Jain Temples of Rajasthan

Author(s): Sehdav Kumar
Publisher: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Art Abhinav Publications
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/011011/1

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On previous page The ceiling in the south bay in the navacaukt in the Lunavasahi temple consists of seven receding courses; the first is octagonal and the rest are circular. In the centre of the ceiling are an opened lotus cut out with three rows of incurved lotus petal-and-bud motif each and a stamenal tube clasped by two rows of petals. This ceiling is the finest example of the lotus petal-and-bud motif.

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Jain Temples of Rajasthan

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A Thousand-Petalled Lotus Jain Temples of Rajasthan Architecture & Iconography Sehdev Kumar ABBINAY INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL CENTRE FOR THE ART ABHINAV PUBLICATIONS

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srir UM her - In Praise of Hands - for The Artists who created works of such splendour IK Dedicated to the memory of Raaj Jain A Man who embodies the spirit of his faith

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l'arsvanatha with a thousand-houded serpent, Adisvara temple, 15th Century Rajasthan

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On Page 1 Colour Plate D-17: On a portico ceiling in the Vimalavasahi temple, a lotus with four circular courses. There are also dancers, caurt bearers, yaksas, and kinnara couples as part of the compo sition. On page IV B/W: R16 #8 Conch-shell at the entrance of Lunavasahi temple, 13th c., Rajasthan First Published in India 2001 Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. On page VII Colour Plate B-3: Central dome in the rangamandape in the Vimalavasahi temple. The rangamandape is a thirteenth century addition to the temple. Sixteen vidyadevis and sixteen vidyadharas are part of the embellishment of the dome which is 25 it in diameter and less than 30 ft in height, from the floor to the apex. The dome is shaped like a lotus flower and is composed of eleven circular courses and a long circular padmasile, the pendant of the lotus. Publishers Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts Janpath, New Delhi-110001 Shakti Malik Abhinav Publications E-37, Hauz Khas New Delhi-110016 (INDIA) Phones: 6566387,6562784,6524658 Fax: 91-11-6857009 e-mail: shakti@nde.vsnl.net.in Website: http://www.abhinavexports.com On pages Vin, IX Colour Plate C-10: Goddess Ambika on a panel in the Lunavasthi temple, flanked on either side by dancers, water-carriers and women churning milk. ISBN 81-7017-348-5 Phototypesetting and processing by Tara Chand Sons C-139, Mansarovar Garden, New Delhi On page X Colour Plate J-14: An image of tirthankara Mahavira in the Jain temple at Dilwara, with four other images of jinas, two standing and two sitting. Also shown are gandharvas, yaksis, Naigamesin (goat-headed and pot-bellied), lions and elephants. Printed at D.K. Fine Art Press Pvt. Ltd. Ashok Vihar Delhi

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Contents Preface Chapter I In the Beginning: Jainism and its Cosmology Chapter III Envisioning Hands: In the Image of Visvakarma Chapter II The Thousand-Petalled Lotus: Lotus in Art and Worship 29 Chapter IV Lotus in the Stone: Jain Temples at Dilwara Chapter V The Temple at Ranakpur: An Architectural Splendour Chapter VI Feminine Mystique: Goddesses in Jain Temples Chapter VII Across the Bhavasagar: Jinas and their Images Chapter VIII Outside In/Inside Out Nature and the Indian Arts Chapter IX Dance and the Temple XIII Bibliography Glossary Credits for Illustrations Index 1 51 63 93 107 139 155 167 193 197 201 203

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mahAmaMtra navaMkAra namo arihaMtANaM namo siddhANaM namo AyariyANaM namo uvajjhAyANaM namo loe savvasAhUNaM eso paMca namukkAro, savya pAvappaNAsaNo maMgalANaM ca savvesiM. paDhama havai maMgalaM

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. UNIT PVM 8. bersatu *** ...' , . FW: eve SA WS TAX . 2 An inside view of Adisvara Temple, 15th c., Rajasthan

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Preface The length and breadth of India is dotted with great archi tectural monuments: the temples at Belur and Halebid, the Sun Temple at Konark, the Kailash Temple at Ellora, the Buddhist stupa at Sanchi are all expressions of an abiding artistic exuberance that is part of the cultural heritage of India. As the birthplace of several major religious traditions, India is a natural sacred ground for a stone or a rock to be transformed into a work of art. For centuries, the sumptuous Indian mythology of the Hindus, the Buddhists and the Jains -enriched the imagination of the artist in a thousand different ways, inspiring him to create works that are at once earthy and heavenly, like a lotus flower. In the splendour of architectural spaces, any column, or a ceiling, or a wall served for the artist as a canvas, to be painted upon, to be chiselled, and to be sculpted, for celebration, or worship, or adoration. Gods and goddesses, yaksas and yaksis, dancers and musicians, apsaras and nagins, trees and flowers, all revealed a drama that was endlessly human and mythic. An Indian temple thus is a veritable art gallery, a theatre and a museum. The Jains have been the great temple builders in India particularly in the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. Their temples are marked by the same aplomb that is evident in other Indian temples. Many consider the Jains or their rituals, at times, to be somewhat otherworldly; however, as temple-builders they evince all the earthiness of a stone-cutter, or a jeweller. There is thus a great sense of detail and precision in their craft. The Jains are rooted in an orthodox tradition but they are far from unwilling to try new tools and new materials. The history of construction of Jain temples in Rajasthan and elsewhere is well-documented by a number of distinguished scholars. The present work explores, somewhat impressionistically, the iconographic and architectural details of two sets of Jain temples in Rajasthan, one at Dilwara in Mount Abu and the other at Ranakpur, within the larger tradition of Indian arts and temple architecture. These two sets of temples are separated from each other by some five hundred years and two hundred kilometres. Yet there is an unbroken continuity of icons and images in these temples that is part of a still larger continuous tradition of temple

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architecture in India. Over a span of five hundred years, there is an artistic growth and a movement, but all within an abiding cultural stillness that can be perhaps best understood with a certain mythopoeic reference that goes beyond the mere facts of history. This work has been in the making since 1980; the photographs and the reflections on the iconography and architecture with numerous stories that are enfolded in them - needed much defining and refining at many stages. In this process I am beholden to many in several places: at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study in Shimla, during my Fellowship in 1986-87, and at the Universities of Waterloo and Toronto in Canada for discussions with Dr. Michael Aris, Dr. S.C. Malik, Dr. Sukrita Kumar, Professor M.M. Agrawal, Professor Rekha Jhanji, Professor Joseph O'Connell and Professor Frank Thompson. My gratitude is also to Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, Ontario Arts Council, Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada and Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts for supporting this work in numerous ways. This work could not have been completed in the present form without the support and guidance of Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan at all stages. I express my profound gratitude to Kapilaji for seeing it through. I am also much thankful to Dr. L.M. Gujral, Consultant, IGNCA, and to Mr. Shakti Malik of Abhinav Publications for their support and dedication for this work. Above all I am beholden for a certain reflection on these temples to the immensely gifted artists and the artisans who created works of such grandeur many centuries ago. Sehdev Kumar XIV

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A cauri-bearer in a corridor ceiling in the Vimalavasahi temple, accompanying goddess Cakresvari

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Se ola ta : AAAA nti ia .. . an kai - - - kai kai as es, e,ni kai An.. o - - Ao " kai " e s . EA e e e m -kai si e kai e Anatole, alla kai e n " , eseis pete --- A steis - . . O Nikos

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Chapter 1 In the Beginning Jainism and its Cosmology I or over two thousand years, three spiritual and artistic traditions - Jain, Buddhist and Hindu - have flourished on the Indian subcontinent. Of these, Buddhism and Hinduism - and various myths and artistic expressions associated with them -- have, to varying degrees, travelled to many other Asian countries, but Jainism flourished only in India, and there too only in some parts. Nevertheless, its contribution to the Indian arts and culture, and what may be called Indian ethos, has been outstanding. Jainism has certain features that distinguish it from the other two traditions, but since all these three traditions originated and flourished in India, there is much that is common in all of them. One thing, however, that is most distinct about Jainism is its very high emphasis on forbearance and ahimsa - 'non-violence', both as a personal and social creed. This emphasis is often so pronounced that it makes the Jains seem sometimes almost otherworldly. Yet, in most spheres of life, the Jains have always been known to be the most worldly people. Certainly, no people who have built such magnificent temples for so long, as the Jains have done, could afford to be 'otherworldly'. Even when the gods they worship are eternally meditating, or the life they yearn for seems transcendental, what they have created seems to have kept them very much down to earth. Poets may be otherworldly, or dancers and artists, but not builders. And the Jains, above everything else, have been builders. The challenge of building temples with colossal domes and tall pillars, and moving heavy stones and bricks - sometimes over enormous distances and tortuous terrain - all in the midst of political rivalries and external assaults, labour disputes and contractors' greeds - would keep anyone well-grounded. This has certainly been true for the Jains. When we look at great monuments of antiquity we sometimes tend to forget that even though many of them were built for the On previous page Grilled wall of the hastidala, glory of god, they were not built by the gods but by human hands the Lunavaadhi temple.

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ALL. 14: Yi : Shang . Mai -t, Zhao Zhuan ". ] . HEAAAAAAA Liang Cun ff Shi Shi Shang , De Liao 20: 51 Dao Liao . . . . Shang Zhe . 1Ge 1 , ". [Xue Yi Shu . Yue Qing Qing , LTE . Ye Shi Wo De T ourition

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- with all their frailties, hopes and uncertainties. It is thus all the more overwhelming that in the midst of such everyday struggle for existence should emerge such wondrous works of beauty. It is, as though, a 'thousand-petalled lotus' has sprung from the muddy depths of water. Hail the lotus, but ah, hail the mud too in whose mysterious 'womb' such splendour resides. Is it likely that when one comprehends the nature of the lotus one understands that the lotus and the mud are one! uddIptAkhilaratnamudadhRtajaDaM nAnAnayAntargaha sasyAtkArasudhAmilipti jnibhRtkaarunnykuupocchritm| Aropya zrutayAnapAtramamRtadvIpaM nayantaH parA nete tIrthakRto madIyahRdaye madhyebhavAdhyAsatAm / / May they dwell in my heart - the Tirthankaras, who, taking on board the ship of sacred lore, possessed of all brilliant jewels, freed from bilge-water (otherwise saving the ignorant), containing various models of arguments, painted with the nectar of the syatkara, and furnished with the high mast of compassion for all living creatures - others found in the middle of the ocean of worldly existence, carry them over to the island of immortality.' he Jains believe their religion to have started with the first blossoming of human civilization. The word Jain is derived from the Sanskrit word jina - 'a conqueror', one who has conquered the inner world of suffering, temptations and illusions. A jina is also known as a tirtharikara - 'one who helps to ford the river of phenomenal existence - samsar, or of bhavasagar', 'the ocean of birth and rebirth'. A tirthankara is a liberated being who has achieved nirvana. Through kevalajnana - 'supreme knowledge - he has been enlightened. A tirthankara is also a great teacher and a liberator of others who are stiil mired in the muddy waters of endless cycle of existence. The Jains believe that there have been twenty-four such luminous beings, the tirtharkaras, the last of whom was Mahavira - 'the great warrior', a contemporary of Buddha, twenty-five hundred years ago. The Jain scholars, however, contend that the twenty-third tirthankara Parsvanatha preceded Mahavira by about two hundred and fifty years and that the history of the period of Neminatha, the twenty-second tirtharkara, corresponds with On page 2 in mukhamandape in the Lunavasthi temple, with dancers on columna.

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Column with images of jinas in the Vimalavasahi temple

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Mim Siddhacakrayantra, an auspicious diagram: In this complex diagram, the characteristic motif is the stylised lo tus in the centre, whose petals pay homage to the five model personages and four fundamental principals of Jainism. There are two all-seeing eyes at the top, and figo ures of Siva and goddess Cakresvart on either side. The diagram expands from the centre, which is the place for the jina, the arthanta. Around I are four lotus petals for the siddha, 'the perfected one', Acarya 'the spiritual teacher', upadhyaya, 'the religious preceptor', and the sadhu, 'the Jain monk'. The white centre of the lotus bears 'needs' and the auspicious symbol om and hrim, surrounded by vowels of the devanagri script. Of the sixteen exterior petals of the corolla, alternate ones are inscribed with vowels and different classes of consonants. On each of the intervening eight petals, the salutations to the arthantas are written On the exterior corona of the lotus can be seen in scribed eight times, like a litany, the words, in Prakrit, om namo arihantanam, while on the interior corona, are inscribed Sanskrit words: om hrim siddhebhyah svahah om hrim darsanaya svahah om hrim acaryaya svahah om hrim jnanaya svahah om hrim upadhyayaya svahah om hrim caritreya svahah om hrim sarva-sadhu-ji svahah om hrim tapase svahah Gouache on cloth, 1892, Jaipur. Courtesy: Ravi Kumar, The Jain Cosmology. 2. . . . . .... . that of Krsna, and that Krsna and Neminatha were cousins. Even the first tirtharikara, Rsabhanatha (or Adinatha, as he is generally known), is traced back to Rgveda, and many a Jain temple is dedicated to him. Mahavira, however, is commonly considered to be the founder of Jainism. In his own lifetime, in the sixth century B.C., in the region of Bihar, he had a large following, and there was an order of monks that practised severe austerities and went about naked. The written canon of Mahavira's teachings, however, was not composed till after several centuries of his death. Soon after Mahavira's death, there was a devastating famine in Bihar, the region where Jainism first took roots. Circumstances thus forced the leader of largest group of Jain monks, Bhadrabahu, to emigrate with his companions to southern parts of India, to Karnataka. Another group, under the spiritual leadership

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A cauri-bearer in a corridor ceiling in the Vimalavasahi temple, accompanying goddess Cakresvari

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of Sthulibhadra, stayed on; this group adopted some new modes of conduct and came to be known as Svetambara 'the white clad'. Its monks were no longer naked; instead they wore white clothes, and observed less severe austerities. The group of monks, under the leadership of Bhadrabahu, that migrated to Karnataka, however, continued to observe the strict regulations of nudity and prescribed methods of begging and eating food. The followers of this sect came to be known as Digambara, 'the sky clad'. This schism in the Jain community endangered the continuation of oral tradition of Jain philosophy and thought. In order to reconstruct the Jain canon, after the death of Bhadrabahu, a great Jain council was called at Pataliputra in Bihar. The fourteen Purvas 'former texts' were replaced by twelve Angas -'selections'. This canon, however, was accepted only by the Svetambaras; the Digambaras considered the reconstructed fragments as without authority. It was in the fifth century A.D., at another council at Valabhi in Gujarat, that the Svetambara canon was finally written down. These works were written in a popular Prakrit dialect. Over the decades and centuries that followed, both Svetambaras and Digambaras began to use Sanskrit, a language of scholars. These later works comprise a large number of commentaries on canonical texts as well as independent works on monastic rules, ethics, grammar, astronomy, philosophical literature and narratives in verse. In South India, the Jain works were composed in Kannada, Telugu and Tamil. The 'Kalpasutra of Bhadrabahu' is the best known and the most popular work in all of Jain literature. It is divided into three sections. The first section deals with the lives of the jinas, the second with the life of Mahavira and the third with the rules for the ascetics. Whether historical or not, for the Jain followers, and the artists and the myth makers, for centuries, not only Mahavira but all tirthankaras have had great real, living presence. The stories and legends about their miraculous births, the temptations and struggles they had to endure on their spiritual journey, the moments of their diksa - 'worldly renunciation', and of kevalajnana 'enlightenment', and of the final nirvana a 'farewell to the phenomenal world' are all part of a Jain's religious consciousness, and his sense of the sacred geography. For the Jains, any place on earth that has been sanctified by an association with any of the 'five luminous events' - panca maha kalyanaka in the lives of the tirthankaras is a tirtha'a ford'; such a place is sacred, it is a tirthaksetra -'a holy place'. It is also a place where some great ascetics may have lived and achieved liberation, or a place distinguished for its great temples and images of the jinas. For the Jains, there are many such tirthaksetras all over India, but particularly in the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan. Places such as - 7

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Girnar, Taranga, Satrunjaya, Mount Abu, Ranakpur, Kumbharia - many of them located on mountain tops, with commanding view of the valleys below them - have not only prominent Jain temples established there for centuries, but are also centres of great pilgrimages where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims gather every year. Mount Abu, the site of Dilwara Jain temples, is one of the most sacred hills of the Jains. An inscription of 1370 A.D. suggests that Mahavira visited the Abu region during his travels as a monk. There are also references to the region - known as Arbuda or Arbudachala - in Rgveda and the Skanda Purana, with numerous legends and myths associated with it. Mount Abu is part of the Aravalli mountain range and is detached from it by a narrow valley. The village of Dilwara in Mount Abu has many Jain and Hindu temples and has been known for centuries as Devakulapataka or Devalapataka - 'a region of temples'. * LASSEN . . TE AC K TS 3 DESSOUSSA . . ** TL Pata with eight Auspicious Symbols, aptamangala, Gujarat, c. 1950-75. The symbols, auspicious frivatsa mark, water-filled pot, auspicious seat, a pair of fish, mirror, powder box and auspicious whorl. Tirthankara Adinditha, in silver clothes and bedecked with flowers, the Vimalavasthi bemple.

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O Grilled wall of the hastisala, the Lunavasahi temple. In a group of five Jain temples at Dilwara, two temples the 11th century Vimalavasahi and the 13th century Lunavasahi (also known as Tejahpala temple) - are the focus of the present work. The third temple - another focal point in this meditation - is the 15th century Caumukha temple at Ranakpur, also in Rajasthan. These three temples thus span a period of almost five hundred years; it was a period that saw enormous political upheavals not only in Rajasthan but all over India. There is much that is different in these three magnificent temples, but, equally, there is a great deal that is very much common. There is a certain iconographic and artistic continuity that is most evident in these temples. The two temples at Dilwara are renowned for their sculptural work; the temple at Ranakpur for its architectural splendour. Except for an occasional citation, almost all references - visual or otherwise in the present study are to these three temples. avanitalagatAnAM kRttimAkRttimANAM vanabhavanagatAnAM divyavaimAnikAnAm / iha manujakRtAnAM devarAjArcitAnAM jinavaranilayAnAM bhAvatohaM smarAmi / / With devotion I recall the earthly abode of the great Jinas natural or transcendental - who abound the Earth: in sylvan resorts with heavenly beings in aerial chariots, and in shrines erected here by humans and worshipped by the gods.2 The Jains worship the five-fold divinity known as Panca - Paramesthins. They are: Arhats twenty-four tirthankaras; Siddhas 'the liberated souls'; Acaryas 'the spiritual preceptors', usually through their symbolic representations called sthapana; Upadhyayas 'the teachers'; and Sadhus 'monks' with no worldly ties. In each case specific qualities and attributes are associated with them. There are different mantras or syllables to remember and revere them. The first syllable of the names of these Paramesthins constitutes the sacred syllable Om. The real worship, in the religious sense, is confined to the first two 9

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. A IN An image of pins in Khattak.. in muknander in the I unavasahi temple, with Juners en columns l'atsunatha, standing in bermuta, protected by five hoxed werpent, in mukumandap in the Vimala asahi temple.

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Cosmic Being, Jain Book Cover, Gujarat, 18th century. Opaque watercolour on wood. Lokapurusha, Cosmic Man, Rajasthan, c. 1884. Opaque watercolour on cloth. Linden Museum, Stuttgart Lokapurusha, Cosmic Man, Rajasthan, c. 1775. Opaque Watercolour on cloth. The human body is divided into the adholoka, the madhyaloka and the urdhvaloka - lower, middle and upper worlds. k for aymns of praise Inies are elaborare the the Arhats and the Siddhas, particularly the Arhats - the tirthankaras. Their biographies are elaborate in many respects. There are hymns of praise in their honour, which are not intended to ask for anything from them, but the devotee who recites them hopes to develop their great qualities in himself. There are rituals, and pujas of various kinds to express devotion to the tirthankaras. All of these aim at purifying oneself by pious activities and finally at eliminating one's karmans, so that the atma becomes paramatman. The most important ritual in a Jain temple consists of a sacred bath given to the image of a tirtharikara. This is a ritual reenactment of Lord Indra's bathing the tirthankara after his 12

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birth. The morning ritual usually consists of anointing the image with saffron and sandalwood paste, sprinkling water and offering flowers, rice and coins. In Svetambara temples the ritual is more elaborate. The worshippers first clean the platform and the image, then give a bath, play music, hold a lamp in front of the image, wave cauri whiskers, ring the bell and kneel in front of the image. In their rituals, the Svetambaras make profuse use of flowers, fruit and sandalwood paste, and they decorate their images with precious metals and jewellery. The cultic image of the Svetambaras is shown wearing a loin-cloth and with prominent eyeballs, which are either inlaid or painted, or fixed from the outside. The Digambaras, on the other hand, rarely use flowers or jewellery in their worship. Their images are completely naked and do not show eyeballs. With jina images eight 'auspicious symbols' called astamangalaka are often associated; these are: svastika (swastika), srivatsa a diamond-shaped mark), nandyavarta [a variant on Swastika), varadhamanaka (a powder flask], bhadrasana (a seat), kalasa sa pot], darpana (a mirror) and matsya (fish). There are innumerable references in the canonical texts to astamanagalaka and they are held in great reverence by the Jains. The astamangalaka appear on the door lintel or window frame of domestic shrines or temples, especially those of wood. In some Jain temples low wooden tables incised with the eight auspicious marks are placed before the shrine as offering stands. Among the statues of the tirtharkaras the most common are those of the first tirtharikara Adinatha -- with bull as his mount, of the twenty-third tirtharkara Parsvanatha -- with snake as his mount, and the twenty-fourth tirtharikara Mahavira - with lion as his mount. Though images of the twenty-four tirtharkaras can appear deceptively similar, there are important iconographic differences between them. First, each image of the jina can be divided vertically into three sections, upper, middle and lower, representing the heavens, midregion and the earth. Placed generally in the middle with the lotus and the throne, and everything below symbolising the earth, the image of jina is like a cosmic pillar that unifies all three regions. A jina may be represented either in samapada posture, absolutely erect while standing with evenly paced feet, or seated in meditation like an ideal yogi. Early Buddha images of Kushana Mathura too are invariably shown in one of these two postures. While Buddhas of the Gupta period stand with a slight suggestion of movement along the vertical axis, the Jains never deviated from these two modes in representing their jinas. The 13

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classic Visnu image stands in samapada. The image of Siva in a temple usually consists of the linga. "The verticality of the image", Pal suggests, "is important for several reasons. It emphasises the symbolic nature of the image as a cosmic pillar connecting the three spheres. Here too, the influence of the Samkhya concept of Purusa can be discerned, where Purusa is pure consciousness and incapable of action. Thus the seemingly inert form, motionless and unshakable, is the closest that the artist could come to representing an abstract concept that cannot be defined by the #A senses. Seated jinas are invariably in the posture of meditation, dhyanamudra with both hands placed in the lap, one on top of the other. Standing figures place their arms along either side of the body to emphasise immobility. The same meditation gesture is universally used for gods in all three religious traditions. Common to these traditions are two other gestures: of reassurance, abhayamudra, with the right arm raised to the shoulder and the palm facing outward, and of charity, varadamudra, with the right hand hanging down and the palm facing the viewer. Another common gesture symbolises spiritual teaching, vyakhyanamudra, with the right hand at shoulder height and palm facing outward with the index finger and thumb joining to form a circle. By the third century, the Buddhists began to use this gesture to signify the first sermon of the Buddha; since then it has remained the classic gesture of wisdom in Buddhist art. eko rAgiSu rAjate priyatamAdehArdhahArI haro nIrAgeSu jino vimuktalalanAsaDgo na yasmAtpara / durvArasmarabANapannagaviSavyAsaktimUDho jana zeSa kAmaviDambito hi viSayAn bhoktuM na moktu kSama. / / -Bhartrhari, Srngarasatakam, verse 78 Amongst the impassioned the only outstanding being is Siva, who makes half of his wife's body his own. Amongst the passionless, it is jina, who forsook the company of women; no one excels him in that category. But other people, numbed with the suffusion of the serpent's venom love's irresistible arrow - and tormented by lust, can neither enjoy things nor free themselves from them The almost expressionless face of a jina image has been the sub ject of many an observation. "The emotional peak of elegance", writes Pereira, "is a kind of tranquillity Santa, the rasa that in the Saiva temples dominates the other rasa, and in Jain temples absorbs them all...passionlessness finds its highest expression in Jina as passion does in Siva." 14

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The primary features of a tirtharkara figure are his serenity, his youthful body with long arms stretching down to the knees, and the auspicious symbol srivatsa marked on his chest. As Pal reminds us: "In contrast to this austere figure, his attendant gods and goddesses embody alluring physical charms in the typical Indian fashion. Perhaps this was intended to indicate the superiority of a Tirthankara even over the gods, who are still shackled by the bondage of desire and pleasure in their mythical world, whereas the Tirthankara has attained complete freedom." The Jain sculpture in general, whether in temples or elsewhere, has a preponderance of jina images, often with little freedom of expression or innovation for the artist. Referring to a jina image, in his classic study of the Indian myths and symbols, Zimmer observed: "The image of the released one seems neither animate nor inanimate, but pervaded by a strange and limitless calm."7 Another observer described a standing tirtharikara image as "a veritable embodiment of immovable strength and indestructible power, not unlike the tall and dignified sal tree -- sala-pramsu." Still others have admired 'the colossal calm', 'the simple dignity', or the kayotsarga yoga posture of complete bodily abandonment, which is "the likeness of one such, who knows the boundless joy that lies beyond the senses, as is grasped by intuition, and who swerves not from the Truth, like that of a lamp in a windless place that does not flicker." The jina images thus are the likeness of those saviours who, in the words of Zimmer, "dwelt in a supernal zone at the ceiling of the universe, beyond the reach of the prayer there is no possibility of their assistance descending from that high and luminous place to the clouded sphere of human effort...The Makers of the River-crossing are beyond cosmic events as well as the problems of biography; they are transcendent, cleaned of temporality, omniscient, actionless and absolutely at peace." Whatever spiritual ambience one may detect in a jina image, however, it must be said that at an aesthetic level, it evokes rather limited response. In a Jain temple, for an aesthetic inspiration, one does not look at the image of the deity but elsewhere: on columns and ceilings, on the images of yaksas and the yaksis, of goddesses Ambika and Sarasvati, or of Laksmi or Cakresvari, and above all on lotus and campaka flowers that hang from the ceilings like ice crystals. In creating these pieces, the artists worked like ivory carvers -- which many of them were. But they must have had a very highly cultivated sense of imagination, for, unlike ivory carvers who worked with pieces of ivory that could be handled and observed in myriad ways, the 'envisioning hands' of the sculptors in the temples could only imagine how their own piece would be part of the total form of the temple, and that too only after it was in place. In addition, a sculptor's piece could never be 'free'; it was always part of the architecture of the temple and its struc 15

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MAT 1 RON . tural and aesthetic coherence. It also had to be responsive to its own iconographic traditions, many of which were highly eclectic. Thus despite these restrictions, and whatever constraints the image of the jina placed on the sculptor's imagination, the freedom of the artist seemed to know no bounds in other areas. In the Jain temples the twenty-four tirtharkaras are the principal objects of worship and they occupy the foremost position in the Jain pantheon. The attendant gods -- the sasanadevatas - are next in order, and they are represented either on their own or in attendance to a tirtharikara. The sasanadevatas are yaksas and yaksis and they are often shown on the threshold of the doorframe and on the stele of the jina image. Sometimes they are merely a part of the embellishment of the temple. For the Jain icon makers, goddesses Ambika and Cakresvari are the two most popular yaksis, and gods Sarvanubhuti and de Saryanubhit and Brahmasanti are the two most prominent yaksas. Four images of four-armed goddesses, all seated in lalitasana: Vajrinkusi, Cakresvart, Prajnapti and Vajrashkhala on corridor ceiling in the Vimalavasthi temple. The four images are placed diagonally in four comers. On either side of a goddess is an attendant care rying pitcher or garland. In the centre of the panel is fully blossomed lotus. On page 16 Rhiokar mantra; paper; c 1750 A.D.; Jaipur School. Private Collection 17

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. Besides the tirtharikaras and the sasanadevatas, the Jain pantheon has sixteen vidyadevis, eight dikpalas, goddesses Laksmi and Sarasvati, vidyadharas - literally, 'carriers of knowledge', Vinayaka (Ganesa), Naigamesin, Kinnara and Pratihara. All these divinities are represented in various parts of temples as part of embellishment rather than as an object of worship. The vidyadevis, goddesses of knowledge', in particular, are unique to Jainism. Sometimes they are shown as a group of sixteen, as in the rangamandapas in the temples of Vimalavasahi and Lunavasahi in Dilwara; at other times they are shown individually, or in smaller groups. On one of the corridor ceilings at Vimalavasahi, a group of four vidyadevis are shown along the diagonals of a square. The vidyadevis are generally presented on the walls, doorjambs, pillar-shafts, ceilings and the rathikas of the sikhara. 10 Goddesses Sarasvati and Laksmi occupy an important place in the Jain pantheon. They are generally presented on the ceilings, but sometimes also on the pitha of the sanctum. Sarasvati has been given a special honour in both temples, at Vimalavasahi and Lunavasahi, as two ceilings are donated to her magnificent representation. In other Jain temples as well - Sambhavanatha temple at Kumbharia and Ajitanatha temple at Taranga - Sarasvati has been portrayed on the ceilings in full splendour. Goddess Laksmi is portrayed even more frequently, either by herself or, as Gaja-Laksmi, with elephants pouring water over her. In both temples, Vimalavasahi and Lunavasahi, Laksmi is presented on a number of places. The images of Vinayaka (Ganesa) are quite rare in Jain temples. In a small niche near the entrance of the Jain temple complex at Dilwara, there is an image of Ganesa which has probably been installed fairly recently. Elsewhere, on the pitha of the Neminatha temple at Kumbharia and in the Mahavira temple at Kanthkot, there are small pieces of his representation. In the Caumukha temple at Ranakpur, however, Ganesa has been presented at a number of places. The eight dikpalas - 'the guardians of the quarters' - are represented on the walls or ceilings of the temples. The Jain dikpalas are similar to the Brahmanical pantheon: Indra, Agni, Yama, Nissti, Varuna, Vayu, Kubera and Isana. In the Vimalavasahi temple, the eight dikpalas are carved in standing attitude in a corridor ceiling. They are four-armed and appear in their correct order, from Indra to Isana, with their distinctive attributes and vahanas. Here Yama holds a pen and Vayu carries banners. Naigamesin, an attendant of Indra, has a special place in the Svetambara tradition of Jainism for, according to the legend, he transferred the embryo of the future Mahavira from the womb of Brahmani Sunanda to a more propitious womb, that of royal A musician and a six-armed Ganesa in the Adisvara temple, Ranakpur.

