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Manuscripts reflect the

inost in1portant roles
in tenns of painting.
Manuscripts we re
written and copied in
Buddhist viharas of the
Kathn1andu Valley. Pahn
leaves were used to paint
inanuscripts. Usually,

they were twelve to
eighteen inches long and
three or four inches wide.
The religious texts were Manuscript art
written on both sides of the sheet. Various mages and patterns

were painted on the n1iddle or side of each sheet. Then each sheet
was perforated to tie the bundle with
a strong string. Two wooden planks
of the san1e size of sheets served
as the cover of a manuscript. The
cover of a manuscript was painted
with n1eticulous details. One of
Nepal's oldest and most important

palm-leaf inanuscripts of Nepal is
Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita ( The
Perfection of Wisdon1), which is now
housed in the Ca1nbridge Museum
in the United Kingdom. Patachitra,
or painting on cloth, is special in
Nepali art. This form of painting

is called Paubha. Nepali Paubhas PortraitofJunga Bahadur R4na
have distinct features owing to their (Bhajuman Chitrakar)
subjects and styles.
With the rise of Jung Bahadur Rana, Nepali art embraced Western
influences. Artists such as Rajn1an Singh Chitrakar (b. 1789
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