Jain Art

Inscriptions form the most reliable source for the reconstruction of history. In the present paper the authors have discussed nine inscriptions, which were carved on the back side of the bronze images of Jaina Tirthankara. These inscriptions have its own importance because these are the only inscribed bronze images belonging to Jainism so far discovered in the region. Although two of the Hansi hoard images are inscribed with few words only. All these bronzes belong to the Medieval period (12 th-13 th Century A.D.). During this period massive socio-political change took place in the region and these inscriptions can throw light on the various aspects of history of that time.

Part II
Comparison Between Buddhist Stupa and Jain Temple ARCHITECTURE, Concept & Design
There is no doubt but that the stupa (Pali: thupa; Sinalese; dagoba) is the most distinctive and suggestive symbol to have emerged from the Buddhist tradition.1 Wherever the disciples of the Enlightened One have gone, they have built stupas as the very signature of their presence.

A study of the Bālagopālastuti, including the newly-discovered illustrated manuscript copy in the Wellcome Library.

Several images from the Wellcome Library's Balagopalastuti manuscript can be viewed on the library's digitization website, here: http://images.wellcome.ac.uk/indexplus/email/268059.html

Большая часть людей, имеющих представление об индийском искусстве, несомненно, знакома с грандиозным храмом Кайласанатха в Эллоре, сверху донизу, словно огромная статуя, высеченным из массива скалы. Однако лишь немногие знают, что в этом же храмовом комплексе находится еще один памятник монолитной архитектурыего уменьшенная копия, двойник, храм, получивший название Чхота Кайласа или Чхота Кайлаш, что в переводе означает Маленькая Кайласа. Находящийся в стороне от основного маршрута путешественника, он является, пожалуй, одним из наиболее редко посещаемых храмов комплекса Эллоры. Тем не менее это не означает, что он не заслуживает внимания.

Jainism emerged as one of the oldest and significant religions in the Indian subcontinent from at least the sixth century BCE(Jain and Fischer, 1978). It is a religion which is based on the doctrine of ahimsa or the non-harming of all living things (Jain and Fischer, 1978). Religion and art in the Indian context did go hand in hand. Gradually, the religious thoughts and concepts found their visual expressions in different forms of art like architecture, sculptures and paintings. The primary Jain pantheon consists of twenty four jinas, also known as tirthankaras(Miller,2020). The seventh tirthankara Suparsvanath and the twenty third tirthankara Parsvanath are both associated with serpents as their iconographic symbols. These serpents are generally depicted as cobras in the images of these tirthankaras and hence these both tirthankaras are often misidentified. The aim of this paper is to present an iconographical analysis of the two tirthankaras: Suparsvanath and Parsvanath. An attempt is made to classify their sculptures from the Medieval period and present the similarities and differences in their iconography in order to make their identification clear.

Long before the emergence of Jainism and Buddhism as heterodox opponents to orthodox Vedic excesses, the popular religious landscape of India had for millennia teemed with devotion to immanent powers of the waters, trees and animals. Of these ancient devotions, the veneration of the sarpa, or snake, and its preternatural counterpart the Nāga, stands apart as paradigms of sacred engagement between humans and an imminent, vital and dangerous agent of the environment.
The Nāga as primordial guardians of life-giving groves and their associated waters were already an ancient cult in South Asia by the time the Sanskrit speaking tribes first appeared on the Indian sub-continent, some 1600 years BCE. By the 6th century BCE, the śramanic traditions of Jainism and Buddhism, emerging from their earlier forest isolation to philosophically oppose the intractable elitist Vedic ritualists, supported by disenfranchised tribal kings and their non-literate, indigenous subjects resulting in an incorporation of the visual and narrative paradigms of their popular religions, including that of snake veneration. This form of worship has snakes understood as agents of environmental affordance, reconfigured, ritualized and institutionalized through exposure to Vedism, and later, in the hands of the śramanas, recast again as protectors of the enlightened. This paper examines how indigenous conceptions of environmental affordance, affect management and reflexivity which elevated the snake to supernatural status within South Asia, and further explores how the associated worship of snakes, as an iconic paradigm of primordial power became widespread across the Indian religious landscape through a process of resistance to inclusion, and inclusion to accommodation.