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Basal corner in the rangamandapa in the Vimalavasahi temple, an image of Ambika, seated in lalitasana on her lion mount. The four-armed goddess holds bunches of mango tree in her three hands and a child in the fourth. On the marble beam delineating the comer is carved a kalpavalli, 'a creeper that fulfils all wishes'.

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. --- - ct

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Ksatriyani Trisala. The Jain legend tells us that Sakra himself brought the infant tirthankara to the top of Mount Meru, the mountain of gods, for the divine bath. Joining a host of nymphs, the 'Lord of Celestials' himself danced; and Indra and Ajatasatru, a great ruler on earth and a contemporary of Mahavira, waved the cauri before the tirtharkara. Though the legend of the transfer of the embryo by Naigamesin is narrated in the context of Mahavira, but it is associated with other tirthankaras as well. Naigamesin has the body of a human being and the face of a goat. He is shown in the eleventh course in the rangamandapa in Vimalavasahi, as well as on two ceilings in the portico adjacent to the rangamandapa in Lunavasahi. The Pratiharas are shown as door-guardians, or are presented on pillar-shafts. Both kinnaras, whose lower half is like that of a bird and the upper half corresponds to a human being, and vidyadharas - 'the denizens of the air' - adorn the ceilings, or support the vidyadevis as bracket figures. The universe is in the shape of a man standing in the vaisaha posture, with his hands on his hips, filled with substance having the characteristics of permanence, origination, perishing; at the bottom resembling a cane stand, in the middle a jhallari, and at the top a muraja composed as follows: It is filled with three worlds and its first world are seven earths surrounded by very strong, thick water... The three worlds are classified into lower, middle and upper... -Trisastisalakapurusacaritra, vol. 1 I he Jain cosmology perceives the universe in the shape of a man, with a body like an hour-glass; the top part resembles a muraja, a kind of cylindrical drum; the middle part has the shape of a cymbal - a jhallari - or a circular shape. This universe is filled with different beings at different levels. The gods and goddesses dwell in the upper world of the highest heavens, and they perform many tasks: as guardian spirits of the tirtharkaras, as their attendants, as performers of their worship, as guardians of directions, as players of divine music and as goddesses of magic. As such, they comprise a pantheon of deities with prescribed duties, status and appearances. These divine beings are divided into the following classes: I. Gods of the lower world a. Bhavanapati (underground beings and elements of nature etc.) b. Vyantara (beings of the woods and the atmosphere) C. Jyotiska (the heavenly bodies, stars, planets, etc.) On pages 20-21 Paticakalyanaka - five aus picious events in the life of jina, on ceiling in the Par vanitha temple, Kumbharia, Rajasthan. Also shown are Naigamepin, with goat head, and goddess Lakami, in fourteen ausplclous dreams.

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II. Gods of the middle world (vidyadhara, vidyadevi, etc.) III. Gods of the upper world (vaimanika, heaven-dwellers, Indra, etc.) Literary sources provide invaluable information regarding the canons and symbolism of Jain architecture, but cosmographical literature is much more comprehensive in this regard. Both cosmology and cosmography have an important place in Jain mythological scriptures. The cosmos, eternally existent by nature, is comprised of six types of substances, dravyas, categorised as jiva and ajiva, animate and inanimate. The cosmos is generally referred to as loka; it is materially mathematical and geometrical in the whole as well as in parts, and is shaped like a man standing akimbo with the legs spread sideways. The space inside the cosmos is called lokakasa and outside alokakasa. The Siddha-sila is the space of the liberated souls; it is the summit of the cosmos. The central part of the cosmos is manusya-loka where the humans inhabit. It consists of innumerable continents or dvipas; except for Jambudvipa, each encircled by an ocean. Jambudvipa has seven regions, amongst them are Bharata, Himavata and Airavata. The celestial beings or Devas are of four orders, of which only the Vaimanikas reside in the upper world called svarga-loka. Various celestial beings like yaksa, yaksis, sasanadevas, sasanadevis, dikpalas, ksetrapalas, Bhairavas, Vidyadevis, Sarasvati, Laksmi, Ganga, Yamuna, apsaras, dundubhivadaka, camara-dharins, camara-dharinis, etc., and the human figures like Parsvadharas, Bhaktas, etc. can be seen as attendants to the tirthankaras in various parts of the Jain temples. It should be noted that symbolising myths, cosmographical details or descriptions as presented in the Jain or other canons, is almost impossible for an architect or a sculptor to achieve. What is achieved instead are broad impressions or highlights. In the design and architecture of temples, a certain spirit for elaboration and multiplication seems to have been at work with the Jains for generations. They have built large temple-cities at various sacred spots particularly in the mountains: Satrunjaya and Girnar in Gujarat, Mount Abu in Rajasthan, Vindhyagiri (Sravanabelgola) in Karnataka, Parasnath (Sametasikhara) in Bihar. Vidyadharas and Vidyadevis From the third course of the dome in the rangamandapa in the Vimalavasahi temple project out sixteen square brackets, each carrying a figure of four- or six-armed vidyadhara, each playing on some musical instrument and holding a lotus, a knife and a shield. 23

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These brackets support a complete set of images of sixteen Mahavidyas or vidyadevis. The vidyadevis have four arms each and are represented in the standing attitude, with their specific attributes and cognizances. Amongst these are Manavi and Mahamanasi, the latter mounting a lion. Jambodvipa: 'the island of Yaksas and Yaksis the rose-apple tree'. The disc of Jambadvipa is set within From about the middle of the sixth century a sasanadevata its rampart of diamonds, which is surrounded by a pair - yaksa and yaksi- had been introduced on or near the fence of jewels crowned by a high garland of lotuses made pedestal of the jina image. The pair consisted of a Kubera-like twofrom the gems. armed yaksa called Sarvanubhuti, usually carrying a citron and Gouache on cloth, 16th cen- a money-bag, and the two-armed yaksi Ambika, generally holdtury, Gujarat Courtesy: Ravi Kumar, The ing a bunch of mangoes in her right hand and a child on her left Jain Cormology lap with her left hand. . 7 $ EN MRAN . SENIOR A www. Dent VAL

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Sixteen-armed goddess Sarasvati seated in lalitasana on a corridor ceiling in the Vimalavasahi temple. She holds, amongst other things, a lotus, a conch, vina, varadamudra, abhayamudra, a book and a pitcher. To her right is a six-armed male dancer and on her left a six-armed drummer Below is a figural band depicting a goat, a boar, etc. On the top there is a sculptural panel depicting Gaja-Laksmi in the centre and four male divinities in niches on her each side.

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Birth of Mahavira, Gujarat, 15th century. Folio from Kalpasutra manuscript 000 Ji Xu Zhao T Gai Du Right auspicious symbols.

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Sixteen vidyachiles in the rungamandapin the lunavasahi temple They are playing different musical instruments

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As is evident from figures on the pedestals in some of the devakulikas in the Vimalavasahi temple, this pair of yaksa and yaksi continued to be associated with all the tirthankaras. In later iconography, after the twelfth century, Ambika was given two more arms, and she began to appear on the doorframes of the sanctums of the main shrine and the devakulikas. Notes 1. Sravana Belgola Inscription no. 258(108) in Siddhara Basti, dated A.D. 1432. Epigraphia Carnatica, vol. II. Text, p. 128, translation, p. 116. 2. As quoted in Jaina Art and Architecture, vol. I. 3. For introduction to Jainism, see Jaina Art and Architecture, vols. I, II, III. 4. Indian Sculpture, p. 44. 5. Quoted by Pereira, J. Monolithic Jinas, p. xiv. 6. Pal, P. Sensuous Sculpture, p. 11. 7. Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization, p. 78. 8. Quoted by Ghosh, Jaina Art and Architecture, vol. I, p. 38. 9. Op. cit., p. 78. 10. See Shah, U.P. Jaina-Rupa-Mandana, pp. 246-255. 11. As quoted by Jain and Fischer, Jaina Iconography, vol. I. 28

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Chapter II The Thousand-Petalled Lotus Lotus in Art and Worship Prior to the sky, prior to this earth, prior to the living gods, what is that germ which the waters held first and in which all the gods existed? The waters held the same germ in which all the gods exist or find themselves; on the navel of the Unborn stood that in which all beings stood. -Rgveda, 1.24.71 The main dome in the rangamandapa in the Lunavasihi temple, with different number of vidyadevis.

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Vi isvakarma the architect of the universe and god of all craftsmen and artisans emerges from the navel of the Unborn, in the waters. Visnu Narayana reclines on a couch of serpents, floating in the cosmic waters. He is called Padmanabha - 'the lotus-naveled'; from his navel springs a lotus on which creator-god Brahma sits and brings forth the universe. "All birth, all coming into existence, is in fact being established in the Waters' and to be 'established' is to stand on any ground - prithivi or platform of existence; he who stands or sits upon the Lotus 'lives'."2 In India the universe has been conceived as a 'many-petalled lotus' - utpalla-padma- in the centre of which sits the deity. It is said that 'the Lord created the lotus in front of him; then he sat on it and meditated upon the first origin.' In the Vedas, the goddess Laksmi is praised as padma sambhava - 'lotus born', padmaksi - 'lotus eyed', 'adorned with lotus garlands' padmamalini, 'to whom the lotus is dear' padma priya. She has even been called as 'the one who reveals the nature of the lotus'.3 - Laksmi, the goddess of wealth and fertility, with her flower, the lotus. Throughout the length and breadth of India, and in the vast history of her artistic and spiritual traditions - Hindu, Buddhist and Jain the lotus is the most pervasive symbol and metaphor. It is likened to the human heart and is said to be born of the Bharhut, 2nd century B.C. Stone. -

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light of the constellations'. It has thus a thousand different meanings. It is the womb of the universe, the seat of generation and regeneration; it is symbol of fecundity. It signifies prosperity and youth. It invokes images of purity and beauty. It suggests detachment and wisdom. Lotus is a magical plant; no wonder it evokes such rich poetic and spiritual metaphors. Though it grows and blossoms on earth, in water and amidst light, it enacts their transmutation from earth to light, from mud to scent, through water to gleaming colour in the regularity of its shape and its movements, opening and closing with the measure of time, of days and nights. When the seeds of other plants are ripe, the bursting of the pod releases them, and they fall to the ground and germinate. For the lotus, however, it is different. The ripe seeds, instead of falling from the pod, remain in the cells where they have grown. Within these cells, whose openings are too small to let them out, the seeds send forth the young seedlings. The seed pot is their matrix until they are large enough to burst open their cells. The seedlings then sink to the bottom of the water where they take root in the mud. * TV mo wwwwww PARLAMENT mma Detalle from a scroll-painting of the meditative centres, akras Ink and gouache on paper, 17th century, Rajasthan Courtesy: Allt Mookerjee, Yoga Art F

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Halter * Visnu, inside the cosmic egg reclining in a couch of serpents, with Laksmi, the god. dess of tecundity. WA ves Lotus emerging from the navel of Visnu, and Brahma sitting on it

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Svadishthana Chakra. Manipura Chakra. 2:19 Ty Anahata Chakra Vishuddha Chakra. Ajna Chakra.

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This self-fertilising power has its seat within the flower. There, high above the muddy ground, above the water, the whole cycle of vegetation is accomplished. Within the pericarp is held the continuity from bud to fruit and again to the new, young plant; the beginning and the end and the new beginning once more. The centre of productivity and the cycle of generation reside above, in the flower. The earth below, the mud, is but the intermediate ground for the root. Productivity and generation above are one continuous process within the lotus flower. As the dead leaf when its time is up falls from the tree to the ground, so is the life of man. Yogi and representation of various cakras, ink on paper, 19th century, Bihar Courtesy: Kalyana, Gita Press. As the dewdrop that sways on a blade of grass lasts but a moment, so is the life of man. Surya, with broken hands and lotuses, 12th century, Konark So cast away all attachments, and be pure as a lotus, or as water in autumn. - Mahavira th

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PRET 1 METRE 35 Drawing of wall-painting in a post-Gupta Jain temple at Sittanvasal The drawing represents celestial region in the form of a pond in which apsaras, geese, elephants, etc. are sporting in a thicket of enormous lotus-blossoms and fronds [After B. Rowland]. Lantern roof at Shiva Temple, Pandrenthan: Plan and section [After B. Rowland].

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he most pervasive meaning of lotus in the Indian sacred arts is that of a spiritually enlightened being such as the Buddha or Mahavira, who, like the lotus, has risen from the mire of earthly temptations, and has blossomed fully, untainted by muddled existence of lower levels: Just as, Brethren, a lotus, born in water, full-grown in the water, rises to the surface and is not wetted by the water; even so, Brethren, the Tathagata, born in the world, full-grown in the world, surpasses the world, and is unaffected by the world. -The Buddha I he legend has it that as a new-born child, the Buddha took seven steps to announce his spiritual sovereignty over the earth. His seven steps are represented in art by seven lotuses. Later, after . . . The ascending stages of consciousness, from Maldhara to Sahasrara, the seat of enlightenment. This is symbolized by the mantra Om, shown at the Bummit. Gouache on paper, 17th century, Uttar Pradesh. Courtesy: Ait Mookerjee, Yoga Art. Infant Kom in a lotus. Miniature, Kulu, c. 1700. Private collection.

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his Awakening under the Bodhi tree, the Buddha is said to have been moved to infinite compassion for his fellow-beings. He saw them like stems and buds of a lotus in the lake - some immersed in the mud, others just coming out of it or just appearing above the water, and still others beginning to blossom. Seeing this he determined to bring them all to full bloom and to the bearing of fruit. The Buddha thus was invested with the miraculous power of imprinting the image of a lotus flower on the earth at every step that he took By the second century B.C., in its various artistic manifestations, the lotus was not only the abode of the goddess Sri-Laksmi, but also her principal attribute. By the beginning of the Gupta period in the third century the lotus had become the principal seat for most deities of the Hindus, Jains and Buddhists. In many instances, the lotus serves as the principal decorative motif on their halos. The lotus also came to be held in their hands, by Surya - the sun god, by Visnu, A ceiling in a bay in the Lunavasihi temple. It is composed of three rectangular courses and a square padimadil. The underside of the courses beautifully de picts a file of projecting omds. This celling is quite unique in this temple. . w W **** * DK * O. - y 1.

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the Buddhist Avalokitesvara and Tara, and several of Jain tirthankaras. A red lotus is the emblem of the sixth Jain tirthankara Padmasambhava, and a blue lotus of the twenty-first tirtharkara Neminatha. The self-fertilising power of the lotus makes it a symbol of the androgynous creative god that gives life to matter'; thus it is also symbolic of goddess earth - Bhudevi. As the birthplace of Laksmi and of the Creator-god Brahma himself, the lotus becomes the metaphoric womb of creation, and the womb of the Universe. "Though itself of ancient inception", writes Maury, "the lotus emblem appears to have been an elaboration of a preexistent, simpler design: a floral configuration of the circle, always and everywhere the elementary ideograph of the female organs, subsumed in India by the term yoni. This role as the fundamental allegory of female sexuality has endowed the flower with its aura of sacred mystery and imparted to its diagrammatic abstraction a dimension of the Cosmic. Whether in hylic or emblematic form, the lotus has come to present the ultimate equation of female being and female magic: its petals enclose the magic of generation and regeneration, its centre is the omphalos of the universe, the source and substance of life itself."6 Fire is verily the lotus of this Earth, the Sun the lotus of the yonder Sky. -Satapatha Brahmana? he lotus blooms every day with the rising sun and closes its petals in the evenings. Thus it not only symbolises the endless cycle of life and death but also the cosmic cycle of birth and dissolution of the universe. The lotus thus is an appropriate iconographic symbol of Surya. Surya has often two lotuses in his hands, symbolising the upper, para, and nether, apara, waters, "representing respectively the possibilities of existence 'above' or 'below' in yonder world and this world, Heaven and Earth." This also suggests why many of the gods from the Gupta period on, but specially the Buddhas and the Jain tirthankaras are given a lotus halo behind their heads as well as a lotus support below their feet, one symbolising the heaven and the other the earth, "the two flowers, one behind the 'head' and the other beneath the 'feet', and each a reflection of the other, representing the grounds of existence in extenso...between them." At another level the lotus represents earth and water, and thus it is an appropriate attribute of Sri-Laksmi, the earth mother personifying all possibilities of existence and abundance. She is described as padmavasini, 'dweller in the lotus' and pustida, 'provider of the nourishment. A frequently used Sanskrit word for lotus is puskara, with the same root as pusti meaning nourishment. Sri-Laksmi is shown in early Indian art as GajaLaksmi, being bathed by elephants symbolising the sky. 38

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22. 1 A domical ceiling in the portico in the Vimalavasahi temple On its four corners are dancing figures Torana-arches the dome of the rangamandapu, and goddess Ambika in the basal comer can also be seen.

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The sky, in turn, showers rain, fertilising the earth represented by the goddess herself and the lotus on which she stands. This act is a kind of conception, and is similar to the conception of Mayadevi, mother of the Buddha, who dreamed that the future emancipator had entered her womb as white elephant. Immediately after his birth the infant and the mother were bathed by two nagas, which refers to both 'serpent' and 'elephant'. The lotus also symbolises, as Pal eloquently outlines, the firmament, or middle space antariksa - which is why the gods are frequently placed on lotuses. The idea is first expressed in Rgveda in connection with the births of the fire god, Agni, and sage Vasistha, which the gods are said to have watched while seated on lotuses. Visnu's navel, from which a lotus emerges, is the centre of the universe; the navel of the world form of Prajapati, an appellation of the Supreme Being, is said to be the firmament.10 Lakani on a south portico calling in the Vimalavashi temple. The celling is shallow domical consisting of four circular courses. The fourth course is flat and has a graceful image of four-armed Gaja-Lakami, seated in padmasana on a pedestal supported by stemmed lotus and water vases. In upper hands, she holds lotus plants, with elephants engraved in them; her lower hands are in dhyanamudra. Two caurf-bearers stand on her either side, and two vidyadhares hover in the upper section with garlands.

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Cl The significance of the lotus as a divine attribute held in the hand can vary according to who is holding it. The lotus emerging from Visnu's navel symbolises the earth, while the stalk represents the cosmic mountain Meru, the axis of the universe. In Visnu's hand, the lotus symbolises water, in Sri-Laksmi's hand, wealth. When goddess Parvati holds the lotus the flower symbolises detachment, while in Indra's hand it signifies prosperity. The flower also represents the idea of divine play. The universe and all its manifestations are often characterised as nothing but reflections of the Supreme Being's playfulness. The close association of Visnu and the lotus is evident from such epithets as Padmanabha 'lotus-naveled', Pundariksa 'lotus-eyed', Padmapani -- 'lotus-handed', also the epithet for Buddhist saviour-god Avalokitesvara. The Buddhists may have first adopted the lotus as both a divine seat and an emblem held 41 - A domical ceiling in north portico with five courses in the Lunavasihi temple.

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A domical ceiling, with several circular courses, in the south portico in the Vimalavasahi temple. On one corner there is a an image of lalitasana Gaja-Laksmi. by a deity. By the second century the lotus was adopted as a seat for the Buddha himself, certainly in Gandhara and probably in Mathura as well as in Buddhist monuments in Andhra. The flower was given to the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara long before it became an emblem of Visnu. In early Buddhist literature the lotus is used as a metaphor for essence (pudgala; pundarika), and one of the early Mahayana texts is called the 'Lotus of the True Religion' or Padma Sutra. Thus in the Buddhist context the lotus symbolises the faith itself and would be an appropriate attribute for Avalokitesvara. In later Buddhist iconography the lotus certainly is often used as a support for other emblems such 42

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Sixteen-armed Narasimha, an avatar of Visnu, tearing the belly of demon Hiranyakasyapa on a corridur ceiling in the Vimalavasahi temple Narasimha holds a mace and a disc in his two hands, two other hands are raised over his head; with the rest he is destroying the demon The sculpture is carved in high relief in the centre of a sixteen-petalled lotus flower. The whole piece is surrounded by a rectangular panel border depicting sagar manthan, 'churning of the ocean' Narasimha is considered the embodiment of knowledge; he destroys ignorance when he tears at the bosom of the demon. Ignorance or impurity is of three kinds related to body, speech and mind, and Narasimha destroys all three of them This interpretation may be applicable to all demons destroyed by the gods 43

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as the thunderbolt or book, while the most widely uttered incantation associated with Avalokitesvara is Om mani padme hum, meaning 'Om, the jewel in the lotus'. In an eighteenth-century watercolour from Thailand, the Buddha is not represented as a human being but as a golden lotusbud decoration placed in the otherwise empty pavilion above the Earth goddess. In a nineteenth-century Japanese woodblock the Buddha Sakyamuni is depicted with his feet resting on lotuses, and he appears to float in a starry atmosphere. In another illustration, the child Buddha stands naked on a large lotus-shaped basin as two mythical dragons bathe the divine child from above. Thus, whether supporting the book symbolising wisdom or knowledge, as in representations of the Buddhist deities of wisdom such as Manjusri or Prajnaparamita, or in itself signifying enlightenment, "the lotus symbol", in the words of Heinrich Zimmer, "which originally gave birth to beings and existences in unending succession, now carries the powerful wisdom of Nirvana: the Word that puts an end to all individual existence, whether in heaven or on earth."11 From the earliest times the lotus has remained a unique metaphor for the heart of the devotee: hrd-puskara; hrd-padma, the primary abode of the deity. The 'lotus heart' is further likened to space, akasa; its eight petals representing four directions and four intermediate points of the compass. The eight-petalled lotus is basic to the drawings called mandalas, which later came to play an important role in all three spiritual traditions. One of the earliest uses of the lotus with this symbolic meaning is represented in the ceilings of the Gupta-period Buddhist cave temples at Ajanta. In Tantric and Kundalini Yoga, the representation of the human body as a microcosm and its special geography is of supreme importance. The main axis of the human spinal cord is considered the pivot of the universe; it is the meru-danda, in analogy with Mount Meru. Along this axis are a series of cakras in the shape of lotuses, with different number of petals. Significantly, Tantric spiritual praxis requires the practitioner to pass through several stages or processes of cosmogenesis, the final plane located at the summit of the skull being known as 'lotus head', usnisa kamala, to the Buddhists and 'the thousand-petalled lotus' sahasrara padma or cakra to the Hindus and the Jains. A very early representation of this idea occurs on a mid sixth-century Nrsimha, an avatar of Visnu, where a lotus grows out of the god's head. The lotus rhizomes and yaksas, or lotus as a floral design are to be seen on pillars, railing medallions and other places on the Buddhist monuments at Bharhut, Sanchi, Amaravati, Bodhgaya, and in the early rock-cut temples of Western India. 44

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Dome of the rangamandape in the Lunavasthi temple, with another domical ceiling. The second ceiling has two panels of dancers and a beautifully carved flower in the centre, with four kinnar couples in the comers. In the Jain temples at Dilwara and Ranakpur, lotuses have been carved on the ceilings in the navacaukis and in the marble domes of the rangamandapa, or on the ceilings in the porches and the corridors in myriad ways, and with mesmerising magnificence and subtlety. Hundreds of yaksas and yaksis, vidyadevis and vidyadharas, apsaras and jinas, dancers and musicians adore the ceilings, domes and columns of these temples - meditating, dancing, celebrating, in the midst of lotus flowers, on lotus petals, re 45

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Ceilings in the Lunavasahi temple, with the central dome in view 46

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The Cosmic Egg, according to Hindu mythology, with Vienu lying on Sepa naga with a lotus emerging from his navel and Brahma sitting on it. Also shown are Lakami, Garuda, etc. Gouache on paper, 18th century, Rajasthan. 47 Courtesy: Ravi Kumar, The Jain Cosmology. flecting, it seems, on the nature of the lotus itself! On one remarkable ceiling in the corridor in the eleventh-century temple Vimalavasahi, the sixteen-armed Nrsimha tears the belly of the demon Hiranyakasyapa with all the fury that is associated with the act. In a Jain temple, such depiction of violence is rare. Yet what renders this act a certain elegance and cosmic inevitability is the sixteen-petalled lotus flower in the centre of which both the demon and the god are engraved, more in an embrace than in a combat. Surrounding the lotus, on a rectangular panel, is the ancient myth of sagar manthan, "The Churning of the Ocean', in which the demons and gods struggle to obtain amrta, 'the elixir of immortality'. One can't say with certainty that one comprehends the meaning of these images and metaphors fully. One thing is certain, however: those wondrous hands that created these eternal images and exquisite lotuses, some as large as twenty-five feet in diameter, several hundreds years ago, as early as the eleventh century, must have known and experienced at some level the glory that resides in the treasure chest, hiranya kosa, of a 'thousand-petalled lotus'.

