion and structure; bhava 
or expressions; lavanya yojana or aesthetic composition; 
sadrishya or resemblance; and varnikabhanga or use of 
brush and colours have been explained at length with 
examples. Each of these have many sub-sections. These 
canons were read and understood by artists and followed 
through centuries, thus, becoming the basis of all styles and 
schools of painting in India.
Paintings from the medieval period have earned a 
generic name, for example miniature paintings, owing to 
their relatively smaller size. These miniature paintings 
were hand-held and observed from a closer distance due to 
their minutiae. The walls of a patron’s mansions were often 
decorated with mural paintings. Hence, these miniatures 
were never intended to be put up on the walls.
A large section of paintings are appropriately referred to 
as manuscript illustrations as they are pictorial translations 
of poetic verses from epics and various canonical, literary, 
bardic or music texts (manuscripts), with verses handwritten 
on the topmost portion of the painting in clearly demarcated 
box–like space. Sometimes, one finds the text not in the front 
but behind the work of art.
Manuscript illustrations were methodically conceived in 
thematic sets (each set comprising several loose paintings 
or folios). Each folio of painting has its corresponding text 
1_1.Manuscript Paintings.indd   1 01 Sep 2020   02:51:29 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
2 An IntroductIon to IndIAn Art —PArt II
inscribed either in the demarcated space on the upper portion 
of the painting or on its reverse. Accordingly, one would have 
sets of the Ramayana paintings, or Bhagavata Purana, or 
Mahabharata, or Gita Govinda, Ragamala, etc. Each set was 
wrapped up in a piece of cloth and stored as a bundle in the 
library of the king or patron.
The most important folio-page of the set would be the 
colophon page, which would furnish information regarding 
the names of the patron, artist or scribe, date and place 
of commission or completion of the work, and other such 
important details. 
However, due to ravages of time, the colophon pages 
have often gone missing, compelling scholars to attribute 
missing particulars on the basis of their expertise. Being 
fragile pieces of artworks, paintings are susceptible to 
mishandling, fire, humidity, and other such calamities and 
disasters. Considered as precious and valuable artifacts and 
also being portable, paintings were often gifted to princesses 
as part of their dowries when they got married. They were 
also exchanged as gifts between kings and courtiers as acts 
of gratitude and traded to distant places. Paintings also 
travelled to remote regions with moving pilgrims, monks, 
adventurers, traders and professional narrators. Thus, for 
instance, one would find a Mewar painting with the Bundi 
king and vice versa.
Reconstructing the history of paintings is a phenomenal 
task. There are fewer dated sets compared to undated ones. 
When arranged chronologically, there are vacuous spells in 
between, where one can only speculate the kind of painting 
activity that could have thrived. To make matters worse, the 
loose folios are no longer part of their original sets and are 
dispersed in various museums and private collections, which 
Sravakapratikramasutra-curni 
of Vijayasimha 
Mewar, written by 
Kamalchandra,1260 
Collection: Boston 
1_1.Manuscript Paintings.indd   2 01 Sep 2020   02:51:29 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
t he MAnuscrIPt PAIntIng t rAdItIon 3
keep surfacing time and again, challenging the constituted 
timeline and compelling scholars to modify and redefine the 
chronology in history. In this light, undated sets of paintings 
are ascribed a hypothetical timeframe on the basis of style 
and other circumstantial evidence.
Western Indian School of Painting
Painting activity that thrived largely in western parts of 
India constitutes the Western Indian School of Painting with 
Gujarat as its most prominent centre, and southern parts 
of Rajasthan and western parts of Central India as other  
centres. With the presence of some significant ports in 
Gujarat, there was a network of trade routes passing 
through these areas, especially, making merchants, traders 
and local chieftains powerful patrons of art due to the wealth 
and prosperity that trading brought in. The merchant class, 
largely represented by the Jain community, led to become 
significant patrons of themes related to Jainism. Hence, part 
of the Western Indian School that depicts Jain themes and 
manuscripts is known as the Jain School of Painting. 
