Demarcating Sacred Space The Jina Images at Kalugumalai

SR No.: 007302
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Lisa N Owen
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown
Publication Year: 2010
Total Pages: 28
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 2 MB

Page 9

Gommateśvara also endured hardships during his meditation towards enlightenment. Gommateśvara was a warrior-prince who went to battle against his own brother in order to maintain his portion of his father's kingdom. At the precise moment of his victory, however, Gommateśvara realized the transience of worldly affairs and went to the forest to perform austerities in order to escape the sufferings of existence. It is said that he stood in a meditative posture for so long, that vines grew up around his body. Although Gommateśvara achieved omniscience and became a kevalin, he did not preach in a samavasarana and therefore did not become a Tīrthankara. Gommateśvara is shown here at Kalugumalai with the standard Digambara iconography of two female attendants (vidyādhari) and the vines that encircle Gommateśvara's legs. Thus, the presentation of Gommateśvara and the Jina Pārsvanātha on the same rock surface may present the difficult, but successful achievement of kevalajñāna by a mortal man and by one destined to become a Jina. The visual pairing of these two figures is found in the ca. seventhcentury Jain cave at Aihole (Aihole) and becomes quite popular in the ninth century at Ellora where we find at least nineteen examples (Owen 2006a: 198-200). Moreover, this pair is also found in the images constituting Group 4 at Kalugumalai.
Figure 6: Group 4 at Kalugumalai
Groups 4 and 5 follow a gentle bend in the rock and are shaded by the overhanging
6 The earliest extended account of the feud between Gommateśvara and his brother is recorded in Jinasena's Adipurāna. For an English translation of these chapters see Strohl (1993: 208-44). Other texts with this narrative include Puspadanta's Mahāpurāna and Hemacandra's Trişastiśalākāpuruşacaritra.