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Ceiling in the southwest bay in the navacaul in the Lunavasahi temple It is a domical ceiling of the subharamamandaraka variety. On the two slabs defining the ceiling are carved rows of lotus flowers with stalks and a band of lotus petals The ceiling is composed of six courses and a circular padmasils Each one of the four corners is sccupied by a fine image of Gaja-Laksmi seated in padmdsana on a throne supported by elephants The eight-armed goddess is flanked on each side by an elephant carrying water pot in its trunk Iwo men are sitting on the elephant; they are also carrying water pots A work of originality and elegance, the ceiling is the only one of its kind in the Dilwara temples.

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Notes 1. Quoted by Coomaraswamy, A. Elements of Buddhist Iconography, p. 71. 2. Ibid. 3. Maury, C. Folk Origins of Indian Art, p. 43. 4. Quoted by Basham, A.L. The Wonder that was India, p. 189. 5. Quoted by Coomaraswamy from Samyutta Nikaya, op. cit., p. 21. 6. Ibid., p. 110. 7. Ibid., p. 71. 8. Pal, P. Indian Sculpture, p. 40. 9. Coomaraswamy, A., op. cit., p. 71, n. 38. 10. Op. cit., pp. 39-41. 11. Zimmer, H. Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization, p. 100.

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Ratan Shah, brother of the minister, paying homage to deity in the Adisvara temple, Ranakpur. K

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Chapter III Envisioning Hands In the Image of Visvakarma The best of artists hath no thought to show Which the rough stone in its superfluous shell Doth not include: to break the marble spell Is all the hand that serves the brain can do.' -Michelangelo The Kailasa temple at Ellora is the glory and wonder of Indian architecture. Fifty million tonnes of rock were won with chisel and wedge to create a trench out of which loomed the once blazing white temple. Who was the master architect of this colossal rockcut eighth-century temple, as large as the Parthenon and one and a half times its height, is unknown, but his reaction to his own creation is recorded in an inscription: "Oh how did I make it?" That such a massive achievement as the Kailasa temple could ever be undertaken again is inconceivable; it was so even to the legendary architect, who is believed to have said that "it was only by magic that I could have constructed even this one." A visitor to such a magical place as the Kailasa temple, or the temples at Dilwara and Ranakpur, is moved to ask a similar question: "How did they do it?" It is always they not he, for one is so aware that a work of this stature could not be undertaken by one person alone, nor even by a few. It required many artists, craftsmen and workers with varied skills. The chief architect, sthapati, gave shape to a building that had been conceived by the acarya or the sthapaka, the architect-priest. He, in turn, was assisted by many others: vardhaki, the modellers and painters, taksaka, the sculptors, sutragrahi, the surveyors. Plus many thousand others who contributed to every grand enterprise in temple building in myriad ways. The name for any art or craft in India is silpa, 'variegated artistic work', comprising art, skill, craft, labour, ingenuity, rite and ritual, form, and creation. Artists, artisans, craftsmen are all silpins, engaged in creating, in the words of Aitareya Brahmana, "imitation of divine forms; by employing their rhythms, a metrical reconstitution is effected of the limited human personality."2

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According to the Indian tradition, the range of crafts extends over the entire culture and comprises the work of the sculptor and the potter, the perfumer and the wheelwright, the weaver and the architect. The number of arts is unlimited but they are summed up by sixty-four kalas, the arts, each one of which is represented by a goddess, a kaladevi. In addition to the sixty-four kaladevis, there are thirty-two goddesses of science, vidyadevis. These two categories, the arts and the sciences, comprise the sum total of human knowledge and skill. The kalas include the visual arts, music, dance, drama, as well as dressmaking and acrobatics. The perfections of delight which are experienced by the other sense count among their highly specialised branches -- the culinary art or that of the perfumer, and the more comprehensive art of making love. There are many degrees of competence in all these arts, and a genius is known when met. Kailasa Temple at Ellora: Plan of upper storey (After B. Rowland and Sivaramamurti). OF On page 53 Carved column, with figures of jina on it, and with a flower ceiling in the southern portico in the Lunavasahi temple. Carved in high relief, the mandiraka element is best represented in this ceiling

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. "Shi 17/7/ |

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. V A deva-kulika, Mahavira Temple complex, Osla (After Joshi). Every creature, according to the traditional Indian belief, has a function, vrata, that he fulfils in the universe. What function does the artist or craftsman fulfil in the society, and in that other invisible part of the universe, which he is able to convey by his work to those around him and to posterity? The practitioner of one of the sixty-four kalas, which provided channels for every kind of creative endowment to be trained and employed, fulfilled his calling in the best way possible to him, and thus carried out his universal task. Vocation and assignment were reciprocal; together they constituted the particular duty, svadharma, whose lifelong discharge satisfied the maker, the patron and the standards by which art exists and evokes ever renewed response. In our times, we consider an artist to be a rugged individualist, uncaring of social or cultural traditions, and concerned only with 'self expression'. But this has not been always so, neither in the East nor in the West. There is an old story of how the great cathedral of Chartres was struck by lightning and burnt to the ground. "Then thousands of people came from all points of the compass", writes Ingmar Bergman, the great Swedish film-maker, "like a giant procession of ants, and together they began to rebuild the cathedral on its old site. They worked until the building was completed - master builders, artists, labourers, clowns, noblemen, priests, burghers. But they all remained anonymous, and no one knows to this day who built the cathedral of Chartres." The artists and craftsmen, and others, who created the Indian temples, too did not conceive their art as their own, nor as the accumulated skill of ages, but as originating in the divine skill of Visvakarma -- 'the Creator of the Universe - and revealed by him. This is how the sacred texts trace back the traditions of the craftsman to the fountainhead, the sum total of consciousness, knowledge and inspiration. As Kramrisch puts it: "In India, more than anywhere, form results from performance. The making of the work of art is a ritual. Its magic is active in the form. By performing the rites of art, the craftsman transforms himself and his substance. Form, performance and transformation are simultaneous, inseparable aspects of Indian art. They inhere in its creation and produce their effect in its concrete shape." A grand work, such as a temple, calls upon all kalas to make concrete the vision of the Master Artist. Buddhist monuments, for instance, were collective monuments, and the work of many artists, guilds and donors. They were built by contributions from distant parts of the country and from all levels of the society - monks, nuns, courtesans, merchants, nobles, artists and artisans. It is thus that on the south gate of the Great Stupa at Sanchi of Plan of Kesava Temple, Belur (After Sivaramamurti). L ! Plan of Kelava Temple, Somnathpur (After Sivaramamurtil

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the first century, the ivory carvers of Vidisa recorded on one of the stone panels that it was their work. Again, on the same gate, the top beam is inscribed so that we know it is 'the gift of Ananda, son of Vasisthi, the foreman of the artisans of King Satakarni'. As creator of temples and religious monuments, whether his name is remembered or forgotten, the artist is beyond earthly reward. As a member of a traditional society, as an artist or an artisan, he fulfilled a social demand. By contributing his work, he discharged his duty, his dharma, and earned his living. But the work of art in India, over and above its completeness as creative act and form, has its purpose and function the acquisition of merit on a spiritual plane. This merit, however, belongs to the patron or donor, and not to the artist. The work of art, as a vehicle to heavenly bliss, belongs to the patron. An artist thus performs his work for his patron and gains his artistic stature by giving form to a vision. He is a creator-magician and a mediator; by his creations he secures for his patron a place in heaven while on earth." Traditionally, architecture in India is considered the most comprehensive visual art. As applied astrology, it is part of the fifth appendix, Vedanga, to the Veda; as a ritual, it is part of Kalpa, the sixth appendix to the Veda. As an applied knowledge, it belongs to Tantra, an Upveda, and therewith, to the Atharva Veda. Thus, in addition to his technical competence, the designing architect of temples was expected to have knowledge of architectural scripture and the principles of other traditional sciences. He was expected to know mathematics and the Puranas, the art of painting, and the geography of various countries. He was also to know the essence of the Vedas and Agamas, and was to be an initiate, ardent in his work and well-versed in Silpa Sastra. In character, he was to be of happy disposition and welldisciplined, righteous, kind, free from jealousy, and well-born. He was to have firm friends, and his guru was to be a Brahman of high birth. The collaboration of the chief architect and the Brahman guru began with the ploughing of the ground on which the temple was to be built. The plough was consecrated by the touch of the guru, the chief architect ploughed the first rounds. The distinction was made between the craftsmen and the labourers, though unskilled manual labour itself, when it was for a sacred purpose, was considered kar seva - 'a spiritual dedication by hands', and it was performed by members of all castes from the highest downward. Citizens and villagers, of all social status, collected earth from riverbanks and the fields, or they conveyed stone beams, for the construction of the temple. 55

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.. 1. 6. Nilakantha Temple, Sunak: Elevation [After B. Rowland). Virupaksha Temple, Pattadakal: Halfplan and section (After B. Rowland). RUL MERIT SA T ETIT OL R 1 . Ground plan of the Minakshi Temple at Madurai (After B. Rowland). ma The establishment of a temple in India has always meant the acquisition of merit on a spiritual plane, not for the architect-priest but for the patron or the donor. For merit's sake, for acquiring puniya, the patron commissioned the construction of the temple to secure a lasting place in heaven for himself and for his close relatives. The magical potency of a temple, in fact, of any religious work of art, thus serves as a vehicle to heaven, not for the artist, but for the patron. The traditional role of the Indian artist-architect thus has been not only to create a work of aesthetic delight by which 'a world beyond the senses becomes visible, tangible, and concrete, so that it can be enjoyed and understood', but also to make it a vehicle for magically transporting its patron to heaven while on earth. An artist's work thus both paves the way to heaven for the patron, and brings a piece of heaven to earth, for others to see the earth afresh, with new eyes. The artist thus is a creator-magician and a mediator, akin to a god, bestower of special powers to his patron. He stands on a lotus, as the two architects Loyana and Kela of the Vimalavasahi temple at Dilwara do, next to the goddess Sarasvati. The consummate skill and an unswerving intuition of the artist give concrete form to an exalted vision, making him a great master. His work is a 'masterpiece', creating in the hearts of the devotees in the temple a sense of awe and wonder. Such a masterpiece is the 15th century Adisvara temple at Ranakpur, where in its breathtaking halls, on the facets of a pillar the architect and patrons carved their likeness. The prestige of the chief architect of the temples was high; princes of different states came to consult him. They put on splendid garments for their visit and brought presents in their own hands. Over the centuries the families of master architects are known to us from their work. We also know of patrons and gurus, successive heads of a monastic order, the Saiddhantikas of Mattamayura, who, from the ninth to eleventh centuries, built monasteries and temples still in existence all over central India, from the west coast to Magadha, and laid down their teaching Gupta period brick temple at Bhitargaon (After B. Rowland]

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A domical ceiling in the navacauki in the Vimalavasahi temple, with nine lotuses and pendants

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in a detailed textbook of the craft, the Isanasivagurudevapaddhati. In this book the sustaining power of tradition and its meaning are expressed by the rites performed when the sthapaka, the guru, installs the temple. He places in it the seed, bija, of the temple. While the temple is built, the seed, 'the causal creative image of the temple', dwells in the 'heart-lotus' of the guru. On completion of the building, the seed is ritually brought from the heart of the guru and placed in the temple. This seed is consciousness, cit. It is then that the sthapati, the architect, gives the entire merit to the patron, for says the text, 'Brahma himself is the Architect'. In the long history of India, with works of great art created throughout the centuries, a deep and abiding concern for the quality of one's work is most evident. Apprenticeship with a master or with a recognized member of the craftsmen's guilds was a safeguard against low standards, incompetence, or fraud or self-deception. That it didn't do away with these faults altogether is evident from the threatening words of the Samarangana-sutradhara, a most exhaustive compendium on the visual arts which was compiled in the earlier part or the middle of the eleventh century by King Bhoja. From the warning, one discovers that nothing less than death awaits one who practises architecture without correct knowledge or is mistakenly proud of false knowledge. Architecture was not only a utilitarian art, but it evoked cosmic principles; an architect went to his task in the likeness of the architect of the universe, Visvakarma. Were the architect thus to infringe upon any rule or deviate from correct proportions, such neglect or dissonance was felt to be fatal to the structure, not only of a particular building, but also to the order of the state, indeed of the universe. For this reason, "the ghost of such a man, dead before his time, will wander on this wide earth." Having infringed the order of the universe, he is doomed to belong nowhere; "he who should have been a builder of homes is to remain homeless in a disembodied condition."" In addition to the moral and metaphysical concerns about the quality of the artist, King Bhoja, as author and compiler of the great compendium, the Samaranganasutradhara, takes a third source of failure into account. This is the case of the expert in his craft, the virtuoso who lacks intellectual insight. Of him the king says that 'like a blind man he will be misled by anyone', for he is his own dupe, a potential casualty in the field of art. The earlier encyclopedia of all the arts, the Visnudharmottara, written about the sixth century, comprises a dialogue between a The Hindu Vastupurusha mandala transformed into king and a sage. Here the king inquires and the sage instructs in architectural plans. the knowledge of the arts. Such knowledge is not only the domain of one or the other of the sages and seers, but in the sum 58

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total of Indian knowledge it forms part of Revelation, the Veda, to which it belongs as applied knowledge.? In the creation of a temple, with so many people working together with their hands, skills and imagination, in traditional Indian society, the public had special obligation towards an artist and a craftsman. It is laid down in Manu's code that the hand of a craftsman engaged in his work is always ritually pure.' The Arthasastra decrees capital punishment for any person who causes a craftsman the loss of a hand or an eye. For the kalas to flourish, there is a continual need for the connoisseur, the rasik, of the arts, for delight is not mere pleasure; It is not self-indulgence; it requires discipline. The keener the perception the greater the delight. In various carvings in the Jain temples, like other temples in India, there is a profuse cele-bration of the performing artists: dancers, musicians, lovers Whatever other ambience the temples may have, there is always an aura of celebration of life, with all its mythopoeic reference. The devotee is thus expected to be a rasik of the spiritual and the aesthetic life alike, for in the rangamandapa, 'the hall of celebrations', all these kalas came together to invoke the greatest kalakar - the artist-architect of the universe himself. 1969 Possibly chief architect Deepa paying homage to de ity in the Adikvara temple, Ranakpur.

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1 A corridor ceiling in the Vimalavasahi temple with goddesses seated in lalitasana. The square flat surface shows, one within the other, two stepped diamonds, each filled with gajatalu. The line of the outer diamond at the four corners presents the shape of a Greek Cross. The central space of the ceiling is divided into two concentric circles. On two sides of the square is a narrow band carved with foliage and lotus buds.

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7. Ibid. 8. Ibid. #t 24344457G; Notes 1. Quoted by Bronowski, J. Ascent of Man, London, p. 113. 2. As quoted by Kramrisch, S. in Exploring India's Sacred Art, p. 62. 3. Four Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman, pp. 21-22. 4. Op. cit., p. 58. 5. For a comprehensive discussion, see Kramrisch, S., op. cit., pp. 51-58. 6. Ibid. 61 Dancers and musicians, the Parsvanatha temple, Ranakpur.

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- "" NAA kaatt, kaarmaakkkm kaamaak naam kaatu -- - PET * p '10 tinMur I'M ANNI - THINAL ppaa F I * 'HERE HIS

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Chapter IV Lotus in the Stone Jain Temples at Dilwara [Templeis the concrete symbol of Reintegration and coheres with the rhythm of the thought imagined in its carvings and laid out in its proportions. Their perfection is a celebration of all the rites enacted during the building of the temple from the ground to the pinnacle. Nothing that is seen on the temple is left unsaid in the verbal tradition nor is any of the detail arbitrary or superfluous. Each has a definite place and is part of the whole. ...temple is the sum total of architectural rites performed on the basis of its myths. The myth covers the ground and is the plan on which the structure is raised.' Stella Kramrisch Ihree spiritual and artistic traditions - Hindu, Buddhist and Shri Yantra, Tantric Mandala. Jain - flourished in India concurrently for over two thousand years; each one of these traditions has unique and salient features, but they also have many vital areas of interaction. In their temples, for instance, the deities installed in the main shrine and the sculpture inspired by respective mythologies are different but in their architectural and structural forms, regional differences are far more significant than any differences necessitated by any particular religious belief and practice. The plan of the Parsvanatha temple at Khajuraho, for instance, may be different from that of Hindu temples there, but those latter temples themselves differ from each other in many important ways. In fact, there is nothing to show that the differences in the plans are due to their forms of worship. The stamp of Khajuraho is apparent on all the temples at that place. It has been observed that there is "no religion-wise difference in the sculptural embellishments of the religious edifices. The same joie de vivre is apparent in the sculpture of all religions except where it is strictly religious in character. Call them yaksis, attendants, nayikas, apsaras, sura-sundaris or alasa-kanyas, they appear everywhere, singly or in mithuna, and nothing in the austere tenets and practices of any religion could prevent their appearance in places of worship. From the very early times, as evidenced at Sanchi in the Buddhist stupas or at Mathura in the re A wide view of the Khattaka, with image of the tra, In the mains and miniature representations of the Jaina stupas, Lunavaathi temple

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they are present ubiquitously. Nude yaksis attend on a sculptured stupa at Mathura and are seen in lascivious poses on railing-posts. While it is true that Jaina iconography does not permit the cosmic sexualism of some Tantric, Brahmanical and Buddhist deities, erotic couples appear covertly in the medieval Jain temples at Khajuraho and elsewhere and very freely on the sikhara of the one at Arang in Chattisgarh....Untrammeled by the austere tenets of the creed at the service of which he was working, the artist followed the practices of an age which fully sanctioned, even relished, them. In the same way, while the texts forebode the Jaina monks to live in painted houses, the monks did put up with the delightful paintings in their cave-temples. Such was the urge of artistic embellishment."2 In addition, over the centuries, a vast range of cosmogonic and cosmological symbolisms, drawn from Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions, was continually integrated into the rich morphology of the Indian temples of all three traditions. Jain temples and sculpture, thus, should be viewed in the context of the overall Indian culture, and various cross-currents that have nourished them, and not apart from them. In fulfilment of their spiritual needs, the Jains followed similar lines of development through the ages as the followers of other Indian creeds did. They worked within the framework of their own religious beliefs and cosmological constructs, but nevertheless always remained an integral part of the greater Indian cultural ethos. Vatthu-sara-payarana in Prakrit is the first major treatise on Jain architecture written in 1315 A.D. The first three chapters in this treatise are devoted to residential houses, iconography and temple architecture. The Jain temple, it has been suggested, should be seen as the symbolic representation of "the samavasarana or the fascinating auditorium of the tirthankara who, as one of those to be bowed before any one of the other paramesthins, would deliver a sermon only inside the samavasarana, whose idol was the first to appear and whose iconic symbol in the form of mulanayaka or the main deity must be installed in the temple....The Jaina temple then, with this very idea behind its origin, went on to having a parallel and simultaneous evolution....with the temples of co-traditions."3 As far back as the fourth century B.C. there is a long and extensive history of building of Jain monuments and sculptures in many parts of India - from Mathura to Udayagiri, from Marwar and Mungthala near Mount Abu in Rajasthan to Karnataka in the South. Even as the vagaries of nature and political conflicts, both internal and external, took their toll, many outstanding examples of Jain monuments and temples are still to be found in many parts of the country. In particular, the present states of Rajasthan and 64

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Gujarat in Western India have several magnificent Jain temples created with consummate skill and imagination. The two temples, Vimalavasahi and Lunavasahi, at Dilwara in Mount Abu considered here, are amongst the most celebrated examples of Caulukya architecture that developed during the Caulukya dynasty that reigned from 950-1246 A.D. The history of Gujarat is greatly influenced by the Caulukya period which saw a great resurgence in temple building and the arts. Many of the temples built during this period have not survived, but those which have bear witness to a certain architectural and sculptural magnificence. During this period, and in these regions, the general plan of the Jain temples was not much different from the Hindu shrines. Nevertheless, the iconographic treatment did differ to correspond to the mythological narrations, philosophical tenets and rituals of Jainism. The architects, masons and craftsmen all came from the same pool which worked on Hindu or Buddhist temples, and later on Muslim mosques, or other buildings in different regions of India. od, and in thifferent from differ to corituals of 46492 Samawar , Caluetal Hall for the Universal Sermon, Rajasthan, c. 1800. Opaque watercolour on peper.

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A Caulukya temple has all the principal features of a north Indian temple. It comprises of garbhagrha or malaprasada, 'the sanctum', a gudhamandapa, 'a closed hall', and a mukhamanpapa or trikamandapa, 'an entrance porch to the sanctum'. In the larger temples, such as the Vimalavasahi and the Lunavasahi, along the same axis, often preceded by a torana, 'an ornamental arch', there is a detached sabhamandapa or rangamandapa, 'an assembly hall' or 'a dance pavilion'. In elevation, the Caulukya temple has the usual components of pitha, 'the member between the ground and the podium', vedibandha, 'the podium', and jangha, 'a wall between the podium and the eave cornice'. The mouldings and decorative elements occur in a sequence and according to the tradition." The mandapas in a Caulukya temple are peristylar in design, and the pillars are profusely decorated with figures, floral design and ornaments, all according to a well-established tradition. The mandapas show an octagonal arrangement of pillars and in the larger conceptions, toranas are thrown across the principal pillars. The domical ceiling of the rangamandapa is supported on an octagonal frame of architraves resting over pillars. It consists of a series of diminishing concentric courses culminating in an elaborately designed padmasila, 'the central pendant of a lotus flower'. Pilgrimage picture of Satrunjaya, Gujarat, c. 1800. Opaque watercolour on cotton. The pata provides a visionary view of temple complexes.

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Tv GAS VEN JA-3 Jain temple complex at Dilwara. The mukhamandapa and the mandapa transepts are decorated with ornamental balustrades. The interior of a Caulukya temple thus is richly designed whereas the exterior is similar to the temples of the northern region. As the Caulukya style developed further, the sanctum, gudhamandapa, mukhamandapa and the rangamandapa were all arranged along one axis and placed in a quadrangle surrounded by an enclosure of devakulikas, 'shrine-cells' facing one or sometimes two bays of bhamati, 'colonnaded corridors'. The elaboration of the pillared porch into six or nine caukis, 'bays', and the addition of the enclosure of devakulikas around the courtyard, with colonnaded corridors, constitute the special contribution of the Jains to the Caulukya building style. Here, for our reflections on the Jain temple architecture and iconography of the Caulukya period, we draw principally from two temples at Dilwara: the 11th century Vimalavasahi and the 13th century Lunavasahi. Yet there are many other outstanding Jain temples of this period, both in Rajasthan and Gujarat, that command attention and admiration. Of these mention must be made of the five temples at Kumbharia, the Neminatha temple at Girnar, the Ajitanatha temple at Taranga and the Parsvanatha temple at Ghumli.

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Dome in the rangamandapa of the Vimalavasahi temple. Sixteen vidyadevis and vidyadharas are shown in the dome. The dome is 25 ft in diameter and less than 30 ft in height from the floor to the apex. The dome is composed of eleven circular courses and a long circular padmadils. It may be noted that even though many of these temples were built, financed and inspired by the rulers, or their ministers and generals, there was, nevertheless, an active contribution to this mammoth undertaking by the general public. The devakulikas at Vimalavasahi were built by the vyavaharis, the businessmen. The Mahavira temple at Kumbharia is called the Arasana samghacaitya, 'the temple of Jain congregation at Arasana'. The Neminatha temple at Kumbharia was built by Pasila, and its mandapa was added by Hansibai. In a similar manner, several jina images in the temples at Mount Abu, Kumbharia and elsewhere were installed, from time to time, by Jain sravakas, 'lay followers'. The Vimalavasahi The Vimalavasahi temple is one of the group of five Jain temples at Dilwara in Mount Abu in Western Rajasthan. Built in 1032 A.D. by Dandanayaka Vimala, the Vimalavasahi temple is the celebrated marble temple dedicated to Adinatha, the first tirthankara.

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The Jalen Temple Mount Alber Ground A Vimal Templo B Terpal Templo c Adinath Temple 1 Gebhartha 2 Gudhe mendapo Nurcholti Range mandag WWW 11.01 0-0000-00-00 LO . . 1 TIT ou CIT 89

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It is among the early examples of Caulukya style temple architecture. Its garbhagrha or mulaprasada, gudhamandapa and trikamandapa or mukhamandapa (popularly known as nava-cauki) alone are original, dating back to the eleventh century; the other parts were added in the twelfth century. The trikamandapa in this temple is exquisitely ornate, and its columns resemble those at the Sun Temple at Modhera, as does one of the ksipta-type ceilings. Its two khattakas, 'niches', are the earliest of its kind in Gujarat. From the numerous inscriptions in the Jain temple complex at Dilwara, we gather detailed information about "the founding of these temples, various renovations carried out, additional structures put up and to the installation and consecration of images."6 From the inscriptions one learns that Vimalavasahi was built and dedicated to Adinatha in A.D. 1031-32, that it was renovated in parts, once in 1149 A.D. and again in 1251 A.D., and for the third time in 1321 A.D. and that "a number of subshrines, niches and (single and groups or panels of) idols were installed in different parts of the temple through the centuries." The rangamandapa in the temple was added during the reign of Kumarapala by his minister Prithvipala in 1149 A.D. Some of the vestibule ceilings joining the rangamandapa are indeed architectural masterpieces. The central ceiling of the rangamandapa measures over seven metres in diameter; it is amongst the largest of its kind in any of the temples in Gujarat. Its central pendant, padmasila, is proportionately smaller, as are the ornate columns supporting the magnificent ceiling. This temple is a nirandhara-prasada, which means there is no inner ambulatory in the sanctum. It is located in oblong courtyard of 40 x 23 m, surrounded by a row of 52 devakulikas with a colonnaded corridor. The temple faces east. Outside the entrance of the temple but in the same axis as the sanctum and its three halls is a domed entrance hall, balanaka; adjoining this is a portrait gallery called hastisala. This temple is dedicated to the first tirtharkara Adinatha whose image, in a state of meditation, dhyanamudra, is installed on a pedestal in the garbhagsha. The image is made of white marble and has an ornate frame with five jinas, making it a saparikara pancatirthi image. The present image in the temple, however, is not original; it was installed in 1332 A.D. The ground-plan and the vertical section of the Vimalavasahi temple, it has been suggested, has some of the essential features of the Kesava temple at Somnathpur in Karnataka. The gudhamandapa at Abu corresponds with the central mandapa of the Kesava temple. The garbhagpha at Vimalavasahi 70

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ar SYN was der TAPA * ** GUA " SA FR0 22 7. s. . WA Rangamandapa in the Lunavasahi temple, with dancing and jina figures on the column.

