MINIATURE PAINTINGS IN KARNATAKA

MINIATURE PAINTINGS IN KARNATAKA

Miniature paintings do not really constitute a major part of the art scenario in the annals of Karnataka. They are not even as proficient as mural paintings. They are essentially confined to the paintings on the borders of the ‘Dhavala’ and similar manuscripts found in places such as Mudabidri, Shravanabelagola etc. and calligraphy and drawings done during the Adilshahi days in Bijapur and surrounding regions. This tradition was continued in the illustrated manuscripts and books produced during the regime of the Wodeyar dynasty. This brief note includes independent miniatures and the illustrations that accompany a manuscript.

The celebrated trinity of Dhavala texts is present in the library of the Jain mandir at Mudabidri in Karkala talluk of South Canara district. It contains three separate volumes called ‘dhavaLa’, ‘jayadhavaLa’ and ‘mahAdhavaLa’. These contain a commentary written by VIrasEna, on the Jaina work ‘shaTKhanDAgama’. (Written by Pushpadanta and Bhutabali) The commentary was written in the ninth century and these manuscripts were done in the 12^th century during the regime of Hoysala dynasty, in a village called ‘gErusoppe’. The works are written using a brush or a nib rather than the conventional steel rod. (kanTa) The text is in Parakrit language and the script used is Kannada of those times. The palm leaves measure about 7 C.M. x 13 C.M. and the paintings are done on the borders. Consequently, they have to be accepted as miniature drawings/paintings. Red, plant green, black and brown are some the colours used by the artists. Jain teerthankaras, yaksha-yakshi, servants, maids as well as flora and fauna (swans and pea-cocks) of the period constitute the thematic material. Scholars have found many parallels between the Hoysala arts of those days and the illustrations provided in these ‘dhavaLa’ texts.

One needs to travel a great distance both in terms of time and space to find the next instance of miniature drawings and paintings in Karnataka. The Adilshahi dynasty based in Bijapur encouraged calligraphy and text illustrations hugely. These artists created a new style known as ‘dakhani’. They drew miniature paintings on paper and provided illustrative drawings and paintings to the manuscripts. Many of them are related to music, and contain ‘raaga-raagini’ paintings. The library maintained by Ismail Adil Shah (1510-1534) contained many illustrated texts. ‘Najm-Al-Uluum’ a book on astronomy had about 900 hundred paintings. A book on musicology titled, ‘Jawahar-Al-Muscath-e Mahamadi’ contained about fifty paintings including one of ‘Saraswati’. Ibrahim Adil Shah (1580-1627) was himself a writer and his book on music, ‘Kitab-I-Nauras’ contains many illustrations. Portraits of kings and queens were sometimes painted in the miniature style. Even, ‘bAramAsa’ paintings which depict the beauty of seasons with appropriate poetry passages have to be mentioned here because they too are miniature paintings in their own right.

The next era in the history of miniature/illustrative paintings in Karnataka took shape during the regime of the Wodeyar dynasty. Mummadi Krishnraja Wodeyar encouraged the artists belonging to these categories. He has written a number of books and most of them contain drawings and illustrations. ‘Sri Tatvanidhi’, ‘Svarachudamani’, ‘Saugandhikaa Parinaya’ and ‘Sachitra Bharata’ are the more important ones among them. ‘Sri Tatvanidhi’ is one of the most celebrated texts of its kind in Kannada. It has literally thousands of colour paintings, thematically related to mythology, epics, musicology, history etc. It contains nine sections called ‘shaktinidhi’, ‘brahmanidhi’, ‘vishnunidhi’, ‘shivanidhi’, ‘grahanidhi’, ‘vaishnavanidhi’, ‘shaivanidhi’, ‘aagamanidhi’ and ‘kautukanidhi’. Each one of them has appropriate paintings. “Saugandhika Parinaya’ contains about 800 paintings depicting details taken from contemporary lifestyles. ‘dEvanAma kusumamanjari’ has many paintings royal seals, thrones, weapons, rivers, hills and trees. All of them adhere to the unique style of traditional Mysore paintings. Many artists are mentioned by name in these texts. They have used indigenous material and techniques.

Thus, miniature style of painting does not form an unbroken tradition in Karnataka. It consists only of certain islands of excellence.