6. The preparation of the Wall-plaster

- 263 THE PREPARATION OF THE WALL-PLASTER. After having discussed the employment of colour, the next important topic is the background of a picture. As stated before, the painting when executed on a 'pata' or canvas, could be rolled, The 'phalaka' or board with cloth mounted on it was also used. But the surface most preferred for painting was the wall. Shitti and bhitticitra were the terms for mural-painting. plaster together with the delineation of colours and shades have a fundamental importance. In chapter 40, Vishudharmottara has described in detail the procedure for the preparation of the wall. According to it the brick-plaster is preferred to the clay-plester. "Brick powder of three kinds has to be mixed with clay, one third part (in amount of the brick powder). Having mixed saffron with oil, one should mix (lit. place) with it gum resign, bees' wax, liquorice, molasses and Mudga preparation in equal parts. One-third part of burnt yellow myrobalan should be added therein. Finally the astringent mode of the Bel tree mixed in proportion of two to one should be added by an intelligent artist and also a portion of sand, proportionate to the amount of the whole. Then the artist should drench this mixture with moist split pulse dissolved in weter. The whole of this moist preparation has to be kept in a safe place for one month. After the moisture has evaporated within a month, a skilful artist should put this dried (yet still damp) plaster on the wall. It should be plain, even, In the technique of painting the

- 264 well-distributed, without ridges or holes, neither too thick nor too thin. If there is shrinkage it ought to be carefully filled up and smoothed by coatings of that plaster mixed with resin of the Sala tree and with oil. It is further made smooth by (repeated) amointing, constant sprinkling of water and by careful polish. When this wall has properly dried, it does not go to ruins even at the end of a hundred years. The wall should be 'dry, brilliant and smooth'. - 41 #40 In connection with the wall-paintings, the Visnudharmottara also alludes to floors inlaid with precious jewels. The other texts on painting viz. Samarangana Sutradhara, Silparatna, Abhilasitartha-Cintamani have also a rich material on the prescription of the back-ground. It forms an integral part of the training of a painter. The Silparatna (vs. 131 133), Brhat-Samhita (Ch. 57) and Abhilasitartha Cintamani (verse 86 and following) describe the preparation of 'Vajralepa'. Buffalo-skin has to be boiled in water until it becomes soft like butter. The water then has to evaporate and sticks have to be made of the paste and dried in the sunshine. This hard plaster is called 'vajralepa'.' The Visnudharmottara has discussed only the preparation of the wall underneath the Vajralepa cover. The wall plaster is the preliminary of wall-painting. Abhilasitartha-Cintamani gives a fine surface as essential for a good picture and requires smooth wall to be carefully whitewashed without a scratch or bolt. Three coatings of white mud and Vajralepa account for 42

- 265 - 43 this smoothness of surface. According to the Silparatna, previous to the process of Vajralepa coatings, the wall has to receive a thick coating, consisting of bricks, burnt conches and the like, powdered and mixed with sand, the watery preparation of molasses, and drops of the decoction of mudga amounting to a fourth part of the mortar powder. In all these preparations for the ground, smoothness, bright. ness and durability were important factors. The earliest fresco-paintings in India are found at Ajanta. The ground was prepared by a mixture of clay, cowdung and pulverized traprock applied to the walls and thoroughly pressed in rice husk was also added to the above mixture. The thickness of this first layer varied from one - eighth of an inch to three-quarters of an inch. Over this a coating of cunam was applied. (Griffiths - The paintings in the Buddhist cave temple of Ajanta Vol.1 p.18) 44 The technique of the paintings at Ajanta is a controversial point. The technique has been inferred from the existing remains by scholars. As to the actual process employed in the application of the pigment some hold the view that it was either true fresco (Fresco Buono of the Italian artists, referred to by Vitruvious and Pliny) or a combination of this method and Tempera (Fresco and Secco). Sir John Marshall says that it is a Tempera and not Fresco Buono painting, but Mr. E.B.Havell says that there

- 266 cannot be any doubt that the true Fresco has been practised 45 in India for many centuries. Mr. Edith Tomory asserts that the technical method of the Ajanta paintings is tempera. The entire well-prepared ground was generally allowed to dry 46 before any colour was applied. Fresco Buono consists of preparing a plaster ground and applying the colour. The painting must be completed before the plaster has time to dry. Tempera is a method of lime painting on a plaster surface that has been allowed to dry. This dry surface of plaster is thoroughly drenched the night before with water and on that dampened surface the artist makes his painting. The preparation of the wall for painting mentioned in the Visnudharmottara is of this second type. Mr. Percy Brown observes that on the polished shell-like surface the 47 at Ajanta frescoes were painted in water colour.