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adjoins the gudhamandapa on the west side, whereas at Somnathpur it is separated from the mandapa by a small vestibule. The south and the north sides of the porches of the gudhamandapa project far forward, giving the ground-plan the form of a cross. Sanavasarana-patti, an assembly of devotees who Guanam Gudhamandapa apa The gudhamandapa of the Vimalavasahi temple is entered through Arthankara preach the doctrine. an ornate door from the front east side, as well as from the north Early 19th century, and the south. The frame on the front door comprises of six moulRajasthan. dings, and is known as satsakha. The lower part of the jambs is Courtesy: Ravi Kumar, The Jain Cosmology decorated by framed figures of four-armed standing vidyadevis, Rohini and Vairotya, accompanied by cauri-bearers and pitcher carriers. The niches show yaksa Sarvanubhuti and yaksi Ambika, 12 A .. SA MERE ta * *** Ag

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WA Lotus flower on a ceiling in north portico in the Lunavasahi temple. 73

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both with four arms, and seated in lalitasana. The gudhamandapa has two images in white marble of tirthankara Parsvanatha standing in kayotsargamudra with hands hanging on both sides. Both of these images were installed in 1351 A.D. Mukhamandapa or Navacauki This small columnar hall, the navacauki, is located in front of the gudhamandapa and is landed from the rangamandapa by three stairways, each comprising three steps. The navacauki is divided into nine bays and each bay contains an ornate ceiling of many different varieties: domical, padmanabha, flat or samatala, domical of the sabhamandaraka order, etc. In the navacauki, on either side of the gudhamandapa door is an ornamental niche called khattaka. Each khattaka has a saparikara image of Adinatha seated in dhyanamudra. In the south bay of the navacauki in Vimalavasahi temple, is a samatala ceiling with a finely carved kalpalata - 'a creeper of wish fulfilment'. In one corner of the relief is a vidyadhara hovering with folded hands. Pitha The pitha 'the member between the ground and the podium' - of the navacauki in Vimalavasahi temple has some very interesting features. On the lateral sides it consists of a plinth decorated with half diamonds, a deep fillet carved with diamonds, a chajjika -'an inverted cyma recta', a grasapatti -'a moulding decorated with kirttimukhas', and a narathara'a moulding decorated with human figures'. The narathara depicts padmasana jina with worshippers, milkmaids churning milk, warriors and fighting scenes. 1 Rangamandapa - 'the danc The dome in the rangamandapa or nrtya-mandapa ing pavilion' - in the Vimalavasahi temple is very ornate and a work of exquisite craftsmanship. Over seven metres in diameter, its height from floor to the apex extends to over nine metres. This kind of dome is known as sabhapadmamandaraka, a composite ceiling consisting of several courses that comprise sabhamarga (a ceiling specially built in the rangamandapa), padmaka (a ceiling where the pendants of the lotus are predominantly shown), and mandaraka (a ceiling consisting of the central pendant of the lotus) elements. The dome is composed of eleven circular courses and a long circular padmasila, the central lotus pendant." The inner face of the first course is decorated with a row of elephants; its underside at eight angles of the octagon and on the slightly projected north and south sides is relieved with creepers. The second course is karanadardarika (a moulding of the ceiling consisting of cyma reverse with arris), topped by a band of kirttimukhas. 74

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The third course represents images of four-armed lalitasana goddesses in projecting niches and attendant figures in alternate recesses. The fourth course is gajatalu (literally 'an elephant's palate'; in architecture, a coffered course in a ceiling decorated with rafters). The fifth course depicts figures of musicians and dancers, and of warriors carrying weapons. The sixth course is again gajatalu. The seventh course is carved with figures of horse-riders. The eighth and the ninth courses consist of thirty-two-foil and twenty-eight-foil kolas (literally, 'pig's tusk'; in architecture, a cusped course in a ceiling decorated with rafters), each foil containing a stamenal tube clasped by one row of petals of the lotus. The tenth course carries images of two-armed standing goddesses Cakresvari and Vajrasrnkhala and figures of cauribearers. The eleventh circular comprises of two circular panels: the outer panel has a band of geese and twelve projecting lumas (decorative motifs of the ceiling consisting of lotus pendants); the inner panel has figures of pitcher bearers. Surrounding the principal pendant of the lotus are twelve smaller pendants or lumas, each one of which resembles a serrated diamond, consisting of an eight-foil reverse kola, an eightfoil normal kola, a long stamenal tube clasped by a band of dancers and musicians, and one row of petals. The central pendant of the lotus, padmasila, consists of two courses of eight-foil and six-foil kolas and a figural band between them representing horse-riders, elephants and a chariot drawn by human figures. Between the kola courses is also placed a reverse gajatalu. From the padmasila issues a long stamenal tube clasped by a band of dancers and musicians and one row of petals. The ornamental domical ceiling of the rangamandapa is supported on an octagonal frame of architraves put across the central pillars; in all there are twelve pillars disposed along the four sides of the square central nave. All the pillars are of the square type, with corners chamfered into three angles. The shaft of the pillars has four sections: square, octagonal, sixteen-sided and circular. The circular section is carved into two belts: the lower belt is carved with figures of sravakas and sravikas carrying water pitchers, warriors, horse-riders, elephants with drivers, gandharvas and vidyadharas, lotus scrolls and diamonds. The upper belt is surmounted by a band of kirttimukhas. 75

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Sixteen vidyadevis in the rangamandapa in the Vimalavashi temple. The sixteen-sided section, to be observed only in two pillars, carries sixteen figures of dancers and musicians. The octagonal section bears eight figures of lalitasana or standing gods or goddesses, and dancers and musicians. The square section carries framed figures of Sarvanubhuti, Sarasvati, yaksa and yaksi, and vidyadevi, all with four arms. The four corners at the base of the dome in the rangamandapa in the Vimalavasahi temple carry four finely carved and significant figures of Jain iconography. Each of these four images is accompanied on both sides by a female cauri-bearer and some other attendant figures. The images in three corners - northwest, southeast and northeast are of three yaksas, and in the fourth of yaksi Ambika. The six-armed yaksa Brahmasanti rides a swan and holds an umbrella and a lotus in the upper two hands, a book and abhayamudra in the middle hands, and varadamudra and a water pot in the lower ones. In the southeast corner, yaksa Kapardi or Isanendra is a tenarmed god in a dancing attitude. He carries a cymbal, suci mudra, an ankusa and varadamudra in the right hands, and abhayamudra, lotus, vajra and cymbal in the left ones. In the northeast corner is yaksa Sarvanubhuti. His mount is elephant, represented beside his right leg, and he holds in his six arms money bags, goad and noose, varadamudra and fruit. A magnificent image of yaksi Ambika, described later in detail, is in the fourth corner; it is amongst the finest images of Ambika anywhere. It has been remarked that the architects of the Vimalavasahi and Lunavasahi temples at Dilwara "reached the limits of what was statically possible in the corbelling of the courses of the low domes"10 above the rangamandapa. The corbel-vaulting, with tiers of concentric rings, "supported only by columns, rises above an octagon consisting of architrave."11 However, such a dome would not be conceivable "as a pure corbelled construction with the lines of force running exclusively in a vertical direction. The easiest solution would have been to use clamps to anchor the slabs of each ring together. If this had been done, the horizontal thrust could have been absorbed without difficulty. Since the temples at Mount Abu are still in use, it has not been possible to verify whether clamps were in fact used."12 It has been suggested by structural engineers that rather than using the clamps, "a large part of the horizontal thrust is absorbed by the joints through frictional resistance. The fact that the dancing pavilion was combined in every direction with the surrounding halls by a network of architraves, although there was no ritual necessity for this, strengthens our hypothesis that this was intended to divert some of the thrust on to other architectural elements."13

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The birth of Krsna in the southwest bay of the rangamandapa in the Lunavasahi. It is one of the finest ceilings in this temple. This ceiling consists of two square courses. The inner face of the first course is carved with a band of leaves and a band of lotus scrolls, while its underside depicts sixteen lamas, each comprising of two rows of eight curved petals and a flower bud in the centre. The second square is samatala, a flat surface, with scenes from the birth of Krsna. The scenes are arranged, one within the other, in four square panels, projected towards the centre

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Low corbelled domes like that at Mount Abu are to be found in Jain temples in many parts of India. The domes are frequently surrounded by spacious pilaster halls, so that the eight columns below the octagonal architrave should not have to bear the thrust alone. To bring the vertical pressure of the dome over the column, torana-arches are thrown between the columns. On each of the lateral sides the rangamandapa is attached by a portico. Each portico comprises of six bays with its roof supported by a row of four pillars placed east-west on the floor of the courtyard. In addition, four squat pilasters placed right above the devakulika columns on the one end and four nave pillars on the other support the roof of the portico. The bays have a variety of ceilings: shallow domical, sabhamandaraka or mandaraka variety, samautksipta of the padmamandaraka variety. These ceilings have elaborate ornamentation and sculptural work, some of much iconographic significance. The Lunavasahi or The Tejahpala Temple By year 1220 A.D. the political power had passed from the Caulukyas to the Vaghelas, whose ministers Vastupala and Tejahpala came to be considered amongst the great builders in the history of Indian art and architecture. The two brothers built well over fifty temples and restored and renovated numerous others. Vastupala built the Vastupala-vihara and Parsvanatha temple at Girnar, Indra-mandapa and six other temples at Satrunjaya, Adinatha temple at Dholaka and Astapada-prasada at Prabhasa. His brother Tejahpala built the Asaraja-viharas at Patan and Junagadh, Neminatha temple at Dholaka, Adinatha temple at Prabhasa and the temples at Khambhat and Dabhoi. He also built temples at Tharad, Karnavati, Godhara, Pavagadh and Navasari. But the most famous, and the most distinguished of them all is the Lunavasahi temple - also known as the Tejahpala Temple - at Mount Abu. This temple is dedicated to the twenty-second tirtharikara Neminatha and was built in 1231 A.D. Like the Vimalavasahi, the sanctum and gudhamandapa of Lunavasahi are plain and have phamsana-roofs. The general plan of this temple is similar to the Vimalavasahi, but the entrance porch, balanka, is absent here and the hastisala is built at the back of the temple, thus removing all devakulikas on the east side of the temple. The temple is entered from the west and the main deity faces west. Inside the sanctum is a saparikara image in black stone of tirtharkara Neminatha installed on a high moulded pedestal made of white marble.

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Mukhamandapa or Navacauki As in the Vimalavasahi temple, there are nine bays in the navacauki in the Lunavasahi temple. Each of these bays has a highly ornamental ceiling, some of them of extraordinary elegance, cut with the delicacy of an ivory carver. Composed of a square padmasila and three rectangular courses, the ceiling in the central bay is ksiptotksipta, 'a composite ceiling of several elements', of the padmamandaraka mode. The three courses project thirty, twenty-two and fourteen lumas respectively. The ceiling is raised up by a rectangular frame of four slabs slightly projecting into the space of the ceiling. The underside of these slabs is carved with half lotuses with stalks. This ceiling is a work of commanding beauty. Consisting of seven courses and a circular padmasila, the domical ceiling in the northwest bay is of sabhamandaraka variety. The faces of the various courses are decorated with lotus scrolls, kirttimukhas, and lotus petal-and-bud ornaments. In this ceiling the petals and buds are cut with an exquisite delicacy. A breathtaking display of full, half and quarter lumas in the four corners, the centre and four cardinal points makes this ceiling in the northeast bay of the navacauki in Lunavasahi temple an outstanding achievement. This kind of ceiling is known as a ksipta vitana belonging to a nabhicchanda order; this ceiling is amongst the best of its kind. Consisting of seven receding courses, this ceiling in the south bay is masterly in its treatment of the various decorative elements and icons. Its various courses are decorated with lotus petals and scrolls, kirttimukhas, campaka flowers, and lotus petal-and-bud motifs. The twenty-four tirthankaras are shown seated in dhyanamudra. In the navacauki, flanking the gudhamandapa door are two ornamental niches, khattakas. Jinas, Santinatha on the right and Sambhavanatha on the left, in dhyanamudra are seated in the niches. Rangamandapa As in Vimalavasahi, the rangamanqapa in Lunavasahi consists of twelve pillars disposed along the four sides of a square platform. Eight of these pillars form an octagon and support a highly ornate domical ceiling. The domical ceiling in the rangamandapa is of sabhapadmamandaraka type, with a commanding central lotus pendant - the padmasila. The ceiling is a work of overwhelming beauty, elegant proportions and rich ornamentation. The dome is almost three metres in radius, and consists of ten circular courses. ti flanking the Santinatha on seated in the

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The inner face of the first course displays a kapota decorated with a band of leaves and caitya-arches at intervals, a deep fillet carved with diamonds, and a figural band representing sravakas. The second course, slightly projected into the space of the dome, is rupapattika, a figural belt, decorated with images of the ascetics. Behind their heads is a band carved with diamonds. The third course is karnadardarika, a moulding, embellished with stencilled lotus petals and surmounted by a row of projecting leaves and a strip of diamonds. The fourth course is rupakantha, another figural belt, representing seventy-two figures of jinas seated in dhyanamudra. . 6. . A S - ." .. Eight vidylldevis in a domical ceiling in south portico in the Vimalavaadhi temple. 80

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The fifth course is gajatalu underlined by a band of garland loops filled with plumes and carrying pairs of geese on their outer edges, surmounted by a strip of diamonds. The sixth course consists of gajatalus as well but is topped by a band of leaves and a strip of stepped diamonds. The seventh course is again gajatalu surmounted by a band of leaves and a strip of lozenges. The eighth course consists of sixteen whorls of kola; its triangular spaces are occupied by kirttimukhas. The ninth course displays twenty-four projecting lumas; between the lumas are placed small lotus flowers. The tenth course consists of twenty-four foil kolas. In the centre of each foil is represented a small lotus flower, while between the foils on the outer edge are inserted lotus buds. In the dome, in the fourth course project out sixteen bracket figures of six-armed vidyadharas playing on various musical instruments, or carrying fly-whisk, garland or lotus, or standing in some dance postures. These bracket figures support a complete set of sixteen vidyadevis. 81 A domical ceiling in the portico in the Lunavasahi temple. Shaped like a lotus, it has several courses and a pendant.

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The padmasila, 'the central pendant of the lotus', consists of seven courses of thirty-two-foil kola each and a padmakesara, 'the stamenal tube inserted into the ceiling', clasped by two rows of petals and a band of dancers and musicians. The padmakesara ends in a flower bud. Built on the principle of coradial regression, the padmasila is made up of one solid block and looks like a cluster of lotuses. The four corners formed at the base of the dome in the rangamandapa have some interesting sculptural pieces. The triangular space in the northwest corner is narrowed by two triangular courses. The lower course consists of a lotus decorated with stencilled lotus petals and crowned by a band of ardhapadma, 'half-lotus', pattern. The upper course is decorated with a row of campaka flowers. The corner in the southwest direction also consists of triangular courses, but here the upper course projects over the lower. The inner course of the lower course is adorned with lotus scrolls, while its underside depicts a row of campaka flowers. The inner face of the upper course is carved with gajatalu, while its underside is incised with foliate scrolls. In the northeast corner is an image of an eight-armed god with attendants. He carries a trisula, a lotus and a fruit in the right hands, and a spear and a varadaksa in the left hands; other arms are damaged. A boar and a lion are shown near the legs of the god. In the southeast corner is an image of yaksa Brahmasanti flanked on both sides by attendants carrying a pitcher, a flag and a garland. The six-armed god carries a lotus and a ladle in the upper pair of hands, abhayamudra and vajra in the middle, and varadaksa and pitcher in the lower ones. He wears a beard and has a swan as his vahana. Attached to the rangamandapa, and supported by a row of twelve pillars, are open porticos on three sides. These twelve pillars are of two types: square and octagonal. Of the two squaretype pillars, the base consists of bhitta, khura, kumbha decorated with udgama pattern, kalasa, antarapatra and kapota underlined with leaves. The shaft of the pillars is divided into four sections: square, octagonal, sixteen-sided and circular. Some parts of the shaft are plain, others are decorated with miniature sikharas, lotus petals, diamonds, and kirttimukhas. Of the ten octagonal-type pillars, the base consists of two bhittas, a khura, a kumbha decorated with half diamonds, a kalasa, an antarapatra, and a kapota adorned with caityaarch ornament. The shaft of this type of pillars is octagonal at the base, sixteen sided in the middle and circular at the top. 82

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Basal corner in the rangamandapa in the Vimalavasahi temple, an image of vaksa Brahmasanti. The six-armed god holds an umbrella and a lotus in the upper two hands, book and abhayamudra in the middle hands, and varadamudra and water pot in the lower ones His mount is a swan.

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Again, some parts of the pillars are plain, and others are decorated with lotus petals, kirttimukhas, miniature sikharas and diamonds. Each portico is divided into six bays supported by the pillars of the rangamandapa on one side, and the pillar-capitals placed right above the devakulika pillars on the other; in the middle they are supported by the pillars of the portico itself. The space between the pillar-capitals in the central bay of the south portico is decorated with sculptural panel, depicting Gaja-Laksmi in the centre and a Kinnara-couple and a sculpted niche on each side. On either side of the panel is a fine sculpture of a swan with a human rider carrying a water pot. In the west portico, goddess Ambika, with four arms and in lalitasana, flanked on each side by dancers and musicians, is depicted. Each bay has an ornate ceiling supported on rectangular or square frame of architraves. In the southern portico the description of the six ceilings is as follows: The ceiling in the northeast bay is samautksipta - a composite of flat and projecting elements of the mandaraka variety. Square on plan it consists of two courses, first octagonal and the second, twelve-sided, with flat central area. The inner face of the first is decorated with diamonds, while its underside on each corner depicts a kirttimukha in an arch of creepers issuing forth from its mouth. The second, accommodated in gajatalu, represents mandaraka, lotus ceiling, elements in three concentric circles. A work of exquisite beauty, this ceiling is carved in high relief, with lotus represented in most fascinating detail. On page 84 Celling in the southwest bay in the navacauki in the Lunavasahi temple. It is a do mical ceiling of the sabhapadmamandaraka variety. On the two slabs defining the ceiling are carved rows of lotus flowers with stalks and a band of lotus petals. The ceiling is composed of six courses and a circular padmadila. Each one of the four corners is occupied by a fine image of Gaja-Laksmi seated in padmasana on a throne supported by ele phants. The eight-armed goddess is flanked on each side by an elephant carrying water pot in its trunk. Two men are sitting on the ele water pots. A group of thirty-two dancers on a ceiling in the west portico of the rangamandapa in the Lunavasahi temple. The ceiling phant; they are also carrying consists of two circular courses and a large circular ceiling slab. The first course is octagonal and it depicts geese and a kirttimukha at each corner. On the projected part of the second course stand and elegance, the celling is A work of originality the only one of its kind in the Dilwara temples. The domical ceiling in the north bay has figures of two jinas in dhyanamudra. It consists of four courses and a central pendant. The inner face of the first course is decorated with a row of geese, while its underside at each corner depicts a kirttimukha in an arch of creepers issuing forth from its mouth. The other three courses consist of padmas, each carved with lotus petal-and-bud motif. The pendant represents an open campaka flower comprising two rows of petals. The ceiling in the southeast bay consists of two square courses, the first projecting into space of the ceiling and the second occupying the central area. The ceiling in the northwest bay is square on plan. It depicts nine very slightly projecting lumas in three lines of three each. 85

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32 S Cering AB . HOW A ceiling in the west portico in the lunavasshi temple. It consists of two courses and a large circular ceiling slab. Thirty-two female dancers are shown on one of its projected courses, there is also a row of campuka flowers on its underside The flat surface of the circular slab shows a full-blown lotus flower with two rows of petals Each of the petals in occupied by a dancer. The samatala cejling shows 102 campaka flower arranged east-west in six rows of seventeen flowers each. The panel depicts goddess Ambika with five attendants and dancets on each side. She holds a child on her left knee

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thirty-two dancers. The flat surface of the circular slab displays a full-blown lotus flower, with two rows of petals, one with twelve petals and the other with twenty-four. Each of these petals is occupied by a dancer. It is a delicate work, exquisitely created. A group of dancers and musicians is depicted on a ceiling in the west portico of the rangamanqapa of the Lunavasahi temple. The ceiling is domical of the sabhamandaraka order. The inner face of the square frame placed over the architraves depicts figures of dancers and musicians. The ceiling is composed of three courses and a circular padmasila. Campaka flowers are carved on a samatala ceiling in the west portico of the rangamandapa of the Lunavasahi temple. The flowers are arranged in six rows of seventeen flowers each. The spaces between the flowers are occupied by concave-sided diamonds. There are forty-eight devakulikas on all sides of the temple except the east. They are screened by two arcades of pillars, forming thus two bays in front of each devakulika. In front of one of the devakulikas, the square samatala ceiling is divided into nine compartments. The cardinal compartments are relieved with images of lalitasana vidyadevis, two with four arms and two with six arms. The other compartments depict fullblown lotus flowers with two rows of petals. The corners are filled with kirttimukhas. 87

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Goddess Cakresvari, seated in lalitasana, on a corridor ceiling in the Vimalavasahi temple On her either side are cauri-bearers

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. Str AN . re Ande RE *** * * An eight-armed yaksa in the northeast corner of the rangamandapa in the Lunavasahi temple. He is accompanied by several female attendants. He carries lotus, trisala and fruit in the right hands, and a spear and vardaksa in the left hands; his three hands are broken.

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The samatala ceiling in the corridor depicts in a circle eight images of four-armed standing vidyadevis interspersed with pair of devotees. At each corner of the square is a creeper-medallion. In the centre of the panel is a full-blown lotus flower.

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"We Do Wo. 1939 WARKANOMAT Prtha in the Lunavasahi temple. Notes 1. Miller, B.S. Ed. Exploring India's Sacred Art, p. 20. 2. Ghosh, A. Ed. Jaina Art and Architecture, vol. I, pp. 5-6. 3. Amar, G. 'Architectural Traditions and Canons', p. 494. 4. For a comprehensive discussion, see: Deva, K. 'West India: Caulukya Temples', pp. 33-306. 5. For a historical and architectural description of the Jain temples in West ern India, see: Singh, H. Jaina Temples of Western India. 6. Jaina Art and Architecture, p. 446. 7. Ibid. 8. Volwahsen, A. Living Architecture: Indian, p. 150. 9. For a detailed architectural and iconographic description of these temples, I have relied very extensively on the most comprehensive study by Singh, H., op. cit. 10. Volwahsen, A., op. cit., p. 177. 11. Ibid. 12. Ibid. 13. Ibid.

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The Adisvara temple, Ranakpur .

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Chapter V The Temple at Ranakpur An Architectural Splendour The magnificent temple at Ranakpur in Mewar is dedicated to the first tirthankara Adinatha, or Adisvara or Yugadisvara. The temple is designed as caumukha - with four faces and is indisputably the finest example of its kind. Situated in a valley, this complex stands out among a number of Jain shrines at a place considered to be one of the five sacred sites in Mewar. An inscription on a pillar close to the entrance of its main shrine records that in 1439 A.D. Deepaka, an architect, constructed the building to the order of Dharanka, a devoted Jain. From a reference in the inscription to Rana Kumbha (1438-68), the great king of Chitor, it appears that the Rana was the source of inspiration and support for the erection of this grand temple. Spread over an area of 3,716 square metres, comprising twenty-nine halls and four hundred and twenty pillars of which no two are alike--the caumukha temple is indeed a monumental work. The Adievara temple, Ranakpur.

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. LO 12 . . External icons and structures in the Adisvara temple, Ranakpur + . AN War TANT ED

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SH 31 2011 : . or gotypy External view of the structure over the garbhagrha of the Adisvara temple, Ranakpur.

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Sew 3:38 - Rangamandapa of the Adisvara temple, Ranakpur, north side

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Parsvanatha with a thousand-hooded serpent accom panied by nagini cauri-bearers and yaksis in the coils of the serpent there are many naginis. Adisvara temple, Ranakpur.

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ANCE ZA An elephant paying homage to the deity, west gate, the Adrevara temple, Ranakpur. It may be noted that a typical Jain sculpture, sarvatobhadrika pratima, with four faces, is called caumukhi. The earliest example of such a sculpture, with a square shaft and a jina figure on each face, comes from Mathura. The concept of caumukhi, however, is not unknown to the Buddhists or the Hindu sculptors. The miniature Buddhist stupas sometimes bear representations of Buddha and Buddhist deities in niches on its four sides. Even the Great Stupa at Sanchi was given something of a caumukhi appearance by the installation of the Buddha image on each side. On page 98 Dome of the rangamandape In the west hall in the Adesvan temple, Ranakpur.

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Dome, with 12 vidyadevis and a kinnara couple in the Adisvara temple, Ranakpur. Dome, with images of Ganesa, vidyadevis, musicians and dancers, in the south rangamandapa in the Adievara temple, Ranakpur. LJ poor

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Dome of the rangamandapa in the north hall in the Adisvara temple, Ranakpur.

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The plan for the caumukha temple, though complex, is not cumbersome. When seen from the centre, from the square sanctum with a quadruple image of the deity, a geometrical elegance is evident. Since the temple is built on westerly hill-slope, along its western facade, the jagati or the adhisthana had to be made very high. On top and at the centre of the platform, which is terraced inside, the garbhagrha -square sanctum is located with its four openings, each through one of the four walls. Each of these openings of the sanctum leads to a rangamandapa dancing hall, which, in turn, is connected with a twostoreyed mandapa, and across this mandapa to an impressive portal, also double-storeyed, called balana or nalimandapa as it covers the stairway. -the The wall that surrounds the rectangular courtyard covering an area of 60 x 62 m, exclusive of the projections of each side, appears to be the main feature of the exterior, for it forms the chief elevational aspect from the outside. Along this boundary wall, facing the inner rectangle, is a long row of eighty-six devakulikas, they serve as chapels for minor deities. From the outside, above the outwork of the elevated wall, one sees an array of small tur The Adievara temple, Ranakpur.

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Kaliyadaman: Krsna dancing on the head of serpent Kaliya, on a ceiling in the Adisvara temple, Ranakpur. rets surmounting these chapels. Beyond them are the five sikharas, of which the largest and the most prominent tops the central sanctuary. Four others surround a corner-shrine each, and twenty cupolas each provide a roof over a pillared hall. Access to the enclosed rectangle is made through any of the double-storeyed portals of great elegance in the middle of three walls. Of these portals the largest one is on the west, establishing it clearly as the main entrance. Each of these entrances leads through a series of columned courts and pillared halls, and to the central square sanctum. The sanctum occupies the middle of the complex composition on a raised rectangular court, measuring 29.0 x 30.5 m, with four pillared halls on all four sides. The interior of the shrines shows a cruciform chamber with caumukha marble image. 104

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IN 46 nim 22 FA CRA 16 Pillars in the Adisvara temple, Ranakpur, no two of which are alike

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The grand Adisvara temple at Ranakpur arouses many responses: of awe, of complexity, of grandeur. In this temple there are many carvings and sculptural pieces, created with overwhelming skill and artistry. But it is the totality of the vision that inspires one. In his History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, James Fergusson observes: "The immense number of parts in the building, and their general smallness, prevents it from laying claim to anything like architectural grandeur, but their variety, their beauty of detail - no two pillars in the whole building being exactly alike the grace with which they are arranged, the tasteful admixture of domes of different heights with flat ceilings and the mode in which the light is introduced, combine to produce an excellent effect. Indeed, I know of no other building in India of the same class, that leaves so pleasing an impression, or affords so many hints for the graceful arrangement of columns in an interior."2 The caumukha design at Ranakpur left a great impact on temple architecture in Rajasthan and Gujarat for many decades and centuries that followed. At Mount Abu, amongst the Dilwara group of temples, in 1459 A.D. a caumukha dedicated to tirthankara Parsvanatha was created. Another caumukha temple was constructed in 1681 within the Karalavaski-Tuk of the great temple-city on the Satrunjaya mountain near Palitana. Notes 1. For a comprehensive description of the temple, see Ghosh, A. Ed. Jaina Art and Architecture, pp. 357-65. 2. p. 137. 106

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Chapter VI Feminine Mystique Goddesses in Jain Temples siMhArUDhA'mbikA pItA mluNbinaagpaashkm| akuzaJca tathA putraM tathA hstessvnukrmaat|| Yellow of colour, Ambika rides a lion. She holds a bunch of mangoes, a goad, a serpent-noose and a child. -ROpamandana Vi, 19 1 he eleventh century Vimalavasahi temple is dedicated to tirtharkara Neminatha. But Neminatha's presence here, as of tirtharikaras in other Jain temples, is very subdued. Instead, it is his 'nature-spirit' yaksi Ambika, known as 'little mother' in many parts of India, who fills this temple with the mystique of the feminine. A magnificent sculpture depicting Ambika in all her splendour forms one of the four basal corners in the rangamandapa of this temple. Seated in lalitasana on her lion mount, the four-armed goddess holds bunches of mangoes, shooting forth like stems of lotus, in her three hands and a child in the fourth. Cauri-bearers stand on her either side. There is an exquisite sense of contentment on her face, making it certainly amongst the most beautiful images of Ambika anywhere in India. In the marble beam defining the basal corner is carved a kalpalata, 'a creeper fulfilling all wishes'. Ambika, symbolically, is also kalpalata and kamana devi, 'a goddess that fulfils all wishes'. The temple of Vimalayasahi, though dedicated to Neminatha, is in fact a celebration of the fecundity of Ambika; she represents the power of birth and rebirth, of generation and regeneration, at all levels of life, spiritual and physical alike. Her sensuous and contented presence in this temple, as also of goddesses Cakresvari, Laksmi, Sarasvati, the sixteen vidyadevis, 'goddesses of knowledge' and scores of sensuous dancers, fills the temple with a certain heavenly fragrance.