Jain painting also received impetus because the concept 
of shaastradaan (donation of books) gained favour amidst the 
community, where the act of donating illustrated paintings to 
the monastery’s libraries called bhandars (repositories) was 
glorified as a gesture of charity, righteousness and gratitude.
Among the most widely illustrated canonical text in 
the Jain tradition is Kalpasutra. It has a section, reciting 
events from the lives of the 24 Tirthankaras — from their 
births to salvation — that provides a biographical narrative 
for artists to paint. The five key incidents roughly elaborated 
as — conception, birth, renunciation, enlightenment and first 
sermon, and salvation from the lives of Tirthankaras and 
Birth of Mahavir, Kalpasutra, 
fifteenth century, 
Jain Bhandar, Rajasthan
1_1.Manuscript Paintings.indd   3 01 Sep 2020   02:51:29 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
Page 4


The Manuscript Painting Tradition 1
T
he third Khanda of the Vishnudharmottara Purana, 
a fifth century text has a chapter Chitrasutra, which 
should be considered as a source book of Indian art in 
general and painting specifically. It talks about the art of 
image making called pratima lakshana, which are canons 
of painting. The Khanda also deals with the techniques, 
tools, material(s), surface (wall), perception, perspective 
and three-dimentionality of human figures. Different limbs 
of painting, such as roopbheda or looks and appearance; 
pramana or measurments, proportion and structure; bhava 
or expressions; lavanya yojana or aesthetic composition; 
sadrishya or resemblance; and varnikabhanga or use of 
brush and colours have been explained at length with 
examples. Each of these have many sub-sections. These 
canons were read and understood by artists and followed 
through centuries, thus, becoming the basis of all styles and 
schools of painting in India.
Paintings from the medieval period have earned a 
generic name, for example miniature paintings, owing to 
their relatively smaller size. These miniature paintings 
were hand-held and observed from a closer distance due to 
their minutiae. The walls of a patron’s mansions were often 
decorated with mural paintings. Hence, these miniatures 
were never intended to be put up on the walls.
A large section of paintings are appropriately referred to 
as manuscript illustrations as they are pictorial translations 
of poetic verses from epics and various canonical, literary, 
bardic or music texts (manuscripts), with verses handwritten 
on the topmost portion of the painting in clearly demarcated 
box–like space. Sometimes, one finds the text not in the front 
but behind the work of art.
Manuscript illustrations were methodically conceived in 
thematic sets (each set comprising several loose paintings 
or folios). Each folio of painting has its corresponding text 
1_1.Manuscript Paintings.indd   1 01 Sep 2020   02:51:29 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
2 An IntroductIon to IndIAn Art —PArt II
inscribed either in the demarcated space on the upper portion 
of the painting or on its reverse. Accordingly, one would have 
sets of the Ramayana paintings, or Bhagavata Purana, or 
Mahabharata, or Gita Govinda, Ragamala, etc. Each set was 
wrapped up in a piece of cloth and stored as a bundle in the 
library of the king or patron.
The most important folio-page of the set would be the 
colophon page, which would furnish information regarding 
the names of the patron, artist or scribe, date and place 
of commission or completion of the work, and other such 
important details. 
However, due to ravages of time, the colophon pages 
have often gone missing, compelling scholars to attribute 
missing particulars on the basis of their expertise. Being 
fragile pieces of artworks, paintings are susceptible to 
mishandling, fire, humidity, and other such calamities and 
disasters. Considered as precious and valuable artifacts and 
also being portable, paintings were often gifted to princesses 
as part of their dowries when they got married. They were 
also exchanged as gifts between kings and courtiers as acts 
of gratitude and traded to distant places. Paintings also 
travelled to remote regions with moving pilgrims, monks, 
adventurers, traders and professional narrators. Thus, for 
instance, one would find a Mewar painting with the Bundi 
king and vice versa.
Reconstructing the history of paintings is a phenomenal 
task. There are fewer dated sets compared to undated ones. 