Das Kultbild zeigt den Körperumriss des Jina und symbolisiert damit die befreite Seele (siddhapratima) des mythischen Religionsstifters der Jainareligion. Der Überlieferung zufolge ist der Jina nach seinem Tod zur Stätte der Erlösten Seelen am Scheitelpunkt des jainistischen Universums aufgefahren. Der aus der Bildfläche herausgeschnittene Körperumriss symbolisiert dabei einerseits seine Abwesenheit in der diesseitigen Welt und dient gleichzeitig der Erzeugung des eigentlichen Kultbildes durch Lichteinfall und Schatten. Bildnisse dieses Typs wurden im nordwestlichen Indien seit dem 14. Jahrhundert gefertigt und sind vermutlich aus der Begegnung des Jainismus mit dem eher bilderfeindlichen Islam entstanden.

ENGLISH SUMMARY [Deutsche Zusammenfassung siehe unten/Abstract in German language see below]: The thesis is based on the research of Jain miniature paintings of the Kalpasūtra, dating 15th and 16th century. The manuscripts to which the paintings belong were made in western India (Gujarat and Rajasthan) as well as in Jaunpur, which is the capital of a sultanate of the same name. The paintings were executed in ‚western Indian style‘. In a first step of the research was focused on the visual content of the motifs and to identify the related texts on which the depitions based. This examination revealed that some of the motifs based on a visual tradition, which can be traced back even in pre-Christian eras. Additionally, the particular position of the western Indian school of painting, which was a centre of cultural transfer, could be emphasized. This transfer occured between different regions, e.g. India and Persia, as well as between the religions, eg. Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism. Finally, the depicted scenes could be explained and interpreted according to the background of cultural and religious history. --- DEUTSCHE ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Das Thema der Arbeit sind die Miniaturen der Kalpasūtra-Handschriften des 15. Jh., genauer gesagt eine ikonographische Untersuchung der Motive in vier Handschriften aus dieser Zeit, sowie eine kultur- und religionsgeschichtliche Betrachtung der Bildinhalte. Diesen Betrachtungen vorangestellt ist eine Verortung der jinistischen Miniaturmalerei innerhalb der nordindischen Malschulen und der indo-islamischen Malerei während der Sultanatszeit. Zu dieser Untersuchung werden überwiegend Handschriften aus den Sammlungen des Berliner Museums für Asiatische Kunst und der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin herangezogen, die bislang weitgehend unveröffentlicht  geblieben sind. Um an einigen Stellen die stilistischen Ähnlichkeiten der jinistischen Miniaturen mit solchen der indo-islamischen Sultanatsmalerei hervorzuheben, werden zwei relevante Handschriften der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin zum Vergleich herangezogen. Während die Handschrift aus Jaunpur  auch in die ikonographische Untersuchung einbezogen ist und somit erstmals vollständig publiziert wird, soll die Handschrift aus Mandu  nur für gelegentliche stilistische Vergleiche herangezogen werden; diese beiden Handschriften lagen für die Bearbeitung nur in Form von Diapositiven vor.

The neglected field of the Jaina heritage in Pakistan was revived in 2015-17 through a pilot study conducted by the CoJS of SOAS in collaboration with a research team of the Nusrat Jahan College (NJC) in Rabwah, with additional help of local historians of Jainism in North India. In view of the long-term neglect of Jaina sites in Pakistan, and the pressing need of preserving key religious monuments, the project focused on the documentation of the surviving infrastructure, Jaina temples, halls, community buildings, art and writings, along with a historical and demographic study of the Jaina sectarian traditions in the region. The report summarizes key findings.