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A patta with an image of jina and twenty-four images of a woman with child, possibly Ambika, or mothers of the 24 tirthankaras, the Adisvara temple, Ranakpur. Close-up of col. picture on page 109. 143

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Basal corner in the rangamandapa in the Vimalavasahi temple, figure of Ambika, seated in lalitasana on her lion mount. The four-armed goddess holds bunches of mango tree in her three hands and a child in the fourth. On the marble beam delineating the corner is carved a kalpavalli, 'a creeper that fulfils all wishes'.

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In numerous ways, this fragrance and mystique of the feminine permeates all temples in India. "The most magnificent temple and the most inconspicuous village shrine", writes Maury, "do not differ on their emphasis of the Feminine, but merely in the numerical and artistic elaboration of its depictions. The same intensity that has molded the otherworldly mood and suggestion of the celebrated sanctuaries of Khajuraho, Konark and Bhubaneshwar equally dominate their less familiar counterparts everywhere. Whether as a companion of a canonical deity, or as a member of a merrymaking group of supernaturals; whether as a lonely dancer or a musician disclosing her charms, or as the gracefully sinuous guardian of the gate; whether voluptuously enlivening a pillar, or upholding its capital; whether enchanting the beholder from rows of recessed niches along a temple's circumference, or from circles of high reliefs surrounding its lofty cupola, the countenance of the earlier yaksi wields her inescapable magic. The individual figure may be called surasundari or apsara, devika or mohini, yogini or nayika, it is always an embodiment of the Feminine, in its sensuous loveliness perpetuating the immemorial nature of the lotus goddess, giving contour to the physical fertility and psychic desire that are the promise of eternal regeneration." The Indian temple -- Jain, Buddhist or Hindu - is a synthesis of many symbols. "By their superposition, repetition, proliferation and amalgamation," writes Kramrisch, "its total meaning is formed ever anew.... The vivifying Germ (garbha) and the Embryo of splendour (Hiranyagarbha) are within the walls of the Garbhagsha and have their images in the construction of the temple." In the elaborate architecture of the Indian temple, all other buildings within the sacred precinct are accessory and subservient to the garbhagrha, the womb. This is the sanctum sanctorum; this is where the presiding deity of the temple resides. Symbolically, this is the centre of creation and of birth; this is where the sacred 'seed' dwells; this is where the fruition takes place. The seed, bindu, according to Tantrism, is "an unlimited entity, the productive point of potentiality....the empirical substance that can transform a man into godlike being." The image of bindu is central to the Indian spiritual thought as it is to many others.. Again and again, in art, myth and iconography, this thought finds an exquisite expression: In an eighteenth century painting of Guler school, Visnu lies on the coils of a thousandhooded serpent inside the Golden Egg, floating in the Cosmic Ocean. In another painting of the same period, two Manipuri dancers dance within an egg creating the dance of life. Hiranyagarbha - 'Embryo of Splendour' _ is portrayed as an egg encompassing the universe. In the Elephanta Caves, Ardha- narisvara -- Siva as half-man, half-woman - dances the Cosmic dance celebrating the words of Lao-Tzu: 110

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One who has man's wings And a woman's also Is himself a womb of the world Continuously, endlessly giving birth. - Lao Tzu lmost all aspects of Jain iconography, art and ritual, in one way or another, are connected with panca maha kalyanaka, 'five great events', in the life of every tirtharkara. Of these, the first is garbha kalyanaka, 'the event of the embryo'. In case of the twenty-fourth tirtharikara Mahavira, it relates to the transfer of Mahavira as embryo from the womb of Brahmani Sunanda to a more propitious womb, that of Ksatriyani Trisala of the royal family. This was accomplished by Naigamesin, an attendant of Indra; he is a goat-headed, pot-bellied deity, and has a special place in the Svetambara tradition of Jainism. According to the Jain legend, Sakra himself brought the infant tirthankara to the top of Mount Meru, the mountain of gods, for the divine bath. Joining a host of nymphs, the 'Lord of Celestials' rejoiced and danced Indra and Ajatasatru, a great ruler on earth and a contemporary of Mahavira, waved the cauri before the tirtharkara. The legend of the transfer of the embryo by Naigamesin is narrated in the context of Mahavira. However, it is associated with all other tirtharkaras as well. In turn, this great event, 'the event of the embryo', is ritualistically reenacted on special occasions in the Svetambara temples, and is a subject of many paintings. The importance of birth as an act of new creation, and notion of abundance, wish-fulfilment and fecundity are basic to the Indian concept of a goddess, whether Hindu, Buddhist or Jain, and "accounts for much of the voluptuousness of the female form, both divine and human, in Indian sculpture." The 'little mother'. Ambika is the most popular of the Jain yaksis; like the Hindu goddess Durga, she rides a lion, and is often compared to her. According to a Svetambara legend, Ambika was thrown out of her house by her husband for bringing dishonour to the family by offering to a Jain monk the food cooked for Brahmans. Dejected, she went into a forest and sat under a mango tree with her two sons. The power of her virtue, however, transformed the tree into a kalpavsksa, 'a wishing tree', giving her and the children all they wished for. A dry tank nearby always overflowed with water whenever she went near it. 111

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Exchange of embryos; Queen Trisala recounting the auspicious dreams to the king; Kalpasutra; paper; ca. 1439 A.D., Marwar. Courtesy: National Museum, New Delhi. JOIN Angered at the treatment of Ambika by her husband, the gods burned to the ground the village where she had lived; the only house that remained unaffected was her own. So the word spread that it was the wife's saintliness that had saved the building. The Brahmans now begged for the same food which they had earlier spurned as impure, and her husband felt sad and remorseful. The husband decided then to look for his wife and ask for her forgiveness. However, when the repenting husband approached her, fearing that he meant more harm, she jumped into a well with her sons. They all died. Later she was reborn as a goddess, a yaksi of tirthankara Neminatha. Her husband was born as a lion, whom she rode as her mount. The two sons were initiated by Neminatha. In Jain iconography, Ambika is often shown with four arms standing or seated under a mango tree, or with a bunch of mangoes hanging over her. She holds a child in her lap, and a lion sits at her feet. Worship of Ambika is very old, and images and temples of Ambika have been consecrated at many places in India. There is also a large number of Ambika images in various museums in the country. 112

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O 4 ? . Ambika, with a child in her lap and a bough of mangoes, 12th century, Belur.

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One of the finest and most complex images of Ambika is a tenth century relief, now in the museum at Mathura. The goddess sits in ardhaparyanka posture, holding one child on her lap and another standing near her. She is flanked on either side by a camaradhara, Ganesa and Kubera. On the sides of the tirthankara Neminatha are Krsna as Visnu and Balarama; according to the Jain tradition, all three Krsna, Balarama and Neminatha belonged to the same family. The upper part also shows four more divine figures in flying-postures. At the bottom are eight female devotees. This relief is an important icon showing a fusion of Jain and Hindu concepts. - In the Jain caves at Ellora, in the Indra Sabha complex, there is a beautiful image of Ambika; this has been described by one critic as "the loveliest woman in Ellora....indeed, her coquetry, pride of beauty and elegance have few equals in Indian art."" - Ambika is also depicted in Lunavasahi on the ceilings in the north and the south bays. She is flanked on each side by dancers and a female cauri-bearer. The six-armed goddess is seated in lalitasana on her lion mount. She carries amralumbi in her five arms, while in her sixth arm she holds a child. Ambika, dancers and lovers in mithuna, with tirthankara Neminatha in dhyanamudra in the Parsvanatha temple, Ranakpur. There is an image of two-armed yaksi Ambika on a corridor ceiling in the Lunavasahi temple. She sits in lalitasana on her lion mount. She carries amralumbi in one hand and holds a child in her lap with the other. On either side of her is represented a tree motif below which stand an aradhaka, 'a devotee', with folded hands. Leda 114

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A panel with dancers as part of a domical ceiling depicting a lotus, in the south bay in the Lunavasahi temple. 115

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*

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ht . . Goddess Acchupta seated in Lalitisana on her horse mount, on a corridor ceiling in the Vimalavasthi temple. The sixteen-armed goddess is accompanied on each side by a cauri-bearer. Above her are hovering vidyddharas showering abhiseka water on the goddess or playing music. Below is seen a band of lotus scrolls that issue from the mouth of a kirtimukha carved in the centre.

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Sarasvati Goddess of Arts and Culture Sarasvati is white-complexioned, clad in white garments, and rides a swan mount. Adorned with a halo she sits on a white lion-throne. She has four arms: the two left hands hold a white lotus and a vina, lute, and the two right hands a book and a rosary. - Acarddinakard In a bay of north portico adjoining the rangamandapa in the Vimalavasahi temple, there is an image of four-armed goddess Sarasvati in lalitasana. On her either side, with folded hands stand two bearded men, one architect Loyana and the other sculptor Kela, with a measuring rod. In her hands, the goddess holds a lotus, a book, varadaksa and a pitcher; her mount swan is shown below the pitcher. Sutradhara Loyana is believed to be the chief architect of the rangamandapa, and Kela its chief sculptor. On top of the panel are two hovering vidyadharas, 'carriers of knowledge', with garlands. It is befitting that both the architect and the sculptor pay homage to Sarasvati, the goddess of learning and the arts, for all over India she is greatly venerated by the Hindus, the Buddhists and the Jains alike. As the source of inspiration for all artistic and creative ex- cellence, Sarasvati is manifest wherever human culture and civilisation blossom, inspiring and embodying human creativity in all its rich diversity. In the Hindu mythologies, Sarasvati is sometimes associated with Brahma both as his daughter and as his wife, and at other times with Visnu as Pusti, one of his consorts. Sarasvati is known by many names: Jagatmata, 'mother of the world'; Saktirupini, 'whose form is power or sakti'; Visvarupa, 'containing all forms within her'. Sarasvati's character as the inspiration and embodiment of culture endows her with such cos- mic characteristics "As the reality....that permits or inspires the beauty and grace manifest in the arts, that has enabled human beings to achieve an almost godlike nature in the physical world as its masters and moulders, the goddess of culture comes to be extolled or equated with the highest powers of the cosmos." On pages 116-117 Sixteen-armed goddess Sarasvati seated in latitisana on a corridor ceiling in the Vimalavasihi temple. She holds, amongst other things, a lotus, conch, vina, varadamudrl, abhayamudra, book and a pitcher. To her right is a six-armed male dancer and on her left a sixarmed drummer. Below is a band depicting a goat, a boar, etc. On the top there is a sculptural panel depicting Gaja-Laksmi in the centre and four male divirutles in riches on her each side.

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The Jains have given a special place to Sarasvati in their pantheon as head of the Sruta-devatas and the Vidyadevis, and she is known to them by many names: Srutadevi, Sarada, Vagisvari. As Srutadevi she presides over the sruta, the preaching of the tirtharikaras. Sarasvati is depicted in Jain art - miniature paintings, bronze and stone images with two, four or eight arms. In Svetambara images, as in her other depictions, she rides a swan; in Digambara art and icons, she rides a peacock. Her traditional attributes are the lotus, the vina, the book, and the rosary. These are sometimes replaced by a kamandu. 'water pot', the varada, or abhayamudra, or the noose. In some images of Sarasvati, a miniature jina figure appears over her head distinguishing them from her Hindu images. Purity and transcendence are the most predominant attributes associated with Sarasvati. She is believed to be pure white like the snow, the moon or the kunda flower, shining brilliantly like a thousand moons. This is also expressed in her mount, the swan; all spiritual masters who have transcended the delusions of the phenomenal world are called paramahansa, 'sublime swan'. "Her realm is one of beauty, perfection and grace; it is a realm created by artistic inspiration, philosophic insight, and accumulated knowledge, which has enabled human beings to so refine their natural world that they have been able to transcend its limitations. Sarasvati astride her swan beckons human beings to continued cultural creations and civilized perfection."10 The Jains and Hindus celebrate festivals honouring Sarasvati especially at jnana pancami in the month of kartika, and on sruta pancami in the month of jyestha. Special hymns are sung in her honour, and all instruments of creation - of music, writing, painting - and books and gurus are especially worshipped on these occasions. In a corridor ceiling in the Vimalavasahi temple, there is an image of sixteen-armed goddess Sarasvati sitting in lalitasana. She holds a lotus, a danda, a noose, a conch, vina, varadamudra, abhayamudra and a lotus in the right set of hands, and a lotus, vina, another musical instrument, a goad, a fruit, abhayamudra with aksamala, a book and a pitcher in the left set of hands. On either side of the figure are a six-armed dancer and a drummer. Below the image is a figural band depicting a goat, a boar, etc. Above the image is a sculptural panel depicting GajaLaksmi in the centre and four divinities on her both sides.

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Goddess Sarasvati, 16th century, Rumtek monastery, Sikkim. Here Sarasvati is sitting on a lotus, and is also holding a lotus in her left hand. In a corridor ceiling in Lunavasahi, there is another image of Sarasvati. Here the six-armed goddess holds a lotus, a cymbal and varadaksa in the right hands, and vina, a cymbal and a book in the left hands. Her prominent symbol of cognizance, swan, is shown below her right folded leg. 121

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Laksmi on a south portico ceiling in the Vimalavasahi temple. The ceiling is shallow domucal consisting of four circular courses The fourth course is flat and has a graceful image of four-armed Gaja-Laksmi, seated in padmasana on a pedestal supported by stemmed lotus and water vases. In upper hands, she holds lotus plants, with elephants engraved in them, her lower hands are in dhyanamudra. Two caur bearers stand on her either side, and two vidyadharas hover in the upper section with garlands (Detail: Laksmi of picture on page 40).

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Sri Laksmi Goddess of Fecundity Then she (Trisala, mother of the tirthankara) ...saw the goddess of famous beauty, Sri, on the top of Mount Himavat, reposing on a lotus in the Lotus Lake, anointed with the water from the large and powerful trunks of the guardian elephants. -Kalpasutrali Laksmi, the goddess of prosperity and beauty, is a popular figure amongst the Hindus and the Jains alike. She is known by many names: Padma, Kamala, Indira --the lotus one', and Sri'the beautiful one'. In the Vedas, the goddess Laksmi is praised as padma sambhava - 'lotus born', padmaksi - 'lotus N3 2296 Detail: Lakpm in the southwest bay in the navacauld in the Lunavaadhi temple.

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eyed', padma-malini - 'adorned with lotus garlands', padma priya 'to whom the lotus is dear'. She has even been called as 'the one who reveals the nature of the lotus'. Laksmi, 'the lotus goddess', is the embodiment of beauty and splendour, of dignity and glory, of good fortune and wealth, of graciousness and prosperity. She is certainly the most popular and venerated deities in India. Her auspicious nature and her reputation as representing Kamana devi, 'the goddess that fulfils all wishes', attracts devotees everywhere. "All of India's back country is the dominion of Laksmi, the goddess of the lotus...She accompanies every mile travelled through central India, every visit to a temple... Her likenesses are omnipresent on the walls and pillars, lintels and niches of sanctuaries, regardless of the deity of their specific dedication.""2 In Kalpasutra, cited above, there is a reference to her appearing to the mother of tirthankara Mahavira in an auspicious dream, foretelling her about his birth. In Jain and Hindu art and icons, Laksmi (or Sri) appears generally with four hands; she holds lotuses in two hands, and in other two, she has either a kalasa (vase) or a citron, or they are shown in varada or abhayamudra or resting in the lap, with palms crossed, in the posture of meditation. Gaja-Laksmi 'Laksmi with the elephants showering her with rain' has its association with Indra riding an elephant and bringing down the rain to fertilise the earth. - The goddess Laksmi is also depicted in a similar form among the dream symbols in the centre of the door lintels of temples and domestic shrines. In a bay ceiling in south portico adjoining the rangamandapa in the Vimalavasahi temple, the four-armed goddess Gaja-Laksmi is seated in padmasana on a pedestal supported by stemmed lotus and water vases. She holds lotus plants with elephants in the upper hands; her lower hands are in dhyanamudra. On top of the panel are two hovering vidyadharas bearing garlands. On the gateways at Sanchi, Laksmi is depicted at several places. At one place she is shown standing on a full-blossomed lotus with folded hands, while two elephants, standing on the lotuses springing from the same spray, shower water over her from upturned jars held in their trunks. On the middle section of the front architrave of the southern gateway at Sanchi, 1st century B.C., Laksmi stands on a fully blossomed lotus in her right hand, being anointed by two Paravanatha temple, elephants, standing on two lotuses. On page 125 Dancers and musicians, the Ranakpur. 124

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" Ban Qiu Qi Shi "-Autory ress | Liao Bu Zou ?" Shi . F . : { " " 4 Nian Er

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Cakresvari Golden-coloured, seated on a garuda, with one right arm in the varada position and the others holding an arrow, a disc and a goad, originated in that congregation and became the Lord's messenger deity. -Trisastisalakapurusacaritra1 Cakresvari akresvari is a popular yaksi amongst the Jains whose images on the pedestal of the first tirthankara Rsabhanatha as well as on her own are seen amongst many sculptures in the Jain temples. The images of Cakresvari, according to Svetambara tradition, are mainly four and eight-armed. According to Digambara tradition, however, she is shown with two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve, sixteen or even twenty arms. In these images she is depicted bearing various articles, one of which is always some variation of cakra, a disc. She is also always shown riding a garuda. In painted illustrations she is shown with golden complexion, holding two Goddess Cakresvart, seated in lalitiaana, on a corridor celling in the Vimalavasihi temple. On her either side are court-bearers (Close-up of picture on page 88).

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Mo A samatala corridor ceiling in the Lunavasahi temple, with four goddesses seated in lalitasana, two four-armed and two six-armed. The fourarmed goddesses are identified as as and Manavi, and the other two a as Manas! and Gaurl. The centre of the ceiling has full-blown lotus, with two rows of petals, and four kirttimukhas in the corners. cakras in her upper hands and a fruit in one of the lower, and making varadamudra with the other. There are many variations of the image of Cakresvari. An eleventh century image, now in Deogarh Museum in Uttar Pradesh, shows Cakresvari with twenty arms. She sits on a lotus on the head of garuda. Above her is seated jina flanked by garland-bearers. Her various arms hold a rosary, a sword, a conch, a snake in addition to the items above. In the Vimalavasahi temple, the eight-armed Cakresvari is seated in lalitasana posture, flanked by two female cauri bearers. She is mounted on a garuda. In her four arms on the left she bears goad, disc, vajra, and a bow; in her four arms on the right, she has a noose, a disc, an arrow, and a varadamudra. On top there is a panel of celestial musicians, and on the lower level there are two small figures of worshippers. An eight-armed image of yaksi Cakresvari is on a corridor ceiling in Lunavasahi temple. Sitting in lalitasana, she carries a ring, abhayamudra, a disc and varadamudra in her right hands, and a ring, jnanamudra, a disc and a matulunga in her left hands. Her mount garuda is represented in the zoomorphic form below her right folded foot. 128

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Vidyadevis Goddesses of Knowledge In the middle of the world there are countless continents and oceans with auspicious names (like) Jambadvipa... There are seven zones here in Jambudvipa: Bharata, Haimavarta... In the centre of Bharata is mount Vaitadhya... On its northern and southern slopes...are two rows of vidyadhara cities... 'I am the Master's slave, you two are his servants. As the fruit of service to him I give you lordship over the vidyadhara. Know that it has been obtained only by the service to the master...' After enlightening them (Nami and Vinami) in this way he (Dharanendra) gave them the 48000 vidyas. He instructed them 'Go to Vaitadhya, found two rows of cities here, and establish imperishable sovereignty'. -Trisastisalakapurusacaritral Jf all conceptions prevalent in Jain iconography, none is quite so original as the conception of the vidyadevis - 'goddesses of learning'. Vidyas are the arts, the mantra or magical chants. Vidyadevis are the personifications of these chants. Vidyadevis are sixteen in number, far more numerous than in other religious traditions of India. The conception and imagery of the sixteen vidyadevis resembles closely those of Jain yaksis, and may have been modelled after them.15 The above citation refers to Nami and Vinami, two former servants of tirthankara Rsabhanatha. They began to worship him when he was engaged in meditation. To restrain them from disturbing the Master, Dharanendra, king of the nagas, appeared and ordered them to found cities on Vaitadhya mountain and become the master of sixteen classes of vidyadharas, the holders of vidya. The prescriptions prohibit the use of the vidya to offend a jina or his followers. Until about tenth century, the number and names of sixteen vidyadevis (or Mahavidyas as they are also called) varied in literature. Only after that time, like those of other gods and goddesses, the attributes and features of the Mahavidyas were clearly described and fixed. The sixteen vidyadevis are described below. The description of the vidyadevis varies somewhat in the Svetambara and the Digambara traditions. What follows is a description according to the Svetambara tradition. 1929

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Rohini She rides a cow and holds in her hands a conch, rosary, bow and arrow. She presides over the art of music. She is the consort of Mahayaksa, who attends upon tirthankara Ajitanatha. In the Vimalavasahi temple, the square flat surface is boldly relieved with an image of sixteen-armed lalitasana goddess Rohini flanked on each side by a female cauri-bearer. She carries a noose, a sword, a trisula, a vajra, an arrow, vyakhyanamudra, fruit and varadamudra in the right hands, and a danda, shield, a goad, vyakhyanamudra, bow, mace, pitcher and abhayamudra in the left hands. She is surrounded on three sides by a figural band comrangamandapa in the prising Ganesa, Virabhadra, Bhairava and Matrkas, all with four arms and seated in lalitasana. On page 131 The main dome in the Lunavasahi temple, with different number of vidyadevis. Prajnapti She rides on a peacock and holds a lotus and a Sakti in her hands. Her name suggests 'intellect'; Prajna also refers to Sarasvati. Sixteen vidyadevis in the rangamandapa in the Lunavasahi temple. Below them are sixteen vidyadharas playing different musical instruments.

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"Wo Shan Zhong Zhong , . Kao ca Zheng .

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Vajrasrnkhala There are two forms of this goddess: in one she is seated on a lotus, and she carries a chain and club. In another form, she is also seated on a lotus but her four hands are adorned with varadamudra, chain, lotus and another chain. Vajrankusi She too has two forms: in one she rides an elephant and bears a sword, vajra, shield and spear as her symbols. In another, she is riding an elephant in varadamudra, with vajra, citrus and goad in her hands. Her name 'one adorned with vajra and goad' suggests some connection with Indra. Apraticakra or Jambunada She rides a garuda and all her four hands are armed with discs. By her name and symbols, she bears resemblance to yaksini of tirthankara Rsabhanatha. Naradatta There are two versions of her in Svetambara tradition: in one she holds a sword and a shield, in another she rides a buffalo and carries in her four hands varada, sword, citrus and shield. Kali There are two Svetambara versions of this vidyadevi: in one, she is seated on a lotus and holds in two hands a club and varada or in four hands a rosary, club, vajra and abhaya. Her name and symbols suggest similarity with Svetambara yaksini of tirthankara Abhinandana. Mahakali There are two versions of her description: in one, she rides a man and holds a rosary, fruit, bell and a varadamudra. In another, she rides a man but holds a rosary, vajra, abhayamudra and bell. Gauri She rides an alligator and bears in her four hands varada, club, rosary and water-lily. The alligator and symbols of water-lily and urn suggest her connection with the goddess Ganga. Gandhari She is seated on a lotus, and holds a staff and vajra in her two hands, or staff, abhaya, varada and vajra in her four hands. Gandhari is associated with the river goddess Yamuna. Mahajvala or Jvalamalini She rides a cat but her other attributes are uncertain. 132

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Sixteen vadederis in the ranganunda plaving ditterent musical instruments in the Lunavasahi temple Below them are sixteen vidyddharas

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Goddess Acchuptoi seated in Manavi lalitasana on her horse mount, on corridor ceiling She sits on a lotus and her hands show varadamudra, in the Vimalavasahi temple. rosary, and a bough of a tree. The sixteen-armed goddess is " accompanied on each side by Manasi a cauri-bearer. Above her are hovering vidyadharas show There are two versions of this vidyadevi: in one, she rides a swan ering abhiseka water on the goddess or playing music. and bears the attributes of varada and vajra. In another, she sits Below is seen a band of lo- on a lion and has varadamudra, vajras and rosary in her hands. tus scrolls that issue from the mouth of a kirttimukha Vairoty, carved in the centre. vairorTI shyaamvrnnaamjgrvaahnaaN| caturbhujAM khaDgoragAlaGkRtadakSiNakarAM khettkaahiyutvaamkraam| -Nirvanakalika Vairotya rides a snake and carries in her hands a sword, snakes and a shield. She is depicted on a corridor ceiling in Vimalavasahi, in a Devakulika, with sixteen arms, riding a snake below a stool on which she sits in lalitasana. In her right hands she carries a snake, a disc, trisula, noose, sword, vajraghanta and varadamudra. In her left hands she has a snake, a shield, a danda, a lotus, vajra, a snake and a pitcher. Her two other hands rest on the head of a naga and a nagin, who are depicted with their hands in anjali 134

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mudra. She has a seven-hooded cobra canopy overhead and is attended on both sides by a female caurl-bearer. Above her is a row of gandharvas and vidyadharas. Acchupta She rides a horse, and holds in her hands a bow, sword, shield and arrow. In the corridor ceiling in the Vimalavasahi, accompanied on each side by a cauri-bearer, is an image of sixteen-armed vidyadevi Acchupta sitting in lalitasana. Her mount is a horse, shown below her left leg. In her right hands she carries a chain, a ring, a goad, a noose, an arrow, vyakhyanamudra, a parasu and a conch. In her left hands she carries a chain, a trumpet, a danda, a bow, a vajra, a pitcher, a club and abhayamudra. Above the image are vidyadharas showering abhiseka water on the goddess. Mahamanasi The sixteenth vidyadevi rides a lion and bears in her four hands varada, sword, kamandalu and a lance. mahAmAnasI dhavalavarNA siNhvaahnaam| caturbhajAM varadAsiyuktadakSiNakarAM kuNDikAphAlakayutavAmahastAm / -Nirvanakalika With her lion mount, an image of twenty-armed vidyadevi Mahamanasi, is sitting in lalitasana, in corridor ceiling in the Vimalavasahi temple. She is flanked on each side by an image of eight-armed divinity. In her right hands, she holds a sword, a lotus, an arrow, a trisula, a danda, a goad, vyakhyanamudra, a snake, a club and varadamudra. In her left hands, she has a shield, a club, a bow, a noose, a vajra, abhayamudra, a conch, a pot, a parasu and a lotus. It is not often that all of sixteen vidyadevis are depicted in art in one location. At Vimalavasahi, on the ceiling of a pillared mandapa, the standing figures of sixteen vidyadevis are represented, each with six arms and other associated attributes. Below these figures are pillars and torana-arches with intricate carving. In the rangamandapa dome of the Vimalavasahi and the Lunavasahi the set of sixteen vidyadevis, with their respective attributes and mounts, is represented as bracket figures standing on vidyadharas. In addition, in the Vimalavasahi temple, there are four more sets of sixteen vidyadevis in the corridor ceilings. In two of these sets they are seated in lalitasana and have four arms; in the third set they are represented in standing attitude, and in the fourth set they are in standing attitude but with six arms each. Their mounts are not shown in any of these representations. In another corridor ceiling, eight standing vidyadevis are shown. 135

