Protect Me, Lord, from Oil, from Water, from Fire, and from Ants and Save Me from Falling into the Hands of Fools

812 Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 13, No. 5, May 2007 I paintings on paper, known as “miniatures,” can be found in books from as far back as the 11th century, most from the 14th through the 19th century. They vary from postage stamp size to more than a yard in height and are called miniatures partly to distinguish them from murals, which they followed as a genre (1). Like the good books they inhabited, they were portable and intimate, meant to be appreciated from close up and, duly treasured, they were tucked away to be handled only from time to time, with care. Miniature paintings were collaborative, created by groups of artists specialized in drawing, portraiture, background, or border illustration and were exclusively commissioned by patrons—princes, merchants, religious leaders. The importance attached to patronage can be traced in the colophons of surviving books. We know virtually nothing about the anonymous artist who created the painting but can often trace at whose “lotus feet” it was placed when completed. Though “All the blessings of heaven” were bestowed on the patron of a manuscript or series, great patrons did not emerge until the late 15th century. Soon after, during the Mughal Empire, interest in art peaked, along with patronage, and schools of painting developed and fl ourished. Miniatures were often painted on a wash: sheets of paper glued together and laminated. Ground white chalk or lead formed the foundation for layers of transparent watercolor in vivid, exotic pigments, from gum arabic or crushed seeds of the tamarind. Indian yellow was made of dried urine from cows fed on mango leaves. Gold, in leaf or liquid, embellished clothing and jewelry. Detail was created laboriously with fi ne brushes of hair from live squirrels, luster achieved from burnishing the surface, which also bonded pigment layers to the support (2). Book pages were intricately illustrated, some double-sided, with calligraphic elements on the verso. The folio on this month’s cover comes from the Bhagavata Purana, a celebrated text in Hindu sacred literature recited daily by millions. Though favored and revered by painters and patrons, the Purana, with its collection of “an*Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA Protect Me, Lord, from Oil, from Water, from Fire, and from Ants and Save Me from Falling into the Hands of Fools