Svasti

SR No.: 007006
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Nalini Balbir
Publisher: K S Muddappa Smaraka Trust
Publication Year: 2010
Total Pages: 446
Language: English, Hindi
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 16 MB

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SVASTI - Essays in Honour of Prof. Hampa Nagarajaiah
Jaina religion refer inter alia to the Brahmanical sacrifice but they do not concentrate on that subject One miniature version for Ch. 25 (viz. version a) shows the round or roundish sacrificial enclosure with two priests tête-à-tête inside it and with the sacrificial fire between them. Outside the enclosure stands Jayaghosa, shown as a Jaina monk. There are thus two priests, not one, and the dialogue between priest and monk is not indicated. Only in the lower register (if existing) do we find priest (bestowing alms) and monk tête-à-tête. See BROWN 1941: figs. 98, 99, 101; Utt (***) slide/Ch. 25. The motif concentrates on the denial and bestowal of alms, not on the dialogue. Version 6-2 shows the killing of a ram and a fire. There is no specific story behind it. The first scene (slaughter) appears to the right, the subsequent scene (cooking: fire as pictogram) to the left. We see a man to the right and a man to the left with a ram and a fire in the middle. The man to the right kills the ram, and the fire is the requirement for the meal preparation (the meal for the gods). The man to the left pours ghee into the fire on which the meat of the ram is going to be cooked. There is a marked difference between the man to the left and the man to the right. The former is seated; in one case he has a long beard and is bareheaded (MORGENROTH/HICKMAN 1979: 13), obviously a priest; in the two other cases he has a short beard and a "tiara", the usual attribute of a king. The man to the right (who kills the ram) is a mere youngster and is standing; he is beardless and has but scant dress. - In Bild 6, the neck of the ram is blood-stained (colour dark-red) and a vessel is placed directly below its neck to collect the blood when it drips down. In MORGENROTH/HICKMANN 1979: 13, the act of killing is more realistic; the darkred blood runs along the back; the vessel is missing. The man to the left places a ladle with a ball of ghee on the rim of the hearth. In Utt (0°), two dark-red streaks of blood are visible on the body of the ram. The man to the left pours ghee into the fire. There is again no vessel. — The scenes in the upper and lower registers are not clear, but similar in all three miniatures. See Bild 6 (BRUHN 2005), MORGENROTH/ HICKMANN 1979: 13, and Uttarādhyayana (0°) slide/Ch. 25. Refer for Utt (0) to Plate 11.8. The script to the left belongs to the basic text (mūla), the script to the right to one of the commentaries. The arrangement of script and miniature is demonstrated by MORGENROTH/HICKMANN 1979: 87 (Ch. 7: full manuscript-leaf, same miniature as p. 31). The story of Ch. 7 runs as follows. Just as a ram enjoys good food and all sorts of delicacies to be ultimately slaughtered for a guest, so the sinner enjoys life to end ultimately in hell. This is the müla text of Utt. The commentary has a supplementary story. A calf complains to its mother that the ram has a far better life than the calf. The mother tells the above parable so that the calf is satisfied with its poor food when it later sees how the ram is slaughtered. The miniature motif is b-1. Refer to MORGENROTH/HICKMANN 1979: 31 (Ch. 7), to BROWN 1941: figs. 19-21, and