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P 09 Dome in the rangamandapa of the Vimalavasthi temple. Sixteen vidyddevis and vidyadharas are shown in the dome. The dome is 25 ft in diameter and less than 30 ft in height from the floor to the apex. The dome is composed of eleven circular courses and a long circular padmafile. In another ceiling, in the Vimalavasahi, four of them are shown along two diagonals; they are seated in lalitasana and are four-armed. Their mounts are also shown: Vajrankusi with elephant, Apraticakra with eagle, Prajnapti with peacock and Vajrasonkhala with lotus. Four corridor ceilings in the Vimalavasahi are dedicated to the depiction of sixteen-armed vidyadevis Rohini, Acchupta and Vairotya with their bull, horse and snake mounts respectively, and twenty-armed vidyadevi Mahamanasi with her lion mount. In Lunavasahi the vidyadevis are seen not only in the dome of the rangamandapa but also on the pitha of the gudhamandapa and the mukhamandapa and on the corridor ceilings. As part of iconographic evolution, towards the end of the thirteenth century the multi-armed images of vidyadevis in Jain temples became quite infrequent. 136

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. WA Goddess Mahamanasi seated in lalitasana on her lion mount, on a corridor ceiling in the Vimalavasahi temple. The twenty-armed goddess is flanked on each side by eight-armed divinities. Notes 1. Folk Images in India, pp. 122-3. 2. The Hindu Temple, vol. I, pp. 165-6. 3. Lannoy, R. The Speaking Tree, pp. 62-3. 4. Neumann, E. The Great Mother, pp. 44, 138. 5. Bynner, W. tr. Lao Tzu, The Way of Life, p. 54. 6. Pal, P. Sensuous Sculpture, p. 10. 7. Pereira, J. Monolithic Jinas, p. xiv. 8. As quoted by U.P. Shah, "Iconography of the Jaina Goddess Sarasvati", ). of the University of Bombay, 10, 1941, 195-218. 9. Kinsley, D. Hindu Goddesses, p. 60. 10. Ibid., p. 62. 11. As quoted by Jain and Fischer, Jaina Iconography, Part 1, p. 4. 12. Maury, C. Folk Origins of Indian Art, pp. 101-2. 13. As quoted by B.C. Bhattacharya, The Jaina Iconography, p. 45. 14. As quoted by B.C. Bhattacharya, The Jaina Iconography, Part 1, p. 137. 15. For a comprehensive description about vidyadevis see, Shah, U.P. Jaina Ropa-Mandana, and Bhattacharya, B.C. The Jaina Iconography. 137

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* TRE * ** in S . 5 AS Allar niye de Madrid Renunciation of Neminatha on a samatala corridor ceiling in the Lunavasahi temple,

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Chapter VII Across the Bhavasagar Jinas and their Images Tirthankara Parsvanatha Meghamalin, the beast of gods, approached to attack Parsvanatha, like an elephant...The blessed one was not shaken, his eyes motionless in meditation...Elephants created by him attacked, trumpeting, dripping with mada, their trunks lifted loftily like living mountains. The Master was not disturbed... Then Asura Meghamalin himself created clouds in the sky, like the night at the end of the world... Lightning flashed in the sky, terrifying like a tongue of death...he beat the earth with streams of water... When the water reached the tip of Sri Parsvanatha's nose, then the throne of the Dharana, the Indra of the Uragas (nagas) shook... Then the Naga-king went with his wives to the Teacher of the World with speed, as if competing with the mind. Dharana bowed to the Master and placed beneath his feet a tall lotus with erect stalks, resembling the seed of an omniscient. The serpent king covered the Lord's back, sides and chest with his own coils and made an umbrella with seven hoods over his head. -Trisastisalakapurusacaritral Larsvanatha, the twenty-third tirtharkara, is certainly one of the most popular images worshipped by the Jains. He is said to have lived in the eighth century B.C. and believed to be the spiritual forerunner of Mahavira. The image of Parsvanatha is generally found in all Jain shrines, seated either in padmasana, 'lotus posture', or standing in kayotsarga posture. On painted patta, cloth, and sculptured plaques, Parsvanatha is often depicted with sahasraphana, a 'thousand-hooded serpent', generally represented by seven or five hoods. At the Adisvara temple at Ranakpur, sculpted in white marble, there is an exquisite work depicting Parsvanatha standing, with a 'thousand-hooded', sahasraphana, serpent over his head, with its coils spread all over the piece. On the two sides are yaksa and yaksini, shown as half human and half snake, and two cauri-bearing naginis. On top are two elephants showering Parsvanatha. The legend has it that Parsvanatha practised severe austerities to resist the temptations of cloud-rain demon, Meghamalin. In painted illustrations, the ascetic Parsvanatha is depicted as standing and meditating in a flood of water submerged upto his chin. In one painting, he is shown attended by the naga couple. Like Mara's attack on Buddha, in sculptured panels, as in Jain caves at Badami and Ellora, the assault of the demon Meghamalin

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and his associates and the rescue of the great ascetic by the naga couple is depicted. The cultic images in the temples, as in Ranakpur, do not usually show the demons, though the attendant naga couples are always shown. In a second century, red sandstone sculpture, Mathura, Kushana style, at the State Museum in Lucknow, Parsvanatha sits in the padmasana position. Seated in meditation, Parsvanatha is seen with seven-hooded snake forming an umbrella over head. Relief in a cave at, Ellora, Maharashtra, ninth century, shows Parsvanatha engaged in kayotsarga austerities. A snakes is entwined behind him with its multi-hooded head over him. On one side a couple is kneeling in adoration of the jina, on the other a yaksi is standing with her arm raised, holding back a demon. In the middle, a demon on a water-buffalo and a lion are shown approaching. Above, a canopy and flying gandharva are seen rejoicing. XV # Tirthankara Paravanatha, in meditation, painted on cloth, 17th century, Rajasthan. Courtesy: Ravi Kumar, The Jain Coamalogy #

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by Buddha sheltered Muchalinda Bronze with green patina 13th Century, Lopburi style, Thailand. Courtesy. Los Angeles County Museum of Art Descent of Ganga and Siva protected by serpent hoods, Mahabalipuram.

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Parsvanatha with a thousand-hooded serpent accompanied by nagini cauri-bearers and yaksis. In the coils of the serpent there are many naginis. Adievara temple, Ranakpur. A brown sandstone sculpture, in Gwalior, M.P., tenth century, shows Parsvanatha in a caumukha, 'fourfold' image. The image consists of Parsvanatha and three other jinas facing in all four directions. The four tirthankara are seated on lion thrones and sheltered by trees, indicating the vent of their enlightenment. Above the jina appear fragments of gandharva, 'flying celestial beings'. The Jain cave at Aihole, Bijapur district, Karnataka, is one of the earliest known representations of the scene of attack on Parsvanatha, dating back to sixth or early seventh century A.D. The relief shows Parsvanatha standing in meditation while Kamatha attacks him from the upper left corner. Dharanendra shields him by holding his five hoods over Parsva's head. His queen, represented in human form, with a hood over his head, stands on the right of the jina and holds a big parasol over the Lord. Behind the snake-queen is seen the head of another figure with a hood above the head. The male figure sitting with folded hands on the left of the jina represents defeated Kamatha bowing down and repenting. 142

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The life-story of the Tirthankara Parsvanatha is depicted on a corridor ceiling in the Lunavasahi temple. The samatala ceiling is raised up by a square frame of four rectangular slabs bearing decorations of ardhapadma pattern on the inner face and a row of campaka flowers on the two narrow undersides. The presence of a multi-hooded serpent, both as a protector and a threat, has had a long history in Indian art and iconography. In Buddhist art and tradition, the Mucalinda Naga protects Buddha during a storm; images of Buddha, with cobra-hoods over his head, are known at sites like Amaravati and Nagarjunikonda. In Hinduism, serpent Kaliya is subdued by child Krsna as he dances over his head. Earlier, as a newly born child, when Krsna is transported from the prison to Gokul across the river Yamuna by his father, the serpent Sesa spreads its hoods over the child to protect him from the torrential rains. Visnu rests on the coils of the great Sesa Naga, with his thousand heads held as canopy over the Lord. Siva is always shown with snakes coiled around him. A serpent is both benevolent, like Dharanendra, Sesa or Mucalinda, and malevolent, like Kaliya or Mara, Kamatha or Vttra. This ever present and unceasing struggle between the forces of light and darkness, between good and evil, and between life and death goes on in the same body, represented by a serpent. Naga with his thousand hoods is like the mind. When subdued and sublimated, the same mind is transformed from a malevolent to a benevolent force. Myths and legends associated with Buddha, Parsvanatha, Sesasayi-Visnu, Siva and child Krsna represent this thousand-hooded nature of mind in myriad ways. This is perhaps best expressed in the Gita: mana eva manus-yanam karanam bandha-moksayoh "It is the mind that is the root cause of bondage or emancipation." Neminatha Neminatha is the twenty-second tirtharkara. Also known as Aristanemi, Neminatha is a popular subject for Jain icons. Neminatha's life is also associated with Ktsna's; according to Jain Puranas, Krsna and Neminatha were cousins. In two corridor ceilings of the Lunavasahi temple, scenes from the life of Neminatha and the early life of Krsna at Gokul are depicted. These scenes include fight between Krsna and Jarasanda and a marriage procession. Life scenes of tirthankara Neminatha are shown in a corridor ceiling in the Vimalavasahi temple. The scenes are arranged in three concentric circular bands, with four-armed goddesses standing in each corner of the samatala ceiling. 143

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h . . w . Ete * arsye Allars in the Lunava ahi temple with carvings of yaksas, dancers and goddesses

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The renunciation of tirthankara Neminatha is shown on a corridor ceiling in Lunavasahi temple, depicting marriage of Nemi and Rajimati, their returning home in a palanquin, and Neminatha's diksa, renunciation from the worldly life. The rectangular frame of the samatala ceiling is carved with a band of kirttimukhas. Santinatha The square flat ceiling in the corridor in Vimalavasahi temple shows, in three concentric circles, the pancakalyanakas of tirtharikara Santinatha and his earlier birth as king Megharatha. An image of a four-armed goddess is shown in each corner. The life-story of tirtharkara santinatha on a corridor ceiling is shown in the Lunavasahi temple. The rectangular frame lifting up the samatala ceiling is carved with a band of kirttimukhas. SIIT o A . . . www Life story of thankar Stintindiha on a corridor ceiling to the Lumavaathi temple.

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- : : ::, : : Liao Yi Cheng Ming is :

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Bahubali The Great Ascetic Devoted to meditation, his eyes fixed on the end of his nose, motionless, the muni appeared like a signpost... Plunged in the nectar of good meditation, he was unconscious of the sun in the middle of the hot season, like a fire-pit over his head... In the rainy season he was no more disturbed by streams of water than a mountain... In the winter season... he remained comfortable from the fire of meditation... Forest buffaloes scratched themselves on him... families of rhinoceroses experienced the delight of sleep at night resting with their bodies on his body... He was surrounded completely by creepers with hundred branches shooting up, like a drum by leather throngs...Hawks, and sparrows, in harmony with each other, made nests in his body covered with creepers... Thousands of serpents hid in the thickets of creepers, terrified by the call of the forest peacocks... -Trisastisalakapurusacaritral Bahubali, also ascetics and ihe legend, ahubali, also known as Gommata, is much honoured as one of the great Jain ascetics and is specially worshipped by the Digambara Jains. According to the legend, after the renunciation of the first tirtharkara Rsabhadeva, a battle ensued between his two sons, Bharata and Bahubali. As Bahubali was about to trounce Bharata in the battle, it dawned upon him that the worldly triumph was futile, and the real kingdom was not of this world. Bahubali then renounced his kingdom and became an ascetic. Standing in kayotsarga posture of meditation, Bahubali practised severe penances. A legendary fight between Bharata and Bahubali is depicted on a ceiling in a bay on the east side of the rangamandapa in the Lunavasahi temple. The square panel depicts padmamandaraka element represented by eight lumas prominently projecting on four sides of the square, and a padmasila in the centre. This ornate ceiling is samautksipta of the padmamandaraka variety. On the Indragiri hill of Sravanbelgola in Karnataka stands the greatest achievement of the Ganga dynasty: the colossal statue of Gommatesvara. Standing on the crest of the hill that rises majestically the colossus is visible from large distances all around. Created in 981 A.D., this 17.6m high statue of Gommata, the son of the first tirthankara, has been carved out of a tall granitic tor which originally projected on the hill-top. The sculpture is finished On page 146 Gommafetvara, c. 981 A.D., Sravanbelgola. 147

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Details of Gommatesvara, c 481 A.D, Sravanbelgola (Detail of page 146).

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in the round from head down to the region of the thighs by the removal of the rock from behind, the front and the sides. Below the thighs, the knees and the feet are cut in very high relief with the parent rock-mass still left on the flanks and the rear. The flanking rock-mass depict ant-hills and kukkuta-sarpas or cockatrices emerging out and from among them, and on either side emerges a madhavi-creeper climbing up to entwine the legs and thighs and ascending almost to the arms, near the shoulders, with their leaves spaced out and terminating in a cluster of flowers or berries. The pedestal on which Gommata's feet an each measuring 2.75m, stand is a full-blown lotus. Broad-chested and majestic, Gommata stands erect in the khadgasana posture, with his arms dangling on both sides, almost reaching down to the knees, with thumbs facing in. The carving of the head, 2.3m high, is a most sublime composition in the history of art. The sharp and sensitive nose, the half-closed and contemplative eyes, the well-shaped pouting lips wearing a benign smile, that could be discerned by a viewer from any direction, the slightly projected chin with a dimple above, an imperceptibly high cheek, lobed ears and subdued and voluted curls of locks on the head invading the broad forehead - all make for a charming and serene face. The broad shoulders, 8m across, of sturdy appearance and the lack of wellmodulated elbow and knee joints, the narrow hip, 3m wide in front, and rounded gluteal bulges, as if to balance the erect stance, the incurved and channelled midline of the back, the firmly planted pair of feet, all in good proportion, accentuate the beauty and stance of the figure, while at the same time in perfect correspondence with Jain iconography. The nudity of the figure, indicating absolute renunciation of a kevalin, the stiff erectness of the stance suggesting firm determination and self-control and the beaming smile yet contemplative gaze, all blend together to bring out the greatness of conception and the mastery of the sculptor. The deft skill with which the head and its mien, the hands, the fingers and even the nails or the feet with their toes are delineated in this hard intractable in situ rock is something to marvel at. The whole sculpture has obviously been controlled by the height and extent of the original rock itself, and the tor on which Bahubali is believed to have performed his eternal penance is still shown in the rear, the sides and the foot supporting the massiveness of the hill-composition and material basal foundation for this tall sculpture. James Fergusson observed: "Nothing grander or more imposing exists anywhere out of Egypt, and even there, no known statue surpasses it in height." The Egyptian colossi, including that of Ramses, as also of the great Buddhas on the faces of the cliffs of Bamian in Afghanistan, are at best reliefs, while the Gommatesvara is in the round for 149

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at Details of Gommatesvara, c. 981 A.D., Sravanbelgola

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20 A Jina in samavasaranathe celestial assembly, Western India, c. 1975. Rolio from a Laghu Samgrahanistra manuscript. most of its height above the knees, with a rear side as perfectly shaped and modelled as the front. Heinrich Zimmer observed: "It is human in shape and feature, yet as inhuman as an icicle; and thus expresses perfectly the idea of successful withdrawal from the round of life and death, personal care, individual destiny, desires, sufferings and events." Added to this is the mirror-like smooth and shining polish of the entire body that brings out the rich fine grains of this grayish white granite, an art that had been lost or forgotten for more than a millennium since the workmen of Asoka and his grandson Dasaratha had polished the extensive interiors of the Ajivika caves in the Barabar and Nagarjuni hills near Gaya in north India. For a hypaethral statue on a high hill-top exposed to sun, rain, heat, cold and abrasive dust and rain-carrying winds, the polish acts as a great refractory, a fact which the sculptors seem to have understood. Unlike the earlier examples of Gommata at Ellora and other places, the creepers entwined round the body have been shown here with great restraint with their distinctive foliage well-spaced apart and in a way that would not detract from the majesty of the main figure itself. 151

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The colossal statue of Gommata at Sravanabelgola is the largest of its kind not only in India but in the world. This statue of Gommata has been the model for all later images in India. Earlier pieces, however, show long locks of hair hanging over his shoulders, in the manner of his father Rsabhanatha. There are other Gommata statues, usually on top of hills and visible from large distances. Of these, the two Gommata statues, one at Karkal and the other at Venur are examples of striking artistic creations. The Gommata statue at Karkal, created in 143132 A.D., is about 12.5 m high and is made of a solid block of gneiss. Estimated to weigh eighty tonnes, "the figure is made to lean against a slab which reaches up to its wrists. There is a round pedestal which is sunk into a thousand-petalled lotus flower. The colossus stands on a platform of stones and is surrounded by a stone railing and two laterite enclosures... The legs and arms of the figure are entwined with vines (draksa creeper). On both sides of the feet a number of snakes are cut out of the slab against which the image leans." ! * Slxteen vidyddevis in the rangemandape in the Vimalavaathi temple.

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Notes 1. As quoted in U.P. Shah, Jaina-Rupa-Mandana, p. 39. 2. As quoted by B.C. Bhattacharya, The Jaina Iconography, p. 137. 3. History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, p. 342. 4. Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization, p. 71. 5. For a detailed information about Gommatesvara, see, Jaina Art and Architecture, pp. 222-234, and 340-345. 153

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Kalpalata a creeper of wish fulfilment a relief on a ceiling in a bay in the navacauki in the Vimalavasahi temple. In one corner of the relief is a vidyadhara hovering with folded hands.

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Chapter VIII Outside In/Inside Out Nature and the Indian Arts In the art of India, every form is the symbol of a clear and conscious thought and of consciously directed feeling. Nothing is arbitrary or peculiar, nothing is vague or mysterious, for the very raison d'etre of all the imagery is to present concrete ideas in comprehensible and easily apprehended forms. -Coomaraswamy In addition to the portrayal of gods and goddesses and the members of the Jain pantheon, the Vimalavasahi and the Lunavasahi temples have a profusion of images of animals, birds, flowers, trees, and mythic creatures. Tree worship in India has been popular from very ancient times, as is evident from Indus valley seals and from Vedic and Smriti literature. Like the importance of bodhi tree for the Buddhists, caitya tree assumed a great significance for the Jains. It is believed that Mahavira obtained enlightenment under caitya-vrksa. In addition to the caitya tree, the 'Tree of Life' and kalpavsksa, 'wish fulfilling tree', are also integral to Jain iconography, as they are to Hindu and Buddhist. One of the most pervasive icons in Indian temples is that of Kirttimukha; it is an icon that has travelled to many other lands in South and South-East Asia, including Sri Lanka, Burma, Bali, Java, Cambodia. Situated centrally in the temple, the kirttimukha, 'the face of glory', is the crown or the crest jewel of architectural features like doorways, arches, gavakshas, lintels, etc. The Kirttimukha is a mythic figure; it is a variation on a lion's face, with boar's ears, cat's eyes, and buffalo horns. It may also have associations with Narasimha, Visnu as half-lion, half-man. The lion, as the king of the beasts, has long been the symbol of royalty; the throne on which Indian kings sat was called simhasan, 'the seat of a lion', and had representations of lions on the base of the throne. In the Jain Kalpasutras, Mahavira is depicted as sitting on a lion throne in the Pushpottara heaven. Similarly, since the Buddha was the 'Lion of the Shakya clan', it is not unusual to see the Buddha figure with miniature lions at its feet. The teachings of Buddha are compared to the roar of the lion which sends all other animals, the advocates of false doctrines, into hiding. His voice is the roar of the Awakened One to awaken others.

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10 lity Jatayu, the valiant brid who fought against Ravana to release Sita. As part of temple iconography, the most pervasive mythic beast is makara; it has a certain resemblance to a crocodile, with some features of an elephant. It is a master of the deep, represented with wide-open jaws, studded with fierce teeth and a thick and fleshy body often covered with scales. Out of its open mouth a lotus rhizome (a symbol of the Tree of Life, of fertility and of abundance) issues with leaves, flowers and even animals and jewels. The makara is the vahana of Varuna, of Ganga and of some yaksas and yaksis, all figures associated with water. It is also a specific symbol of the Jain tirtharkara Pusupadanatha. The makara occurs in prabhamandalas of icons, in niches and on panels of temple walls, and sometimes in the company of kirttimukhas. The other creatures depicted are nagas and vyalas, kinnara couples - semi-divine beings, half human half birds, elephants, horses, lions and geese. These sculptures have been employed to beautify the temples. The sardulas or vyalas are fabulous beasts represented as horned lions. Executed in the round or very high relief they are generally shown at the outer flank of the pilasters of the parikara. The sardulas are seen on a corridor ceiling of the Vimalavasahi. 156

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SW MMS stop Wine wy A ceiling with four circular courses in north portico in the Lunavasahi temple. On four corners there are figures of kirttimukhas.

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The nagas have the body of a snake and the face of a human being. They are seen on the ceilings of the Parsvanatha temple at Kumbharia and the ceiling of the east portico of the rangamandapa of the Vimalavasahi. In the Adisvara temple at Ranakpur, there are some magnificent representations of nagas and naginis. Among other animals, the geese in rows appear on the pillars and ceilings, lions are shown on the ceilings and the samvarana, the elephants are carved in pitha, sikhara, roofs, ceilings and in the hastisala. When the elephants appear on the basal Garuda, 12th century, Belur.

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corners of the ceiling, they are shown as a pair lustrating a lotus plant. On the sikhara their front part is depicted in the recesses. When they appear at the corners of the roof they are carved wholly in the round and are represented in the walking attitude. The elephants in the hastisala of the Vimalavasahi and Lunavasahi are executed out of huge blocks of marble, some profusely decorated with ornaments. In the Vimalavasahi temple, ele-phants frame the stairways leading to mukhamandapa and the gudhamandapa. PAPE Animals, birds on the south gate, Safichi, 1st-2nd century B.C.

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The lion figures occur in rows in ceilings, and are generally shown in profile. On the bell-roof, as in Ranakpur, they appear on the four ridges. All of the Jain tirthankaras and other deities in India have almost always an animal as their mount - vahana. While on one level they literally transport the gods, on another they also serve as cognizance of various jinas or gods, as in these images of divinities, "the simple kingly or womanly form of the anthropomorphic figure", writes Zimmer, "is somewhat ambiguous; its reference becomes specified by the determinant, or parallel symbol added underneath."2 The animals may have had earlier sacred connotations separate from the gods themselves and are, in fact, their theriomorphic representations. In some ways they also represent the power and character of their divine masters. Siva's bull, nandini, is symbolic of his fertility and his association with animals; he is called Pasupati, 'the Lord of the animals'. Nandini is also regarded as symbol of dharma, which is characterised as 'four-footed'. The elephant is the vahana of Indra, the king of gods. As befits the king, the elephant is an appropriate royal vehicle, and it reiterates Indra's might as a warrior and his role as a provider of rains and hence life itself. The gander, hamsa, is the vehicle of Sarasvati as also of Brahma; one text informs us that the seven ganders that pull the god's chariot represent the seven worlds. The gander, like the lotus, is also the symbol of purity, as no water attaches to its back as it glides through the water. Its migratory habits also make it an ideal metaphor for the free soul, and hence all men of wisdom who have succeeded in severing the bonds of attachment are known as paramahamsa, 'the great gander'. The vahana of Visnu is garuda, originally a bird associated with the sun but which acquired the symbolic value of mind, for nothing is said to be faster than the mind. The garuda thus is an entirely appropriate vahana for Visnu, the preserverdeity, who continually roams the universe. Kramrisch expresses the abundance of these symbols thus: "Alles Vergangliche ist nur ein Gleichnis. Whatever is transitory is but a symbol, be it as firm as this earth and high as is the firmament. The shape of the animal, the body of man in all its parts, and man-made objects, all these are drawn into the picture. There they form part of one composition which paints in detail, as in many configurations as inner vision dictates, the nature and myth of the god. The myths are his actions, their stage is the heart and mind (manas) of the singer and he draws its lineaments in the frame and the order of the cosmos which he sees and knows, in which he lives and is conscious." 160

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. . . 5 ST. . . AY . wie CA bu WA ATS KA SALAN we pr. A ceiling in the Lunavasahi temple with nine lotus flowers

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Just as the animal kingdom has been integral to the mythic and artistic imagination in India, so has the world of vegetation - of plants, flowers, fruits, trees. The tree as a symbol of cosmic life is as ancient a motif in Indian art and sculpture as in many other cultures of the world. In India, 'The Tree of Life and Wisdom' is to be found in Hindu, Muslim, Jain and Buddhist temples engraved in stone and wood, or cast in bronze, over a period of several centuries. Kalpavrksa, 'the tree that fulfils all wishes', along with its leaf and creeper, kalpavalli and kalpalata, . . Tree of Life, sandstone window, Sidi Sapjid's Mosque, Ahmedabad, 15th century. Buddha with Wheel of Law' as a halo, Mathura, 15th century. are carved in exquisite detail on the ceilings of Jain temples at Dilwara and Ranakpur. Kalpavrksa has been a major motif in the art and literature of India. It was believed that pots of gold and bags of precious gems lay at its roots, and it was surrounded by Seven Treasures, the conch and the lotus among them. Thus it was believed that 162

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the tree also had the power to bestow all precious things on its worshippers. Stories about trees in India are legion; with every Jain tirtharkara, one particular tree is associated, under which he received enlightenment. Thus trees are highly venerated amongst the Jains. Floral, vegetal and geometrical designs are an integral part of the ornamentation in these temples. Amongst these scrolls, creepers, diamond-shaped lozenges, lotus, campaka and mandaraka flowers are most frequent. In the Lunavasahi temple, in particular, these patterns have been employed in great abandon and have been carved with great subtlety and imagination. Some ornamentation motifs like lotus petal-and-bud and ardhapadma are of special significance. The former consists of pointed lotus petals alternating with stalks carrying buds. This motif occurs for the first time on the ceiling of the slab of the gudhamandapa dome of the Vimalavasahi. Here it forms the corollas of a full-blown lotus flower. Later it occurs in the rarigamandapa and the corridor ceilings of the temples Vimalavasahi and the Lunavasahi. In the Lunavasahi specifically this motif is carved in the subtlest of details. The ardhapadma consists of full-blown half lotus flowers set up in beaded garland loops with lotus buds as pendants. This motif is seen in the gudhamandapa dome and corridor ceilings of the Vimalavasahi and in several ceilings of the Lunavasahi. Another motif is that of chain-and-bell alternating with tassels and underlined with a horizontal band adorned with leaves. It is an embellishment of the pillar-shaft and occurs from about the middle of eleventh century until about the middle of the twelfth century. It is seen in the mukhamandapa and the two pillars of the rangamandapa of the Vimalavasahi. There are no examples of it in the Lunavasahi. In addition to the lotus, as observed earlier, the tree symbolising nature itself and the cosmic pillar, and the serpent, representing fertility and periodic renewal, are important to Hindu, Buddhist and Jain iconography. Another symbol of universal significance is the wheel, which has been variously interpreted. In Jain art it is an auspicious symbol, associated with a particular jina as his cognizance. Amongst Buddhists it is conspicuous and frequently used symbol of the religion itself, and the Buddha is said to have set 'the wheel of the law', dharmacakra, in motion when he preached his first sermon at Sarnath near Varanasi. This use of the symbol, as has been observed by Pal, was borrowed from the more ancient idea of cakravartin, a universal monarch, one who literally turns the wheel (cakra), presumably of a chariot, as he conquers the world. Alexander, Asoka, Kanishka, and Samudragupta are such universal helddhist Bor symbo 163