When arranged chronologically, there are vacuous spells in 
between, where one can only speculate the kind of painting 
activity that could have thrived. To make matters worse, the 
loose folios are no longer part of their original sets and are 
dispersed in various museums and private collections, which 
Sravakapratikramasutra-curni 
of Vijayasimha 
Mewar, written by 
Kamalchandra,1260 
Collection: Boston 
1_1.Manuscript Paintings.indd   2 01 Sep 2020   02:51:29 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
t he MAnuscrIPt PAIntIng t rAdItIon 3
keep surfacing time and again, challenging the constituted 
timeline and compelling scholars to modify and redefine the 
chronology in history. In this light, undated sets of paintings 
are ascribed a hypothetical timeframe on the basis of style 
and other circumstantial evidence.
Western Indian School of Painting
Painting activity that thrived largely in western parts of 
India constitutes the Western Indian School of Painting with 
Gujarat as its most prominent centre, and southern parts 
of Rajasthan and western parts of Central India as other  
centres. With the presence of some significant ports in 
Gujarat, there was a network of trade routes passing 
through these areas, especially, making merchants, traders 
and local chieftains powerful patrons of art due to the wealth 
and prosperity that trading brought in. The merchant class, 
largely represented by the Jain community, led to become 
significant patrons of themes related to Jainism. Hence, part 
of the Western Indian School that depicts Jain themes and 
manuscripts is known as the Jain School of Painting. 
Jain painting also received impetus because the concept 
of shaastradaan (donation of books) gained favour amidst the 
community, where the act of donating illustrated paintings to 
the monastery’s libraries called bhandars (repositories) was 
glorified as a gesture of charity, righteousness and gratitude.
Among the most widely illustrated canonical text in 
the Jain tradition is Kalpasutra. It has a section, reciting 
events from the lives of the 24 Tirthankaras — from their 
births to salvation — that provides a biographical narrative 
for artists to paint. The five key incidents roughly elaborated 
as — conception, birth, renunciation, enlightenment and first 
sermon, and salvation from the lives of Tirthankaras and 
Birth of Mahavir, Kalpasutra, 
fifteenth century, 
Jain Bhandar, Rajasthan
1_1.Manuscript Paintings.indd   3 01 Sep 2020   02:51:29 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
4 An IntroductIon to IndIAn Art —PArt II
events leading to and around these — comprise most part of 
the Kalpasutra.
Other popularly painted texts are Kalakacharyakatha 
and Sangrahini Sutra, among others. Kalakacharyakatha 
narrates the story of Acharya Kalaka, who is on a mission 
to rescue his abducted sister (a Jain nun) from an evil king. 
It recounts various thrilling episodes and adventures of 
Kalaka, such as him scouring the land to locate his missing 
sister, demonstrating his magical powers, forging alliances 
with other kings, and lastly, battling the evil king. 
Uttaradhyana Sutra contains the teachings of Mahavir 
that prescribe the code of conduct that monks should follow 
and Sangrahini Sutra is a cosmological text composed in the 
twelfth century that comprises concepts about the structure 
of the universe and mapping of space. 
Jains got these texts written in numerous copies. They 
were either sparsely or profusely illustrated with paintings. 
Hence, one typical folio or painting would be divided into 
sections with allocated spaces for writing the text and painting 
Trishala’s fourteen dreams, 
Kalpasutra, Western India
Mahavir’s mother 
Trishala dreams 
about 14 objects 
when she conceives 
Mahavir. They are — 
an elephant, a bull, a 
tiger, goddess Shri, a 
kalash, a palanquin, 
a pond, a rivulet, fire, 
banners, garlands, 
heap of jewels, the Sun 
and the moon.
She consults an 
astrologer to interpret 
her dream and was 
told that she will give 
birth to a son, who 
will either become 
a sovereign king or 
a great saint and 
teacher.
