Painted Textile Depicting Celestial Musicians

Unknown artist

This spectacular painted textile (kalamkari), more than eighteen feet long, was produced exclusively, it would seem on current evidence, for export to island Southeast Asia. To date, all examples have been found in Indonesia. Jain pictorial cloths of this type are not recorded in India, but they probably began their existence serving Jain temples as hangings displayed during the celebration of Paryushana and other festivals. In such contexts they would have been intended to depict the heavenly entertainers (apsaras), who perform in Indra's heaven, where the jinas reside. In the installation of icon ceremonies, these ensembles are identified as the dikkumari, celestial maids who attend Mahavira's birth.The conventions that characterize medieval Jain painting are well preserved here, suggesting shared skills across the painting ateliers and kalamkari workshops of Ahmedabad and Cambay, the centers of Gujarat's textile industry.