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monarchs. Buddha's conquests, of course, were spiritual rather than mundane. Like many other emblems in early Buddhist art, the wheel symbolises the Buddha himself. Not only is the Buddha the mover of the wheel, but the wheel itself is the word set in motion, and the Buddha is the very embodiment of the word. In Hindu art the wheel is primarily associated with the god Visnu or Krsna, who uses it chiefly as a weapon. Because the wheel is used as a metaphor for the sun in early Indian literature and because the Vedic Visnu is considered to be solar deity, his wheel is generally regarded as a solar symbol. In Mahabharata the wheel or disc belonged to Krsna and was used primarily as a weapon. Its fiery rim and enormous destructive power was considered analogous to the sun, and some mythographers claimed that it was made of the eighth part of the sun's rays as were the chief weapons of the other gods, such as the trident of Siva or the spear of Kumara. Although a weapon in Visnu's arsenal, the wheel also symbolises various other abstract concepts, such as the seasons and the times, both of which depend on the sun. The Visnudharmottara, after stating that "the god Visnu himself is immovable and he moves the wheel", provides at least three different explanations of the wheel. It informs us: "The sun and the moon represent Purusa and Prakriti, which are symbolised by the wheel and the mace respectively"; elsewhere the wheel represents "the rotation of the world. The Wheel of the Law, The Wheel of Time and the circular path of the planets"; and thirdly, the wheel is said to signify air (pavana). Yet in another text the wheel is the "mind, whose thoughts (like the weapon) fly swifter than the winds." "The symbols in Indian art thus are multivalent and represent many different abstractions." 184

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ER * VA 14 9 Central dome in the rangamandape in the Vimalavasthi temple. The rangamandape is a thirteenth century addition to the temple. Sixteen vidyldevis and sixteen vidyadharu are part of the embellishment of the dome which is 25 ft in diameter and less than 30 ft in height, from the floor to the apex. The dome is shaped like a lotus flower and is composed of eleven circular courses and a long circular padmafila, the pendant of the lotus. Notes 1. Catalogue in the Indian Section in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, p. 38. 2. Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization, p. 71. 3. For a comprehensive discussion, see Gorakshakar, S.V. Ed. Animals in In dian Art. 4. Miller, B.S. Ed. Exploring India's Sacred Art, p. 23. 5. See Fergusson, J. Tree and Serpent Worship. 6. Indian Sculpture, p. 42. 7. Ibid. 8. Ibid. 166

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Chapter IX Dance and the Temple It is a merry-go-round. One mask, one large stone-mask behind which all faces hide....of Oedipus and Gautam, of Galileo and Milton, of Curie and Mira....and of all the men who watch the long night....all holding hands.... all, for one brief moment, seeing through the hollow eyes of the mask....and dancing.... holding hands and dancing at the still-point in the centre of the whirlpool, where there is 'no dance, and there is only the dance.' -The Lotus in the Stone1 In the 13th century Lunavasahi temple, in the navacauki, just outside the sanctum sanctorum, known as garbhagrha, 'the womb', there are a number of marble columns with exquisite figures of dancers. The dance style of these figures has been traced to be Odissi, a style that flourished largely in the state of Orissa, on the east coast of India, more than a thousand kms away. These figures are about 50 cms high, and they depict a variety of dance postures. In one figure, as part of the hastak mudras, the hand of the dancer is beside the head in ardhapataka, 'half flag' posture; the other hand rests by the chest. The dancer stands in the tribhanga, a triple-bend position of the body, with the right foot behind the left. As is typical of the Odissi style, the sculpture suggests how the toes of the right foot brush against the ground as it is brought to the front. These figures all depict not a still posture of a dance, but that special state when the dance and the dancer become one; poet W.B. Yeats has expressed it thus: O Body, swayed to music, O quickening glance! How can I tell the dancer From the dance.2 In this temple, as a spectator, one can feel drawn into the joy and abandon of the dancers; the marble columns seem to act like lightning rods, absorbing energy from within a much wider field. Amongst these dancing figures there is one of such majesty and grandeur that one can no longer tell, as the poet suggests, 'the dancer from the dance'; she seems to be dancing and yet not dancing: a momentary, fleeting glimpse of the Lord in the garbhagrha A column with images of has arrested her steps; her eyes open a little wider for the darsan - for the divine revelation. In awe and wonder, she brings her hands together to greet. Yet the hands barely touch; the dance and On page 166 dancers, the Lunavasihi temple.

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A column with images of dancers, the Lunavasahi temple.

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its momentum are all-absorbing, perhaps inspired by the darsan, perhaps celebrating it, suggesting that there is no dance, but only the dance'. This 'moment of being' for the dancer, the glimpse, the coy acknowledgement, the thrust for continuity, the inevitable desire to go on and on, to fulfil some special journey, are in existence, not only in human drama and its creations but tortuous in all of nature: they mark the bend in the road; they are the turning points' on the long and hazardous path; this is where one turns, and from where one returns, to assume the pilgrimage. Dance as an artistic motif has been used in all cultures, yet none has visualised its supreme gods and goddesses as dancers. In India one cannot conceive the cosmos without Siva the Nataraja, 'the Lord of Dance' and Krsna the Natavara, 'the dancer'. There is a story about the great French artist Henri Matisse and his design of the Chapel of the Rosary of the Dominican Nuns of Venice, consecrated in June 1951. A year earlier, in 1950, Matisse was invited to exhibit in Paris at the Maison de la Pensee Francaise, a place considered by many as a Communist cultural centre. To the obvious chagrin of the organisers, Matisse had in SA 5 Nataraja, Kangra, 18th century. Courtesy: Allahabad Mu Reum. Two Manipuri dancers dancing in an egg-like form.

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sisted that his exhibition must include the design of the chapel. On seeing the models of the chapel, the Communist poet Louis Aragon is said to have remarked to Matisse: "Very pretty, very gay in fact, when we take over we'll turn it into a dance hall." Aragon obviously didn't know that there had been in fact a long tradition of a dance hall as part of the temple architecture in India. Rangamandapa, hall of celebrations and dance, is an integral part of the Vimalavasahi and Lunavasahi temples at Mount Abu, as it is of many other temples all across the country. The old tradition of dance performances in these halls is no more, but many a temple is now used as locale and background for dance festivals. Natartja, Bronze, Chola, 11th century. Courtesy: National Museum, New Delhi The use of dancing figures as an integral part of temple architecture, art and iconography has flourished for well over two thousand years in every region of the Indian subcontinent. These figures, however, are not always 'religious' in the sense of being part of a religious ritual or worship; some of them are in fact part of an earthly celebration, whether in a court or at a harvest. Until recently, the epigraphical and literary references in India have 170

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made little distinction between the secular and the sacred life; the ordinary, everyday life had always been regulated and guided by religious ritual and thought. Thus representation of dance in Indian art and architecture encompassed all aspects of life. "Where artistic, social, and religious life are integral parts of a ritualistic culture", Richard Lannoy writes, "temple art reflects the desire to escape from the anguish of life in time....Efforts to maintain a state of exaltation among the worshippers lead to the glorification of the temple dance as the principal form of the sculptural decoration...Rows of images are portrayed in the poses of the classical dance; the geometry of motion animates all surface decoration with pulsating rhythm. The ecstatic dance of religious possession gives formal shape to the law of internal and unarrested circulation, the life urge, irrepressible as the beating heart, the pounding blood." Basic to the Indian aesthetic tradition is the close relationship between the visual and the performing arts, particularly dance and drama. The classical dances, Bharatanatyam and Kathakali, have had great influence on sculpture. Not only did the sculptors borrow specific themes from the dancer's repertoire, but the underlying rhythm in Indian sculptural form, as Pal has observed eloquently, is essentially similar to the dancer's rhythm. Sixteen vidyadharas in the rangamandape in the Lumeve temple. They are playing different musical instruments

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The postures and gestures of the fingers, whether mortal or divine, are closely related to those used in the dance and they often have the same theatrical effect. This is hardly surprising in view of the advice constantly repeated in texts on aesthetics that before artists can be successful they must thoroughly study both dance and drama. This is clearly stated in the following dialogue between Vajra, the interlocutor, and the sage Markandeya in the Visnudharmottara: Vajra: O sinless one, how should I make the forms of gods so that the image made according to the rules may always manifest the Ideity? Markandeya: He who does not know the canon of painting, citrasutram, can never know the canon of image-making, pratima laksanam. Vajra then requests Markandeya to teach him the art of painting, but the sage replies, that it is very difficult to know the canon of painting without the canon of dance, because "O king, in both the world is to be represented." For the architect and the sculptor of an Indian temple thus it was imperative to know in detail the intricacies of Indian dance forms; over the centuries, in fact, the columns, ceilings and walls of great temples of India have come to be regarded as precious repositories not only of Indian myths and icons but also of dances. The Indian dances, in turn, particularly, in their classical forms - Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Kathak, Kathakali, Manipuri - encom Sixteen vidyadharas in the rangamandapa in the Lunavasahi temple. They are playing different musical instruments (Closeup of col. picture of page 27). 172

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passed deep and abiding ideals of Indian philosophy and aesthetics; in their dramatic expositions they became expressions of religious myths and legends, and abstract ideas. Though in traditional Indian culture dance permeated all facets of life, its most outstanding function has been to give symbolic expression to religious life with its rituals and ceremonies, gods and goddesses, and spiritual aspirations and ecstasies. The Indian gods too became dancers: in the dancing figures of Siva as Nataraja, 'the king of dancers', the universe became a manifestation of a cosmic dance; in the ras-lila of Krsna, every person yearning for a spiritual union became a gopi, a milkmaid, churning the 'milk of existence for butter; Krsna is known as makhan-chor - 'the butter thief'. During the Buddhist period, from 500 B.C. to 600 A.D., and during the Classical Age, from 2nd century A.D. to the 8th century A.D., there are numerous examples of exquisite sculptures and frescoes depicting dancers in myriad ceremonies, myths and legends. At the cave temples at Bharhut, 2nd century B.C., one sees many sculptures on the columns showing dancing figures. One column, in particular, is unique; it shows the legend of peacock dancing proudly his vainglorious dance which eventually lost him the hand of the Swan King's beautiful daughter. In the state of Andhra Pradesh, at Amaravati, 3rd 4th century A.D., there are delicately executed dancing Apsaras, heavenly nymphs, performing gracefully in the Royal Court. At Khandagiri and Udayagiri caves in the state of Orissa, first century B.C., both the friezes and bas-reliefs depict not only a series of dancers in graceful poses, but also men and women dancers making offerings to the Jain shrine. In Buddhist, Jain and Hindu sculptural art, dancing Apsaras often serve as embodiment of feminine beauty without any earthly encumbrances. Siva, part of the Hindu Trinity, is possibly the most worshipped of gods on the Indian subcontinent. Siva is known as Nataraja, 'the lord of dance'; it is as Nataraja that Siva is most worshipped, and he is often thought to be the creator of dance as an art form. The images of Siva as Nataraja abound in Indian temples all across the country. The elaborate iconography of these images, and their symbolic significance have been extensively studied by many art historians. The mythology of Siva is full of references to his different dances. There are many features that are characteristic of Natarajas: Ardhanarisvara, Siva as half-man, half-woman; Kalarimurti, Siva dancing on the figure of death; Gajasurasamnharamurti, Siva dancing on an elephant hide or head; Tripurantaka, Siva wielding the bow and sometimes shooting an arrow; Bhiksatana, emaciated fig 173

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A column in the navacauks in the Lunavasthi temple with dancing figures.

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ure of Siva carrying a begging bowl; Virabhadra, Siva dancing with Sati, his dead wife on his shoulders; Vinadhara, Siva holding a vina, Bhairava, Siva carrying a club surmounted by a skull. The most widely known representation of Siva as Nataraja is one with his left leg lifted up and across the body; it has been called one of the 'most beautiful iconic concepts" in the world. This representation of Nataraja has been the subject of many learned interpretations. One specially important theme for Bharat Natyam is Nataraja's Ananda Tandava, 'the dance of ecstasy'. For many this is the typical form of Nataraja; this is what is often shown in bronzes. Nataraja has four arms, the two main or foremost pair of hands in gajahasta, elephant-like hand gestures, and abhayamudra, fearlessness; the other two hands hold the fire and the damaru. It is in this form that Siva is the presiding deity at the great temple at Chidambaram. It was in temples like these in southern India that the dance style Bharata natyam originated. For his consort Parvati in the Himalayas, Siva also dances Sandhya Tandava, twilight dance. Like Sandhya bhasa, 'twilight language' the language that mediates, like twilight, between light and darkness, revealing the reality behind the 'veil of maya', Sandhya Tandava depicts Siva surrounded by his family and dancing with a sense of gay abandon, creating a sense of true movement. This dance is a favourite theme of many Pahari miniatures in the Himalayas. Close-up of picture on page 130. The Indian dances, and the social and cultural ethos associated with the dancers and the profession of dance have evolved greatly over the centuries. Bharatanatyam, the most renowned of Indian classical dances, was traditionally performed by a caste of female dancers; in the great temple cities of south India, it constituted a normal part of a daily ritual. It was also performed in 176

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V .4. . 6. Did SRA A column in the navacauki in the Lunavasahi temple with dancing figures.

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the courts as well as during festivals, religious and secular alike. The dancers were mostly girls and they were known as devadasis, 'servants of god'. All temples, in south India in particular, had devadasis as part of its regular staff. For devadasis dancing was a natural and fundamental condition of existence. A story from Rajatarangini illustrates this poetically: Once a king took out by himself an untrained horse into a wasteland in order to break it in. There, far away from men, he saw one maid of lovely form singing and another dancing. He observed that they came to the same spot several days later so he came up and questioned them. They told him: "We are dancing girls belonging to a temple....By the directions of our mothers, who got their living here, we dance at this spot....This custom handed down by tradition has become fixed in our family. Its reason we cannot know nor anyone else." Later the king has the spot excavated and an old temple is discovered. It is significant to note that dance was considered important enough to become the dharma, a social duty, of certain castes. Thus regarded a craft and art to be studied and mastered, it generated its own rules and regulations, and a system. The complex, and the convoluted institution of devadasis lasted hundreds of years right into the twentieth century, carrying with it riches of dance but a social stigma for dancers and the profession of dancing." Dancers and musicians, 12th century, Kesava temple, Somnathpur.

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An image of jina in khattaka in mukhamandapa in the Lunavasahi temple, with dancers on columns (Closeup of picture on of page 10).

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Par 0923 + A pillar in the mukhamandapa in the Lunavasahi temple, with figures of yaksis, musicians and danc ers

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Columns in the navacauki in the Vimalavasahi temple.

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FIRDA ! 4 Columns in the navacault in the Vimalavasthi temple. The simplest combinations of dance movement discussed in the Natya Sastra, the ancient treatise on Indian dance, are karanas; they define aesthetically pleasing movements of hands and feet in dance. One hundred and eight such karanas are described in the treatise. The depiction of these karanas in temples is believed to go back to eighth century during the time of Dantivarman Pallava. However, the earliest carvings of eighty-one karanas still intact in south India are inside the main shrine of the BIhadisvara temple at Tanjore (985-1014 A.D.). 181

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SEX ** S . ** 13 A pillar in the mukhamandape in the Lunavasahi temple, with figures of musicians and dancers. A column in the navacault in the Lunavasthi temple with images of dancers. The four gopuras of Chidambaram temple, built from 12-16th century, have the most elaborate depiction of karanas. These depictions, in turn, are believed to have served as sources for similar depiction in other temples: Vtddhagirisvara temple at Vgddhachalam, the Arunachalesvara temple at Truvannmalai, the Sarangapani temple at Kumbakonam. It has been suggested that these karanas, and also the dancing figures carved on the frieze of the 14th century Devi shrine, demonstrate that the sculptors were familiar with the Natya Sastra, and the Silpa Sastras, as well as the actual dance.10 Over the centuries, the Bharatanatyam, as practised today, has changed considerably from the earlier karanas depicted in the temples. However, karanas showing Odissi style depicted in the 182

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Rangamandapa or the Natyamandapa, 'the hall of dance', in the 13th century Sun Temple at Konark in Orissa still reflect the dance form as practised at present. The principal characteristics of both dance forms, Bharatanatyam and Odissi, have in fact been well maintained over the past two thousand years." This steadfastness in style may be due in large measure to the authority of the treatises such as Natya Sastra and Abhinayadarpana which laid down very precise instructions for the conduct of the dance. The foundations of Indian dance movements rest on the descriptions of the karanas in these texts, and illustrations of these in sculpture occur on a number of major temples dating back to at least the 11th century A.D.12 Though Siva as Nataraja and Krsna, the flute player and the beloved of the gopis, are the two most popular motifs for dance sculptures in the Hindu temple, other gods and goddesses too have been on occasion depicted as dancers. The twelfth century Hoysala temples at Belur and Halebid have some of the most exquisite figures of dancers in all of Asian art. Here Sarasvati, dances with a grace that is her own; goddesses Kali and Durga too dance. Even Ganesa dances. In one myth depicted here Visnu takes the form of the enchantress Mohini, and dances a special dance to destroy the demon Asura Bhasmasura. According to the legend, this demon had been bestowed with power to destroy anyone upon whom he held his magical hand. He thus caused havoc in the whole world. In order to control him, Mohini lures him into a dance contest, and then suddenly assumes a posture in which she holds her hand over her head. In his wild frenzy, the demon imitates her and thus brings destruction to himself as he places his own hand over his head. Dance as an expression of joy, spiritual and sensuous alike, and of celebration of life and nature have been themes depicted with same consummate skill in bronzes and paintings as in stone sculptures in temples. Artists in south India in particular excelled in creating bronzes of extraordinary grandeur; between the 9th and 183

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2: the 13th centuries, during Chola period, bronzes as large as two metres high of Nataraja dancing his cosmic dance or Klsna dancing the tandava on the hood of hundred-headed serpent Kaliya, were favourite subjects for the artists. At a number of great temples of south India -- the Bshadisvara temple at Tanjore, the Siva temple at Kanchipuram, the Nataraja temple at Chidambaram, the Meenakshi Sundaram temple at Madurai - one sees bronzes of Siva as Nataraja. There are also many such bronzes in several museums in India. In some ways there is hardly any material - wood, ivory, terracotta, clay, sandalwood - which the Indian artist has not explored to create works of subtle and classic beauty; in all these materials, more than anything else, the dance and the dancing figures have been the most abiding and endearing theme of artistic creation. Even in textile, specially in the states of Rajasthan, Andhra, Assam and Bengal, colourful and elaborate prints depicting folk dances, and the dances of Krsna with gopis are popular motifs. The impulse to adore and decorate the pratima, idols of devis and devatas as a form of worship and bhakti is very deep rooted in the Indian psyche. This impulse has found profuse expression in the Indian sculpture, specifically as part of temple architecture. But also in frescoes and paintings. There, though always highly disciplined and modulated, this impulse has gone wild. Subtle and strong colours - in garments and jewellery, in flowers and birds, amongst lotuses and peacocks - add new and captivating dimensions to the dancing figures, expressing an all-pervading sense of joy, ananda. An outstanding dance theme is to be seen in a 7th century fresco painting in Cave 1 at Ajanta. The story is from Mahajanaka 184

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SSSS A ceiling in the navacaukt in the Lunavasthi temple.

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Jataka depicting a temptation scene. It shows women musicians with tapering flutes and a dancer in rhythmic movement. The dancer's chin is slightly tilted, her head is bent graciously: her right arm is curved and the wrist is twisted; the left arm is also curved and the two arms form a movement of entwining tendrils, indicating enticement. The wrists are turned back, with the position of the fingers in the gesture of holding a flower. This is Lasya dance, slow and sensuous. On the ceiling of the Kailasa temple at Ellora is depicted Siva's tandava dance. Siva dances with his upraised foot; in his hands he holds the trident, the drum, the skull, and the bowl of renunciation. In this fresco painting, line and balance of figure are perfectly obtained with the additional beauty of colour. Again, in the 11th century BIhadisvara temple at Tanjore, there is a fresco of dancing Apsaras and musicians. Half hidden behind the clouds, the dancers shower lotus petals on the spectators at they dance. Their arms are bent and raised in statuesque poses, their figures show exotic movements of heavenly beings. As another example of Lasya dance, the dancers here alluringly hold lotus blossoms in their hands. In this temple there are two panels which describe in rich and pure colour tones two of Siva's dances: one shows the whirling figure of Nataraja with the sacred fire in his upraised hand; Siva here is the source of all movement, rhythm and harmony in the universe. The second panel shows Siva's Bhairava nrtya'; according to the myth, Siva performed this dance when asuras attacked the city of Tripura and were finally destroyed by the gods. It is one of the finest achievements in the art of fresco painting. A painted danseuse in a Jain cave temple at Sittanvaal, A.D. 670 (After Sivaramamurti).

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SA A painted royal couple in a Jain cave temple at Sittanvasal A.D. 670 [After Sivaramamurti]. From early 16th century to the middle of 19th century, in many parts of Rajasthan and in some parts of the Himalayas, there flourished a special painting known as Miniature painting. These small paintings have now come to represent some of the finest achievements in Indian artistic creation. The themes in these paintings are varied but there are innumerable examples of representation of both music and dance. Several series of Ragas and Raginis have been most magnificently executed representing these melodic themes in Indian classical music. A Raga is the traditional melody in which the Indian musician weaves his improvisations, and it is a selection of five, six or seven notes distributed along the scale, each Raga symbolizing in rhythmic form some emotion, elemental force or particular aspect of nature when it may be most appropriately sung or played. The Ragini is the feminine form of the Raga; it suggests a condensation of the main theme of the melody. These Ragas and Raginis, in turn, are employed as integral elements in the depiction of dances in these paintings. Some of these paintings show Siva as Nataraja, but principally they focus on Krsna and his dances and dalliance with his beloved Radha and other gopis on the banks of river Jamuna.13 187

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hm m `lm w hdyh h y mly bzr khr bh w rwHyh w 7 1 z `mwmy m`wdh b nwf my dhd twr * * nd w bh w wblth khnm dh h w brn wr n bny : q whj jy r : : b bh mrh

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The expression of bhava, feelings and emotions, for worship and spiritual endearment through dance has had a long tradition even before the 7th century, much earlier than the construction of the great temples of southern India. The devotional songs and dances of Nayanmars like Appar in Tamil Nadu, and of bhaktas like Mira, Chaitanya, Vidyapati, Chandidas, Vallabha, Jayadeva and Kabir in north India, are exquisite testimonies to dance as the most primary expression of joy. For Appar, 'the whole world seemed to dance and sing and play. For Kabir, 'Dance, my heart! Dance today with joy. Mad with joy, life and death dance to the rhythms of this music. The hills and the sea and the earth dance....'14 This kind of mystical poetry, emerging out of bhakti tradition in India became the source of inspiration for all arts - music, painting, dance, drama. Within the framework of their own aesthetic constructs, artists in all these forms expressed and interpreted the same spiritual ideas and feelings.15 This intimate connection between the arts extended over many centuries and over a vast geographical region. It was guided by spiritual experience, thought, and myth, and it was a remarkable cultural phenomenon and artistic achievement. Until this century, as arts, both music and dance have been ephemeral; we know of them only through secondary references, in paintings, sculpture or poetry. In India, these have been indeed rich sources for our understanding of the ubiquitous presence of dance in Indian life, secular and spiritual alike. With Indian gods dancing the dances of love and joy, fury and seduction, and triumph and invocation, the sanctity of dance, not only as a form of art but as a way of life, is established again and again. The Krsna lila -- the cosmic story of Kssna, speaks of 'the union of love and renunciation in life, and the secret of limitless life in this world' through every possible art form and expression. 16 In all these expressions there is a sense of celebration of life in its myriad forms; there is no hint of any life-denying art or spirituality, or of such stultifying elitism that creates 'artificial productions, written in the closet by learned men for learned men ....they (the bhakti poets) have remained living voices in the people's hearts, because they appealed to the sense of the true and the beautiful. '17 What makes these works of art so extraordinary is their capacity to invoke the beauty and the splendour of the world of senses as well as the drama of the spirit within. The dance of Siva, we are reminded again and again, is being performed eternally in our own hearts and souls: "The Holy Land is the land of our own experience. All is in all: and if beauty is not apparent to us in the well-known, we shall not find it in things that are strange and far away."18 180

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Kabir says it in words that never cease to be true: The musk Is held in its pod. Yet oblivious Of the source Of Fragrance, The deer wanders All over the forest In its search! For over two thousand years, all this abundant Indian art then, like the exquisite dancing figures on the columns outside the garbhagrha in the Lunavasahi temple at Dilwara, served one exalted purpose: to give us a glimpse of the true nature of the cosmic dance: It is a merry-go-round. One mask, one large stone-mask behind which all faces hide....of Oedipus and Gautam, of Galileo and Milton, of Curie and Mira....and of all the men who watch the long night....all holding hands....all, for one brief moment, seeing through the hollow eyes of the mask....and dancing....holding hands and dancing at the still-point in the centre of the whirlpool, where there is 'no dance, and there is only the dance.'20

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Notes 1. Kumar, Sehdev. The Lotus in the Stone, p. 148. 2. 'Among School Children', The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats, New York, 1955. 3. Eliot, T.S. 4. Barr, A. Matisse: His Art and his Public, New York, 1951, p. 281. 5. Lannoy, R. The Speaking Tree, p. 62. 6. As quoted by P. Pal in The Sensuous Immortals, p. 14. 7. Gaston, Anne-Marie. Siva in Dance, Myth and Iconography, p. 47. 8. Ibid., p. 13. 9. Ibid., pp. 6-7. 10. Vatsyayan, K. Classical Indian Dance in Literature and the Arts, p. 43. 11. Bhavnani, E. The Dance in India, pp. 67-73. 12. Devi, Ragini. Dance Dialects of India, p. 79. 13. Krishna: The Divine Lover, pp. 172-183. 14. Tagore, Rabindranath, tr. Songs of Kabir, p. 6. 15. Coomaraswamy, A. Rajput Paintings, vol. I, pp. 29-40. 16. Ibid., p. 8. 17. Ibid., p. 9. 18. Ibid., p. 8. 19. Kumar, Sehdev. The Vision of Kabir, p. 194. 20. Kumar, Sehdev. The Lotus in the Stone, p. 148. 192

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Bibliography Amar, G. 'Architectural Traditions and Canons'. Jaina Art and Architecture, vol. II. Ed. A. Ghosh. Bharatiya Jnanpith, New Delhi, 1975, pp. 494-533. Ambrose, Kay. Classical Dances and Costumes of India. Adam and Black, Lon don, 1965. Basham, A.L. The Wonder that was India. London, 1954. Bergman, Ingmar. Four Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman. tr. L. Malmstrom and D. Kushner. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1960. Bhattacharya, A.K. 'West India'. Jaina Art and Architecture, vol. II. Ed. A. Ghosh. Bharatiya Jnanpith, New Delhi, 1975, p. 363. Bhattacharya, B.C. The Jaina Iconography, 2nd rev. ed. Motilal Banarasidass, Delhi, 1974. Bhavnani, Enakshi. The Dance in India. Taraporevala, Bombay, 1970. Brockington, J.L. The Sacred Thread: Hinduism in its Continuity and Diver sity, Edinburgh, 1981. Brown, W. Norman. Man in the Universe: Some Cultural Continuities in India, Berkeley, 1966. Coomaraswamy, A.K. Catalogue of the Indian Collections in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2 parts. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1923. Elements of Buddhist Iconography. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1935. The Transformation of Nature in Art. Cambridge, Mass., 1934. - Rajput Paintings, vol. I. Motilal Banarasidass, Delhi, 1976. Dehejia, Vidya. Yogini: Cult and Temples. National Museum, New Delhi, 1986. Desai, K.S. Iconography of Visnu. Abhinav Publications, New Delhi, 1973. Deva, Krishna. West India: Caulukya Temples'. Jaina Art and Architecture, vol. II. Ed. A. Ghosh. Bharatiya Jnanpith, New Delhi, 1975, pp. 300-306. Devi, Ragini. Dance Dialects of India. Motilal Banarasidass, Delhi, 1990. Eliade, Mircea. Myth of the Eternal Return. tr. Willard R. Trask, Princeton and London, 1955. Fergusson, James. History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, I, reprinted Delhi, 1967, pp. 47-48. - Tree and Serpent Worship. London, 1873. Gai, G.S. 'Inscriptions'. Jaina Art and Architecture, vol. III. Ed. A. Ghosh, Bharatiya Jnanpith, New Delhi, 1975, 441-455. Gaston, Anne-Marie. Siva in Dance, Myth and Iconography. Oxford Univer sity Press, Delhi, 1982. Ghosh, A. Ed. Jaina Art and Architecture, vols. I, II, III, Bharatiya Jnanpith, New Delhi, 1975.

