DEVELOPMENT OF

MANUSCRIPT
PAINTINGS IN INDIA-
ART HISTORICAL
APPRAISAL

Dr.R.H. Kulkarni
Professor, Art History,
kulkarnichalukya@gmail.com
College of Fine Arts, CKP
Bangalore-560001
Barhut Stupa (in Indian Museum Kolkatta) Buddhist narrations with titles
Sanchi Stupa, Madhya
Pradesh. Stupa Sculpture has
inscribed name of
Satavahana King Sri Satakarni
Ramayana Narrations Virupaksha
Temple
Pattadakal-
Note- Text mentioning the characters
of Ramayana
Epic and Puranic themes have
been favorite subjects of
artists. The themes have been
visually transmuted in
Sculptural and Painted forms.
These illustrations lead to
develop the Narrative Art.
Visual narration of Krishna Leela Story, Keshava Temple, Somanathapur
Manuscripts-

Palm Leaf

Paper
 Padmapani-Bodhisatva

Birth Stories of the Buddha

Manuscripts were written on Palm Leaf, Silk Cloth and Papers

Vedic/Puaranic, Buddhist and Jain subjects have been depicted in

manuscripts. The paintings on Manuscripts are illustrations to the thematic
narrations. Flora-fauna and human figures along with architecture has been
subject of depiction.

In India there are millions of written palm leaf manuscripts. Chennai Adyar
Library alone has 72000 Manuscripts. Mysore Oriental Research Institute,
Melkote Sanskrit Academy have very good number of Manuscripts.

Earliest Manuscript from Karnataka is DHAVALA MANUSCRIPT from Jain Mutt,

Mudabidre dating to 1120 A.D. There are line illustrations on these
Manuscripts.

• Palm Leaf was main material that was used like

present day Paper in ancient period.
• Sri Tala and Kari Tala were used to write
documents/Puranas/Epic/Poetry/Agamas/Shastra
This Presentation illustrates :
• Buddhist Manuscripts- Ashtasahasrika-
Prajnaparamita
• Jaina –Kalpa Sutra-Kalakacharya katha
• Chaurapanchasika-& Vasanta Vilasa-
Bilhana
• Bhagavata Purana- Mysore
• Sri Tatvanidhi pages.
Painted Manuscript –Bhagavata Purana Odisha
Asthta Sahasrika- Prajna Paramita_ Buddhist Manuscript:
9-10 Century A.D. Coll; Metropolitan Museum New York
Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Verses- The Palm Leaf
Manuscript consists text depicting the theological lines
about the teachings of the Buddhism. It also speaks about
the various divinities mentioned in Buddhist Mythology.
Prajñāpāramitā personified. From the Aṣṭasāhasrikā
Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra.
Avalokiteśvara. Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra manuscript. 
Nālandā, Bihar
Illustration of Bodhisattva Sadāprarudita (Ever weeping), a character in the
8000 line PP sutra Avadana section, which is used by the Buddha as an
exemplar of those who seek Prajñāpāramitā.
This upper cover comes from a palm-leaf edition of the Ashtasahasrika
Prajnaparamita. Seated at the center is Prajnaparamita, the Goddess of
Transcendent Wisdom, and the personification of the text she holds in a
raised hand. Two seated bodhisattvas, Padmapani Lokeshvara and Vajrasattva,
attend to her. At the left are two scenes from the life of the historical Buddha:
his miraculous birth in the Lumbini grove and the performance of a miracle—
the subduing of the enraged elephant Nalagiri at Rajgir. At the right, the
Buddha is shown preaching his first sermon at Sarnath to an assembly of
monks and bodhisattvas and the great miracle at Shravasti, where the Buddha
caused a multiplicity of Buddhas to appear. This manuscript cover belongs to
the Pala-Nepalese tradition.
Book Cover of Ashta Sahasrika
The sequence for viewing them was determined by the flow of an inscribed text,
which was punctuated with tiny paintings. The image of Maitreya, the Buddha of the
future, accompanied by a female disciple on a leaf at the Met, is an example.
Just under three inches high, it’s packed with detail. Each figure is dressed, as if for a
hot summer day, in beaded see-through attire. The disciple, her skin a mango gold,
smiles up at her savior while he makes a coy gesture with his hands as if playing a
game of shadow puppets for her amusement.
All the palm-leaf manuscripts we know of are religious books, transcriptions of
Buddhist scriptures, or sutras. A few sutras were favorites, and by far the most
frequently copied one was “Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita,” or “Perfection of
Wisdom in 8,000 Verses.”
Said to have been written — or spoken — by the Buddha himself, it was more likely
compiled over centuries. Like many texts generated by an ardently proselytizing faith,
it simultaneously had its head in the clouds and was down to earth.
 Painting of a Bodhisattva
benefiting sentient beings. Sanskrit
Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita
Sutra manuscript written in the
Ranjana script. India, early 12th
century. 