1_1.Manuscript Paintings.indd   4 01 Sep 2020   02:51:29 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
Page 5


The Manuscript Painting Tradition 1
T
he third Khanda of the Vishnudharmottara Purana, 
a fifth century text has a chapter Chitrasutra, which 
should be considered as a source book of Indian art in 
general and painting specifically. It talks about the art of 
image making called pratima lakshana, which are canons 
of painting. The Khanda also deals with the techniques, 
tools, material(s), surface (wall), perception, perspective 
and three-dimentionality of human figures. Different limbs 
of painting, such as roopbheda or looks and appearance; 
pramana or measurments, proportion and structure; bhava 
or expressions; lavanya yojana or aesthetic composition; 
sadrishya or resemblance; and varnikabhanga or use of 
brush and colours have been explained at length with 
examples. Each of these have many sub-sections. These 
canons were read and understood by artists and followed 
through centuries, thus, becoming the basis of all styles and 
schools of painting in India.
Paintings from the medieval period have earned a 
generic name, for example miniature paintings, owing to 
their relatively smaller size. These miniature paintings 
were hand-held and observed from a closer distance due to 
their minutiae. The walls of a patron’s mansions were often 
decorated with mural paintings. Hence, these miniatures 
were never intended to be put up on the walls.
A large section of paintings are appropriately referred to 
as manuscript illustrations as they are pictorial translations 
of poetic verses from epics and various canonical, literary, 
bardic or music texts (manuscripts), with verses handwritten 
on the topmost portion of the painting in clearly demarcated 
box–like space. Sometimes, one finds the text not in the front 
but behind the work of art.
Manuscript illustrations were methodically conceived in 
thematic sets (each set comprising several loose paintings 
or folios). Each folio of painting has its corresponding text 
1_1.Manuscript Paintings.indd   1 01 Sep 2020   02:51:29 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
2 An IntroductIon to IndIAn Art —PArt II
inscribed either in the demarcated space on the upper portion 
of the painting or on its reverse. Accordingly, one would have 
sets of the Ramayana paintings, or Bhagavata Purana, or 
Mahabharata, or Gita Govinda, Ragamala, etc. Each set was 
wrapped up in a piece of cloth and stored as a bundle in the 
library of the king or patron.
The most important folio-page of the set would be the 
colophon page, which would furnish information regarding 
the names of the patron, artist or scribe, date and place 
of commission or completion of the work, and other such 
important details. 
However, due to ravages of time, the colophon pages 
have often gone missing, compelling scholars to attribute 
missing particulars on the basis of their expertise. Being 
fragile pieces of artworks, paintings are susceptible to 
mishandling, fire, humidity, and other such calamities and 
disasters. Considered as precious and valuable artifacts and 
also being portable, paintings were often gifted to princesses 
as part of their dowries when they got married. They were 
also exchanged as gifts between kings and courtiers as acts 
of gratitude and traded to distant places. Paintings also 
travelled to remote regions with moving pilgrims, monks, 
adventurers, traders and professional narrators. Thus, for 
instance, one would find a Mewar painting with the Bundi 
king and vice versa.
Reconstructing the history of paintings is a phenomenal 
task. There are fewer dated sets compared to undated ones. 
When arranged chronologically, there are vacuous spells in 
between, where one can only speculate the kind of painting 
activity that could have thrived. To make matters worse, the 
loose folios are no longer part of their original sets and are 
dispersed in various museums and private collections, which 
Sravakapratikramasutra-curni 
of Vijayasimha 
Mewar, written by 
Kamalchandra,1260 
Collection: Boston 
1_1.Manuscript Paintings.indd   2 01 Sep 2020   02:51:29 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
t he MAnuscrIPt PAIntIng t rAdItIon 3
keep surfacing time and again, challenging the constituted 
timeline and compelling scholars to modify and redefine the 
chronology in history. In this light, undated sets of paintings 
are ascribed a hypothetical timeframe on the basis of style 
and other circumstantial evidence.
Western Indian School of Painting
Painting activity that thrived largely in western parts of 
India constitutes the Western Indian School of Painting with 
Gujarat as its most prominent centre, and southern parts 
of Rajasthan and western parts of Central India as other  
centres. With the presence of some significant ports in 
Gujarat, there was a network of trade routes passing 
through these areas, especially, making merchants, traders 
and local chieftains powerful patrons of art due to the wealth 
and prosperity that trading brought in. The merchant class, 
largely represented by the Jain community, led to become 
significant patrons of themes related to Jainism. Hence, part 
of the Western Indian School that depicts Jain themes and 
manuscripts is known as the Jain School of Painting. 