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Gorakshakar, S.V., ed. Animals in Indian Art. Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, Bombay, 1979. Grover, Satish. The Architecture of India. Vikas Publishing House, Ghaziabad, 1980. Gupta, S.P. The Roots of Indian Art. R.B. Publishing Corporation, New Delhi, 1980. In the Image of Man: The Indian Perceptions of the Universe Through 2,000 Years of Painting and Sculpture. Festival of India Catalogue, Arts Council of Great Britain, London, 1982. Jain, Jyotindra and Eberhard Fischer. Jaina Iconography, Part I and II, E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1978. Jain, J.P. 'The Genesis and Spirit of Jaina Art'. Jaina Art and Architecture, vol. I. Ed. A. Ghosh. Bharatiya Jnanpith, New Delhi, 1975, 35-41. Kinsley, David. Hindu Goddesses. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1986. Kramrisch, S. The Art of India. Phaidon, London, 1954, pl. 137, p. 211. Krishna, Nandita. The Art and Iconography of Visnu-Narayana. Taraporevala, Bombay, 1980. Krishna: The Divine Lover. Serindia Publications, London, 1982. Kumar, Sehdev. The Lotus in the Stone. Alpha & Omega Books, Concord, 1985. The Vision of Kabir. Alpha & Omega Books, Concord, 1984. Lannoy, Richard. The Speaking Tree. Oxford University Press, London, 1975. Mahapatra, Sitakant. Beyond the Word: The Multiple Gestures of Tradition. Motilal Banarasidass, Delhi, 1993. Maury, Curt. Folk Origins of Indian Art. Columbia University Press, New York, 1969, 101-126. Meister, Michael W. Jain temples in Central India', Aspects of Jaina Art and Architecture, ed. U.P. Shah and M.A. Dhaky, Ahmedabad, 1975, 223-241. Miller, B.S. Ed. Exploring India's Sacred Art. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1983. Misra, Ram Nath. Yaksha Cult and Iconography. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, New Delhi, 1981. Mookerjee, Ajit. Ritual Art of India. Thames and Hudson, London, 1985. Yoga Art. New York Graphic Society, Boston, 1975. Pal, P. Indian Sculpture. vol. I. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1986. Light of Asia: Buddha Sakyamuni in Asian Art. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 1984. The Sensuous Immortals. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 1977. Neumann, E. The Great Mother. New York, 1961. O'Flaherty, Wendy D. Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Siva. London, 1973. Pereira, Jose. Monolithic Jinas, Motilal Banarasidass, Delhi, 1977. Riepe, Dale. The Naturalistic Tradition in Indian Thought, Seattle, 1961. Rowland, Benjamin. The Art and Architecture of India. Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1956. Sahi, Jyoti. The Child and the Serpent: Reflections on Popular Indian Symbolism. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1980. Shah, U.P. Jaina-Ropa-Mandana (Jaina Iconography), Abhinav Publications, New 194

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Delhi, 1987, pp. 246-255. _. 'Sculptural Art'. Jaina Art and Architecture, vol. II. Ed. A. Ghosh. Bharatiya Jnanpith, New Delhi, 1975, 306-309. 'Iconography of the Sixteen Jaina Mahavidyas', Journal of the Indian So ciety of the Oriental Art, vol. XV, p. 119. Sivaramamurti, C. Sources of History Illuminated by Literature. Kanak Publications, New Delhi, 1979. Stutley, Margaret. The Wustrated Dictionary of Hindu Iconography. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1985. Vatsyayan, Kapila. Classical Indian Dance in Literature and the Arts, New Delhi, 1968 - The Square and the Circle of the Indian Arts, New Delhi, 1983. Volwahsen, Andreas. Living Architecture: Indian. tr. Ann E. Keep. Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1969. Zimmer, Heinrich. Philosophies of India, New York, 1951. - (1946] Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization. Ed. J. Campbell, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1963. -- Artistic Form and Yoga in the Sacred Images of India. tr. by G. Chapple and J.B. Lawson. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1984. 195

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Glossary abhayamudra. A gesture assuring fearlessness, with hand raised, palm forward, and fingers upward. Acarya: A spiritual preceptor. aksamala: A rosary. amralumbi. The bunch of a mango tree. arga: A buttress. afijalimudra. A gesture of worship and offering in which the palms join to gether near the chest. ankusa: A goad. Apsard. A heavenly damsel. Aradhaka. A worshipper. ardhacandra. A crescent-shaped motif in the moonstone. ardhapadma: An ornamental motif with half lotus flower, often set up in lu nette bordered by beads. astamangalaka: The eight auspicious Jain symbols: svastika (swastika), srivatsa (a diamond-like sign), nandyavarta (a variant of swastika), varadhamanaka (powder flask), bhadrasana (throne), kalasa (a full vase), darpana (mirror), and matsya (fish). ayagapatta: A decorative stone slab. balanaka: A hall at the entrance of the temple as in the Vimalavasahi temple. bhitta: A plinth; the lowermost moulding of the pitha. caitya: A sanctuary. cakra: A disc or a circle. campaka: Michelia champaca flower. candrasild. A moonstone in front of the doorway, resembling a festoon. caturmukha: A four-faced temple, with four entrances as in Adisvara temple in Ranakpur. Caumukha. A four-faced image or shrine as in Adisvara temple in Ranakpur. caurt. A fly-whisk; most images of the Jain divinities have cauri-bearers standing next to them. damartt. A small double-headed drum. danda: A staff; a long walking-stick usually carried by Jain monks on long jour neys. darpana. A mirror. devakulikus. A row of shrine cells around a Jain temple as at Vimalavasahi and Lunavasahi.

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dhvaja: A flag-pole. dhyanamudra: A gesture of meditation in which the hands are held in the lap, one above the other, with palms turned upward. dikpala: A regent of one of the eight directions. dvarapala: A guardian at the entrance. gajatalu: Literally, an elephant's palate; in architecture, a coffered course in a ceiling decorated with rafters. gandharva: A heavenly figure, usually a musician. garbhagsha: Literally, womb. The sanctum sanctorum. gudhamandapa: The closed hall in front of the sanctum. hastisala: A hall containing figures and statues of elephants carrying figures of the royal builder and his close relatives. jagati: A terrace or platform. jnanamudra: A hand gesture indicating self-knowledge; in this gesture the tips of the middle finger and the thumb are joined together and held close to the heart, with palm turned towards the heart. kalasa: Literally, a pitcher; in architecture it refers to the moulding of the vedibandha. kayotsarga: A standing posture in which the body is held erect and the two hands hang at the sides. kevalajnana: Omniscience. khattaka: A deep sculptured niche in the mukhamandapa; there are two mag nificent khattakas in the Lunavasahi temple. kirttimukha: Literally, 'face of glory'; a leonine head with bulging eyes and flat nose. kola: Literally, pig's tusk; in architecture, a cusped course in a ceiling deco rated with rafters. ksipta: A ceiling where the courses recede in. laksana: A distinctive mark. lalitasana: A seated posture in which one leg is tucked on the seat, the other - with knee bent resting on the ground. luma: A decorative motif of the ceiling consisting of a pendant, or kola courses, disposed like a nabhicchanda ceiling, in diminishing concentric rings; in the latter form it looks like a depressed luma. makara: An alligator or crocodile, often used as a decorative motif at the en trance to the temple. mandaraka: A ceiling consisting of padmasila. Meru: A mountain in four stages, each with a four-faced Jina image. mithuna: An amorous couple. mukhamandapa: A colonnaded vestibule between the gudhamandapa and the rangamandapa; also known as trika or cauki-mandapa. mulandyaka: The principal deity in the sanctum. mulaprasada: The Sanctum. nabhicchanda: Literally, concentric; in architecture, it is a ksipta ceiling consisting of kolas. nabhimandaraka: A composite ceiling consisting of nabhicchanda and mandaraka elements. Naga: A snake. depressers in dims of a pe 198

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Nagin. A female serpent. Nandisvaradvipa. A stone plaque with 52 miniature shrines arranged in four groups of thirteen each. navacaukt. An open hall, mukhamandapa, containing nine bays. Nayik. A damsel. Nirvana: Liberation from all bondage. padma: Literally, lotus; in architecture, a cyma moulding, often decorated with lotus petals. padmaka: A ceiling where the lumas, often eight in number, are prominently shown. padmanabha. A composite ceiling consisting of padmaka and nabhicchanda elements. padmapatra: The lotus scroll. padmasana: A seated posture with both legs crossed and with feet resting on the thighs. padmasila. The central lotus pendant of a ceiling. pancakalyanaka: Five auspicious events in the life of a Jina. parasu. A battle-axe. parikara: An ornamental frame of an image. pataka. A flag or a banner. phansand. The stepped pyramidal roof. pitha: The basement; the member between the ground and the vedibandha. prakara. An enclosure wall around the temple. Pratihara: A guardian. rangamanqapa: An open hall in front of the mukhamandapa but rarely in front of gudhamandapa; it is a hall for dramatic and dance performances. ratha: A buttress. sabhamandaraka: A composite ceiling consisting of sabhamarga and mandaraka elements. samatala: A ceiling with ornate flat surface. Samavasarana: A congregation hall built by celestial beings, where gods, men and animals assemble to listen the discourse of a tinthankara. In art, it is shown as a circular fortified structure surmounted by a quadruple of Jina. sarkha: A conch. saparikara: An image of Jina with a parikara. sardala: A mythical animal with leonine features. simhasana: A throne. Sravaka: A layman. Sraviki. A laywoman. torana: A portal. torana-arch: An ornamental arch between two columns. tribhanga. A posture in which the body is flexed thrice. trisala. A trident. tri-Hirthi. A panel with figures of three Jinas. vahana: Literally, a mount; in iconography, a distinctive sign or cognizance. vajra: A thunderbolt. 199

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varadaksa: A boon-giving posture with rosary. varadamudra: A boon-giving posture, with hand lowered, palm forward and fingers pointing downwards. vasahi or vasati: A temple. vedibandha: Podium. Vidyadhara: Literally, 'carriers of knowledge'; an angelic being, human in form and without wings. vihara. A monastery. vina: A lute. vyakhyanamudra: A gesture of giving a sermon in which the tips of the thumb and forefinger touch each other to form a circle; the other fingers are kept open. The palm of the hand is raised up near the breast towards the front. vyala: A mythical composite animal of leonine form. 200

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Credits for Illustrations All photographs in this volume, unless otherwise indicated, have been taken by the author over the years. The courtesy and assistance offered to the author/photographer in this task by a number of different management bodies and individuals at various temples, particularly at Ranakpur and Dilwara, are gratefully acknowledged. Indeed, without their generosity, this work could not have been accomplished. We are also much obliged to the following individuals and institutions for permission to use various illustrations, as indicated, as part of this volume: Allahabad Museum Nataraja, Kangra, 18th century A.D. Bharatiya Kala Bhavan, Varanasi Siva dancing, Kangra, 18th century A.D. Krsna and Radha in a lotus. Miniature, Basohli, early 18th century A.D. Hiranyagarbha, The Golden Egg of Brahma, 18th century A.D., Kangra. Berthe and John Ford Collection Birth of Mahavira, Folio from Kalpasutra, Gujarat, 15th century A.D. Chester and Davida Herwitz Family Collection Pata with eight auspicious symbols, Gujarat, c. 1950-70 A.D. Gursharan and Elvira Sidhu Collection A jina in samavasarana-the celestial assembly, Western India, c. 1575 A.D. Indian Museum, Calcutta The Naga Elapatra worshipping the Buddha, Sunga, 2nd century B.C. Siva's twilight dance, Kangra, 18th century A.D. Jean-Claude Ciancimino Collection Cosmic Being, Jain Book Cover, Gujarat, 18th century A.D. Linden Museum, Stuttgart Lokapurusha, Cosmic Man, Rajasthan, c. 1884 A.D. Los Angeles County Museum of Art A Jain monk receiving a prince, Rajasthan, c. 1635-45 A.D. Adoration of a Jina, Andhra Pradesh, c. 1675-1700 A.D. Lustration of a Jina, Gujarat, c. 1800-25 A.D.

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A devotee emerging from a lotus: Crossbar from a Railin Madhya Pradesh, Bharhut, 2nd century B.C. Goddess Sarasvati, Uttar Pradesh, 6th century A.D. Buddha sheltered by Muchalinda, 13th century A.D., Thailan Kalyadaman, Tamilnadu, 14-15th century A.D. A celestial being adoring the Buddha: Crossbar from Railing, Madhya Pradesh, Bharhut, 2nd century B.C. National Museum, New Delhi Nataraja, 18th century A.D., Chamba. The dance of apsaras, Illustrated page from Kalpasutr Western India, 15th century A.D. Ganga standing on a lotus flower, Bengal, Sena, 12th centu: A.D. Exchange of embryos, Kalpasutra, ca. 1439 A.D., Mewar. Nataraja, Bronze, Chola, 11th century A.D. Lintel showing Nataraja in central panel dancing, late Chaluky 12th century A.D. Ktsna subduing the serpent Kaliya, Chola period, 10-11 century A.D. Paul F. Walter Collection Lokapurusha, Cosmic Man, Rajasthan, c. 1775 A.D. San Diego Museum of Art A Jina, Hindu Deities, and Animals, Mewar, Rajasthan, c. 165 75 A.D. Sridhar Andhre Collection Hall of the Universal Sermon, Rajasthan, c. 1800 A.D. Pilgrimage Picture of Satrunjaya, Gujarat, c. 1800 A.D. The Trustees of Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay The gopis worshipping the Tree of Life, Painted Cloth, ear 19th century A.D. Gommatesvara from Deccan, Rastrakuta, 9th century A.D. Estate of Ajit Mookerjee Nava-grha, c. 1900 A.D., Rajasthan. From Muldhara to Sahasrara, 17th century A.D., Uttar Prades Meditative Centres: Cakras, 17th century A.D., Rajasthan. Kalyana, Gita Press Yogi and the representation of various cakras, Bihar, 191 century A.D. Ravi Kumar Collection Samavasarana-patta, an assembly of devotees, early 191 century A.D., Rajasthan. Jambudvipa, The Island of the Rose-apple Tree, 16th centui A.D., Gujarat Loka-purusa: Cosmic Man, 17th century A.D., Gujarat. Cosmic Egg, 18th century A.D., Rajasthan. Siddhacakrayantra, an auspicious diagram, c. 1892 A.D., Jaipu Mystic syllables Om and Hrim, 15th century A.D., Gujarat. Tirthankara Parsvanatha in meditation, Rajasthan, 17th centui A.D. 202

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Index 12 Abhinandana 132 Aristanemi 143 Abhinayadarpana 183 Arthasastra 59 Mount Abu 8, 23, 68, 76, 78, 106, 170 Artist 55 Acaradinakara 119 Arunachalesvara temple 182 Acarya(s) 9, 51 Asaraja-viharas 78 Acchupta 135, 136 Asoka 151, 163 Adinatha 13, 68, 70, 74, 93 (also see Assam 184 Rsabhanatha) astamangalaka 13 Adinatha temple 78 Astapada-prasada 78 Adisvara 93 Atharva Veda 55 Adisvara temple 56, 93-106, 139, 158 atma 12 Afghanistan 149 Avalokitesvara 38, 41, 42, 44 Agamas 55 Agni 18, 40 Badami 139 Ahimsa 1 Bahubali (Gommatesvara) 147-152 Aihole 142 Balarama 114 Airavata 23 Bali 155 Aitareya Brahmana 51 Bamian 149 Ajanta 44, 184 Barabar 151 Ajatasatru 22, 111 Belur 183 Ajitanatha 130 Bengal 184 Ajitanatha temple 18, 67 Bergman, Ingmar 54 Ajivika 151 Bhadrabahu 5, 7 akasa 44 Bhairava 130 Alexander 163 bhaktas 23 alokakasa 23 bhakti 184, 190 Amaravati 44, 143, 173 Bharata 23 Ambika 15, 17, 24, 28, 72, 76, 85, 107- Bharata 147 114 Bharatanatyam 171, 172, 175, 182, 183 amsta 47 Bharhut 44, 173 ananda 184 Bhasmasura 183 Ananda 55 bhava 190 Ananda Tandava 175 Bhavanapati 22 Andhra 42, 173, 184 bhavasagar 3 antariksa 40 Bhoja 58 apara 38 Bhubaneshwar 110 Appar 190 Bhudevi 38 Apraticakra 132, 136 Bihar 5, 7 Apsaras 173 bija 58 aradhaka 114 bindu 110 Aragon, Louis 170 Bodhgaya 44 Architect 55 Brahma 38, 58, 119, 160 Architecture 55 Brahmasanti 17, 76 Arhats 9, 12 Bphadisvara temple 181, 184, 186

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Buddha 14, 36, 37, 38, 42, 44, 99, 139, Ganga 132, 156 143, 149, 155, 163, 164 Ganga dynasty 147 Buddhism 1 Gauri 132 Buddhist period 173 Ghumli 67 Burma 155 Girnar 8, 23, 67, 78 Godhara 78 caitya 155 Great Stupa 54, 99 Cakresvari 15, 17, 75, 107, 127-128 Gujarat 7, 65, 67, 70, 106 Cambodia 155 Gupta period 13, 37, 38, 44 Caulukya(s) 65, 66, 67, 78 Gwalior 142 Caumukha temple 9, 18 (also see Adisvara temple) Halcbid 183 Central India 56 Hansibai 68 Chaitanya 190 Himalayas 175, 187 Chandidas 190 Himavata 23 Chartres 54 Hinduism 1 Chattisgarh 64 Hiranyakasyapa 47 Chidambaram temple 175, 182, 184 Hoysala temples 183 Chola period 184 Classical Age 173 Indra 12, 18, 22, 23, 41, 111, 124, 132, Classical music 187 160 Coomaraswamy, A.K. 155 Indra-mandapa 78 Isana 18 Dabhoi 78 Isanasivagurudevapaddhati 58 Dantivarman 181 Isanendra 76 darpana 13 darsan 167 Jain canon 7 Dasaratha 151 Jain council 7 Deepaka 93 Jain pantheon 18 Deogarh 128 Jaina stupas 63 devadasis 177 Jain temple Devas 23 rituals performed in 12-13 Dharanendra 129, 142, 143 Jainism 1,5 dharma 55, 177 Jains 1 Dholaka 78 universe, conception of 22-23 Digambara 7 Jambudvipa 23 Digambara tradition 120, 127, 129 Jambunada 132 Digambaras 7, 13, 147 Jarasanda 143 dikpalas 18 Java 155 diksa 7 Jayadeva 190 Dilwara 8, 9, 18, 45, 51, 162, 191 jhallari 22 Durga 111, 183 jina 3, 13-14 Junagadh 78 Egypt 149 Jvalamalini 132 Elephanta Caves 110 Jyotiska 22 Ellora 51, 114, 139, 140, 151, 186 Kabir 190, 191 Fergusson, James 106, 149 Kailasa temple 51, 186 kaladevi 52 Gaja-Laksmi 85, 120, 124 kalakar 59 Gandhara 42 kalas 52, 59 Gandhari 132 kalasa 13 gandharvas 135 Kali 132, 183 Ganesa 114, 130, 183 Kaliya 143 204

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Kalpasutra(s) 7, 123, 124, 155 Mahakali 132 kalpavsksa 111, 155, 162 Mahamanasi 24, 135-136 Kamatha 142, 143 Maharashtra 140 Kanchipuram 184 Mahavidyas 24, 129 Kanishka 163 Mahavira 3, 5, 7, 8, 13, 22, 34, 36, Kanthkot 18 111, 124, 139, 155 Kapardi 76 Mahavira temple 18, 68 kar seva 55 Mahayaksa 130 Karkal 152 Manasi 134 karmans 12 Manavi 24, 134 Karnataka 5, 7, 64 mandalas 44 Karnavati 78 Manipuri 172 Kathak 172 Manjusri 44 Kathakali 171, 172 Manu 59 Kela 56, 119 manusya-loka 23 Kesava temple 70 Mara 139, 143 kevalajnana 3, 7 Markandeya 172 Khajuraho 63, 64, 110 Marwar 64 Khambhat 78 Mathura 13, 42, 63, 64, 99, 114, 140 Khandagiri 173 Matisse, Henri 169, 170 kinnaras 18, 22 Matskas 130 kirttimukhas 155 matsya 13 Konark 110 Mattamayura 56 Kramrisch, Stella 54, 63, 110, 160 Maury, C. 38, 110 Krsna 5, 114, 143, 164, 169, 173, 183, Mayadevi 40 184, 187, 190 Meenakshi Sundaram temple 184 Krsna lila 190 Meghamalin 139 Kubera 18, 114 Megharatha 145 Kumara 164 Mount Meru 22, 41, 111 Kumarapala 70 meru-danda 44 Kumbharia 8, 18, 67, 68, 158 Mewar 93 Michelangelo 51 Laksmi (Sri-Laksmi) 15, 18, 30, 37, 38, Mira 190 41, 107, 123-124 Modhera 70 Lannoy, Richard 171 Mohini 183 Lao-Tzu 110 Mucalinda 143 Lasya 186 mulanayaka 64 linga 14 Mungthala 64 loka 23 muraja 22 lokakasa 23 Lotus in art and worship 29-47 Nagarjuni 151 Loyana 56, 119 Nagarjunikonda 143 Lunavasahi temple (Tejahpala Naigamesin 18, 22, 111 temple) 9, 18, 22, 65, 66, 67, 78-87, Nami 129 114, 121, 128, 135, 136, 143, 145, Nandini 160 147, 155, 159, 163, 167, 170, 191 nandyavarta 13 mukhamandapa 79 Naradatta 132 navacauki 79 Narasimha 155 rangamandapa 79-87 Nataraja 169, 173, 175, 183, 184, 186, 187 Madurai 184 Nataraja temple 184 Magadha 56 Natavara 169 Mahabharata 164 Natya Sastra 181, 182, 183 Mahajvala 132 Navasari 78 205

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Nayanmars 190 ras-lila 173 Neminatha 3, 5, 38, 107, 112, 114, Rgveda 5, 8, 29 143-145 Rohini 72, 130, 136 Rsabhadeva 147 Neminatha temple 18, 67, 68, 78 Nirrti 18 nirvana 3, 7 Rsabhanatha 5, 127, 129, 132, 152 (also see Adinatha) Rupamandana 107 Nirvanakalika 134, 135 Nrsimha 44, 47 Odissi 167, 172, 182, 183 Orissa 167, 173, 183 Padmasambhava 38 Pahari miniatures 175, 187 Pal, P. 14, 15, 40, 163, 171 Palitana 106 panca maha kalyanaka 7, 111 Panca-Paramesthins 9 para 38 paramatman 12 Parasnath 23 Parsvadharas 23 Parsvanatha 3, 13, 74, 106, 139-143 Parsvanatha temple 63, 67, 78, 158 Parthenon 51 Parvati 41, 175 Pasila 68 Pataliputra 7 Patan 78 Pavagadh 78 Pereira 14 Prabhasa 78 Prajapati 40 Prajnaparamita 44 Prajnapti 130, 136 Prakriti 164 Pratiharas 18, 22 Prithvipala 70 puniya 56 Puranas 55 Purusa 14, 164 Pusti 119 Pusupadanatha 156 Ragas 187 Raginis 187 Rajasthan 7, 9, 64, 67, 106, 184, 187 Rajatarangini 177 Rajimati 145 Ramses 149 Sadhus 9 sagar manthan 47 sahasrara padma 44 Saiddhantikas 56 Sakra 22, 111 Samarangana-sutradhara 58 Sambhavanatha 79 Sambhavanatha temple 18 samsar 3 rasik 59 Samudragupta 163 Sanchi 44, 54, 63, 99, 124 Sandhya bhasa 175 santa rasa 14 Santinatha 79, 145 Sarangapani temple 182 Sarasvati 15, 18, 56, 76, 107, 119-121, 160, 183 Sarnath 163 Sarvanubhuti 17, 24, 72, 76 sasanadevatas 17, 18 Satapatha Brahmana 38 Satrunjaya 8, 23, 78, 106 Sesa 143 Siddha-sila 23 Siddhas 9, 12 Silpa 51 Silpa Sastra(s) 55, 182 Silpins 51 Siva 14, 110, 143, 160, 164, 169, 173, 175, 183, 184, 186, 187, 190 Skanda Purana 8 Somnathpur 70 Sravanbelgola 147, 152 Sri Lanka 155 srivatsa 13 Srngarasatakam 14 sthapaka 51, 58 sthapana 9 sthapati 51, 58 Sthulibhadra 7 Sun temple 70, 183 Rana Kumbha 93 Ranakpur 8, 9, 18, 45, 51, 56, 93, 139, Sunanda 18, 111 140, 158, 160, 162 Surya 37, 38 sutragrahi 51 South India sravakas 68 7, 183 }

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svadharma 54 svarga-loka 23 svastika 13 Svetambara 7 Vastupala-vihara 78 Vatthu-sara-payarana 64 Vayu 18 Vedas 30, 55 Svetambara(s) 7, 13, 18, 111, 120, 127, Venur 152 129, 132 Vidisa 55 taksaka 51 Tanjore 181, 184, 186 110 Tantrism Tara 38 Taranga 8, 18, 67 Tejahpala 78 Thailand 44 Tharad 78 tirtha 7 tirthaksetra 7 tirthankara(s) 3, 15, 17, 18 Trisala 22, 111 Trisastisalakapurusacaritra 22, 127, 129, 139, 147 Udayagiri 64, 173 Universe Jain conception of 22-23 Upadhyayas 9 utpalla-padma 30 Uttar Pradesh 128 Vaghelas 78 vahanas 18 vaimanika 23 Vairotya 72, 134-136 Vaitadhya 129 Vajra 172 Vajrankusi 132, 136 Vajrasrnkhala 75, 132, 136 Valabhi 7 Vallabha 190 varadhamanaka 13 vardhaki 51 Varuna 18, 156 Vasistha 40 Vastupala 78 vidyadevis 18, 22, 23, 24, 52, 107, 129-137 vidyadharas 18, 22, 23, 119, 124, 135 Vidyapati 190 Vimala 68 Vimalavasahi temple 9, 18, 22, 28, 47, 56, 65, 66, 67, 68-78, 107, 119, 120, 128, 130, 134, 135, 136, 143, 145, 155, 156, 158, 159, 163, 170 gudhamandapa 72-74 mukhamandapa 74 navacauki 74 pitha 74 rangamandapa 74-78 Vinami 129 Vinayaka 18 Vindhyagiri 23 Virabhadra 130 Visnu 14, 30, 37, 40, 41, 42, 110, 114, 119, 143, 160, 164, 183 Visnudharmottara 58, 164, 172 Visvakarma 30, 54, 58 vrata 54 Vrddhagirisvara temple 182 Vrtra 143 Vyantara 22 vyavaharis 68 Western India 44 yaksas 24-25 yaksis 24-25 Yama 18 Yamuna 132 Yeats, W.B. 167 Yugadisvara 93 Zimmer, Heinrich 15, 44, 151, 160 207

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