Private English collection
Acquired 2010

An elder Jain monk recites scripture from an oblong manuscript folio - perhaps the Kalpasutra.  He sits in discussion with two monks before a tripod covered with an orange floral cloth tied with three tassels.  The three Shwetambar priests wear white muhapatti (face masks) tied through their pierced ears - each holds a whisk for sweeping insects from their path.  They sit before a white walled, red-columned temple framed by a vermilion-red entranceway.

We are immediately struck by the color palette of this unusual work.  Its muted mauve, white and husky brown hues ar🌱e warm and dry - the product of a desert climate.  Its figures drawn in a wiry gray-black line with defining facial profiles is in a style most closely associated with the Thar Desert regions of Marwar in Western Rajasthan.  It is an unusual composition, the large Jain figures seem to glow against the white architecture.  Surely from a thikana of Marwar or perhaps an even scarcer work from neighboring Jaisalmer,✨ where important Jain temples are located within the Jaisalmer Fort complex - a significant center of Jain activity.

For a general discussion of paintings from Marwar, see R. Crill, Marwar Painting: A History of the Jodhpur Style, Mumbai, 2000.