Jain painting also received impetus because the concept 
of shaastradaan (donation of books) gained favour amidst the 
community, where the act of donating illustrated paintings to 
the monastery’s libraries called bhandars (repositories) was 
glorified as a gesture of charity, righteousness and gratitude.
Among the most widely illustrated canonical text in 
the Jain tradition is Kalpasutra. It has a section, reciting 
events from the lives of the 24 Tirthankaras — from their 
births to salvation — that provides a biographical narrative 
for artists to paint. The five key incidents roughly elaborated 
as — conception, birth, renunciation, enlightenment and first 
sermon, and salvation from the lives of Tirthankaras and 
Birth of Mahavir, Kalpasutra, 
fifteenth century, 
Jain Bhandar, Rajasthan
1_1.Manuscript Paintings.indd   3 01 Sep 2020   02:51:29 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
4 An IntroductIon to IndIAn Art —PArt II
events leading to and around these — comprise most part of 
the Kalpasutra.
Other popularly painted texts are Kalakacharyakatha 
and Sangrahini Sutra, among others. Kalakacharyakatha 
narrates the story of Acharya Kalaka, who is on a mission 
to rescue his abducted sister (a Jain nun) from an evil king. 
It recounts various thrilling episodes and adventures of 
Kalaka, such as him scouring the land to locate his missing 
sister, demonstrating his magical powers, forging alliances 
with other kings, and lastly, battling the evil king. 
Uttaradhyana Sutra contains the teachings of Mahavir 
that prescribe the code of conduct that monks should follow 
and Sangrahini Sutra is a cosmological text composed in the 
twelfth century that comprises concepts about the structure 
of the universe and mapping of space. 
Jains got these texts written in numerous copies. They 
were either sparsely or profusely illustrated with paintings. 
Hence, one typical folio or painting would be divided into 
sections with allocated spaces for writing the text and painting 
Trishala’s fourteen dreams, 
Kalpasutra, Western India
Mahavir’s mother 
Trishala dreams 
about 14 objects 
when she conceives 
Mahavir. They are — 
an elephant, a bull, a 
tiger, goddess Shri, a 
kalash, a palanquin, 
a pond, a rivulet, fire, 
banners, garlands, 
heap of jewels, the Sun 
and the moon.
She consults an 
astrologer to interpret 
her dream and was 
told that she will give 
birth to a son, who 
will either become 
a sovereign king or 
a great saint and 
teacher.
1_1.Manuscript Paintings.indd   4 01 Sep 2020   02:51:29 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
t he MAnuscrIPt PAIntIng t rAdItIon 5
what is written. A small hole in the centre was created for a 
string to pass through to fasten the pages together that were 
in turn protected with wooden covers called patlis, placed on 
top and bottom of the manuscript.
Early Jain paintings were traditionally done on palm leaves 
before paper was introduced in the fourteenth century and 
the earliest surviving palm leaf manuscript from the western 
part of India dates back to the eleventh century. The palm 
leaves were adequately treated before painting and the writing 
was etched upon the leaves with a sharp calligraphic device.
Owing to the narrow and small space on palm leaves, 
painting, initially, was largely confined to patlis that were 
liberally painted in bright colours with images of gods and 
goddesses, and incidents from the lives of Jain acharyas. 
Planetary bodies and 
the distance between 
them, Sangrahini Sutra, 
seventeenth centrury, 
N. C. Mehta Collection, 
Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Kalakacharyakatha
1497, N. C. Mehta Collection, 
Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Kalaka is seen on 
the lower right and 
his captive sister is 
depicted towards the 
top left. The donkey 
with magical powers 
is spewing arrows at 
Kalaka’s army of kings. 
The evil king presides 
from the inside the 
circular fort.
1_1.Manuscript Paintings.indd   5 01 Sep 2020   02:51:29 PM
Rationalised 2023-24