Come disfare cose con le parole isfare cose con le parole isfare cose con le parole isfare cose con le parole "Io divorzio, io divorzio, io divorzio‰. Questa formula, prescritta dalla sharia 1 , è un chiaro esempio di come con le parole le cose si possano non solo fare ma anche disfare. Come a voler sovvertire la forza illocutiva dellÊatto linguistico matrimoniale, quello del divorzio si triplica, disfacendo ciò che quello aveva fatto. Vi sono dissimmetrie evidenti fra lÊuso del linguaggio verbale che fa e quello che disfa. La freccia temporale innanzitutto: il secondo deve essere preceduto dal primo, configurandosi come una sorta di atto derivato, dipendente: non si può solennemente e triplicemente dichiarare "io divorzio‰ se prima non si è pronunciato il fatidico "io prendo te, tal dei tali, come mia legittima sposa‰. Mutano, ma questo è ovvio, anche le condizioni contestuali, lÊarchitettura dellÊagentività linguistica. In molti scenari giuridici, mentre allÊatto linguistico matrimoniale occorrono un destinatario, ovvero colui o colei che con la parola si vincola in un legame matrimoniale, dei testimoni, ovvero coloro nella cui memoria si trascrive lÊatto, oltre che un officiante, il quale riassumerà e sancirà il volere dellÊuno e dellÊaltro nella celebre formula "io vi dichiaro etc.‰, nellÊatto linguistico del divorzio permane lÊesigenza del destinatario (non si può reiterare "io divorzio‰ al vento), ma si attenua lÊesigenza dei testimoni, o perlomeno si modifica. Celebri sono i casi in cui il divorziante comunica il proprio intento al divorziato, per ciò stesso realizzandolo, attraverso un semplice, benché triplice, SMS. Insomma, è come se, in questa come in altre circostanze, vi fosse uno squilibrio fra la forza che al linguaggio è necessaria per fare un contratto sociale e quella che gli è necessaria per disfarlo. In tale disparità solitamente sÊinsinua, manifestandosi, una precisa ideologia linguistica. Per tornare allÊesempio, mentre anche nelle interpretazioni più maschiliste del diritto matrimoniale sÊimpone perlomeno una sceneggiata della simmetria e reciprocità delle intenzioni (si può "prendere in sposa‰ qualcuno, ma lÊofficiante non potrebbe avvallare la legittimità di questo atto linguistico ove esso non fosse corroborato da quello parallelo e convergente della sposa), la maggiore facilità con cui questo vincolo si disfa nel linguaggio, anche in assenza di testimoni od officiante, cela una chiara logica di genere: se allÊatto linguistico matrimoniale islamico occorrono le volontà dello sposo e della sposa, a quello del divorzio è sufficiente lÊintenzione del primo, che anzi gli è riservata 2 .

Among the earliest examples of Jain art and practice in Tamil Nadu are the rock-cut beds carved into the floors of natural caverns found across the state. Dating as early as the third and second centuries bce, these sites seem to emphasize the rigorous practices of Jain ascetics who occupied these relatively small, bare spaces. Unlike contemporary Buddhist monasteries (particularly in western India) that exhibit rock-cut beds carved within individual rooms and elevated from cave floors, the accommodations of Jain sites offer only a modicum of comfort for their residents. Indeed, at most Jain sites, the only modifications made to the rocky landscape include separation ridges between shallowly cut beds, drip ledges to divert rainwater away from the residence, and an occasional rock-cut pillow. 1 The Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions that are found at most of these early sites provide further evidence of activities associated with these spaces. Specifically, these records document the type of object given (an incised stone bed, a canopy woven from palm fronds, the cutting of a drip ledge) and the name and place of residence of the lay donor (Mahadevan 2003: 128-139). The occupation of the lay donor is also sometimes included and 1

Eine durch Aussparung oder Andeutung vereinfachte Abbildungsweise ist bei Kunstobjekten verschiedener religiöser Traditionen zu beobachten und zielt auf die Sichtbarkeit religiöser Inhalte ohne assoziatives Beiwerk. Besonders deutlich zeigen lässt sich die Entwicklung visueller Reduktion am Beispiel der Kultbildnisse des Jina, des mythischen Stifters des Jainismus. Die Ausstellung zeigt eine Darstellung des Jina als eine Art »Negativ«, in der sein Körperumriss aus einer Metallplatte gewissermaßen herausgeschnitten wurde (siehe Abb. S. 83).

Within the Jain religion, certain Indian sites are believed to afford connection between the real and spiritual realms. Referred to as tīrtha, or ‘crossing-place’, these sacred sites are often associated with release from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth (saṃsāra) and have been the focus of monument-building, worship and mass pilgrimage for centuries. Since the 18th century or earlier, detailed cartographic representations of tīrtha – usually large paintings on cloth – have been displayed and narrated to facilitate collective mental pilgrimages (bhāva yātrā) that serve as analogues for arduous physical journeys. 

This paper examines four distinct paintings that are known to have been used for bhāva yātrā in, respectively, Leicester, Nairobi, Los Angeles and Brisbane. It then explores how tīrtha images, the concept of psychic translocation and the repetition of traditional performative rituals link expatriate communities to their homeland and reinforce common cultural practices and religious values across the Jain diaspora.

Abstract
Jain tradition puts great emphasis on the renunciation. Whether renunciation and monkhood implied the absolute discarding of all attachments including the cloth formed the major point of the divide in the Jain tradition. Variety of versions of the episode has come up. The paper probes into these depictions. The symbolism attached with the cloth in the Jain philosophical and literary heritage has also been explored in the paper. Cloth as an object became platform for expression of the Jain ideals. Jain cloth paintings (vastrapatakas) made their mark in the history of Indian art.