Boon-bestowing
bodhisattva.
Prajna Paramita Manuscript
Prajna Paramita, Tara- Green-Tara and Blue Tara
A bodhisattva in a mountain
grotto, playing a stringed
instrument (vina)
Flame-emitting four-armed image
of Kurukulla, an emanation of
Amittabha Buddha and an aspect
of the Red Tara, dancing on a
corpse in a mountain grotto.
 Six-Armed Avalokitesvara
Expounding the Dharma: Folio from
a Manuscript of the Ashtasahasrika
Prajnaparamita

Enshrined image of Bodhisattva Maitreya, with a stupa represented in his

headdress, flanked by two white lotuses, preaching to a female devotee.
Wrathful eight-armed and three-faced goddess
Tara Marichi, an emanation from and sakti of,
Vairocana.
Bodhisatva Padmapani. Ashtasahasrika.
 Green Tara, Leaf from a dispersed Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita
(Perfection of Wisdom) Manuscript Period: Pala period Date: early
12th century
JAIN MANUSCRIPT PAINTINGS- 11-12TH CENTURY A.D.

Folios from KALAKACHARYA KATHA

N.C. Mehta Gallery Collection, Ahmedabad
Kalpasūtra paintings, Patan (Gujarat),
Colophon Page, V.S.1605-1548 A.D.
Episode: 1 Mahavira
Murti
Episode: 2
Ashtamangala

• Darpana
• Bhadrasana
• Samputaka
• Kalasha
• Shrivatsa
• Mina-yugala
• Svastika
• Nandyavarta
Episode: 3 Devananda
Devananda
Suhana
Reclining
Episode: 4 Indra’s Court Episode: 5 Indra
Praying
Episode: 6 Indra’s Instruction
to Harinaigameshi Episode: 7 Harinaigameshi
Episode: 8
Episode: 9
DevanandaGarbhapahara
Trishala Reclining
Episode: 10 Episode: 11
Trishala Garbhasanchara Trishala’s Fourteen Dreams
Episode: 12
Fourteen
Auspicious Dreams
 Elephant
 Bull
 Lion
 Lakshmi Devi
 Flower Garland
 Full Moon
 Surya
 Flag/ Banner
 Full Pot
 Lotus Pond
 Milky Ocean
 Vehicle
 Heap of Jewels and
Gems
 Flames
Episode: 13
Goddess Lakshmi
Episode: 14 & 15
Siddhartha Wrestling at Gym, Bath and Hair Dressing
Episode: 16 Siddhartha Episode: 17
and Trishala’s Conversation Interpretation of Dreams
Episode: 18 Trishala’s
Grief Episode: 19.
Trishala’s Joy
Episode: 20 & 21 Trishala’s Grief and Joy
Episode: 22 & 23 Birth and Lustration of Mahavira
Episode: 24

Celebration
of
Sixth Day

Chhathi Jagarana
Episode: 25 Mahavira’s Episode: 26 Mahavira
Childhood Games Going to the School
Amali-pipali Nishala-Gananu
 Episode: 28
Episode: 27 Annual Renunciation
Distribution of
on Palanquin
Ornaments
Samvatsarika Dana Diksha - Shibika
Episode: 29 Plucking Episode: 30 Kayotsarga
off Hair, and Donation of Cloth
Diksha
 Episode: 32 Meditation in
Episode: 31 standing Kayotsarga
Wrapping the Tree PostureUpasarga
with Cloth
Episode: 33 Preaching to the Universe
Samvasarana
Episode: 34

Emancipation of
Lord Mahavira

Mahavira Nirvana
Episode: 35 Episode: 36
Gautama Eleven Ganadharas
Ganadhara
Episode: 37 Parshvanath Episode: 38 Birth of
Parshvanath
Murti
Episode: 39
Story of Kamatha
Five-Fire Penances
of Kamatha
and
Parshvanath
Rescuing the Snake
Kamath
Panchhagni Tapa
Episode: 40, 41 &
42

Penance of
Parshvanath and
Dharanendra

Kalikunda
Parshvanath
Episode: 40, 41 & 42 Kalikunda
Parshvanath
 Episode: 44 Blast of
Episode: 43 Conch
Neminath Birth and Sankha Nada
Lustration
Episode: 45 Krishna
and Neminath Episode: 46 Water Sports of
Wrestling Neminath with Krishna and
Neminath Hargholi His Wives Jala Krida
Episode: 47 & 48 Marriage Procession of
Neminath
Episode: 47 & 48

Marriage
Procession of
Neminath

Vivaha Mahotsava
Episode: 49

10 Tirthankaras
Episode: 50 Birth of Adinath
Episode: 51
Coronation of Episode: 52
Adinath Adinath Marriage
Rajyabhisheka
Episode: 53 Adinath
Episode: 54 Adinath
Demonstrating making of a
Teaching Arts to Women
Pot Adinath Brahmi Sundariyo Kala Shiksha
Adinath Hasta-Mritaka-Kunja
Episode: 55 Jambuswami and his Eight Wives
Jambuswami Ashtakanya
Episode: 56 Episode: 57 Sthulabhadra
Sthulabhadra and transforms as Lion
Kosha Sthulabhadra Simhagupha
Episode: 58

Vajraswami in
Cradle

Vajraswami
Shishudana
Palanu
Episode: 59

Raja Megharatha
Rescuing
the Bird
(Previous Birth of Shantinath)
Episode: 60

Princess
offering food to
Monks

Dana Dharma
Episode: 61 Episode: 62
Chaturavidha Sangha Sadhu Samachari
Mahapurana, Kalakacharya Katha, KalpaSutra were important
illustrated Manuscripts
Devananda's Fourteen Auspicious Dreams
Foretelling the Birth of Mahavira: Folio from a
Kalpasutra Manuscript
Artist: Master of the Jaunpur Kalpasutra (Indian)
Date: ca. 1465
Culture: India, (Gujarat, Jaunpur)
Medium: Opaque watercolor on paper
Dimensions: Overall: 4 5/8 x 11 1/2 in. (11.8 x 29.2
cm)
This folio is from an illustrated Kalpasutra (Book of
Rituals), which contains the biographies of the Jain
tirthankaras (ford crossers). It depicts the fourteen
auspicious dreams of the Brahmani Devananda, who
would become the mother of Mahavira. All of the
dreams are alluded to by the emblems above the
bedchamber scene. The use of gold and an intense
ultramarine derived from lapis lazuli demonstrates
an awareness of Iranian painting, which had become
accessible during the Delhi Sultanate period of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. While retaining
the broad conventions of the archaic style of
western India, the work displays a bold approach to
color and ornamentation that connects it to the
emerging North Indian schools, which gained their
fullest expression in Delhi and the surrounding
regions. The horizontal format preserves a memory
of the earliest illustrated books in India, printed on
trimmed and treated palm-leaf pages.
 
Chaurapañchāshikā &
Vasant Vilas MSS
of Bilhana(12 Cent Poet)
th
Verse
15
Vasanta
Vilāsa
Vasanta
Vilāsa
Verse 18
Verse 19
Vasanta
Vilāsa
Verse 20
Verse 25
Vasanta Vilāsa
MYSORE
BHAGAVATA
ILLUSTRATED
PAPER
MANUSCRIPT
1830-40
Bhagavata Murals at Shweta Varaha swamy
temple. Mysore Palace. 1803 A.D
Bhagavata Murals at Shweta Varaha swamy temple. Mysore Palace. 1803 A.D
Pages from Sri Tattva Nidhi Painted Book
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