ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 01

Author(s): International School for Jain Studies
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

Page 271

SCHOOL
TIONAL
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IN STUDIES
Jain (and Buddhist) art and sculpture, however, began and sustained the singular representation of the Jaina /Buddhist faith identified with their respective iconic paradigms - primarily figures like Mahāvīra and Buddha in a historical setting along with a mythological repertoire of divine, semi-divine and mutable icons like Yakṣas, Yakṣis, Bodhisattvas, humans, animals, birds and trees.
The result of such an artistic evolution through the media of sculpture and painting gave rise to a complex and heterogeneous iconography that sought to modify images/icons from much earlier religious and cultural contexts associated with pre-Aryan, Aryan and other civilizations, including the Harappan civilization of Mohen-jodaro. It is also interesting to note the uncanny similarity between Jaina and early Greek sculptures of Kouroi. The Jaina kayotsarga pose finds almost a parallel in the portrayals of the Apollos of Tenea (6th cent B.C.) and of Kouros (600 B.C.), except for their slightly extended left feet.
For the purposes of sculpture and painting the most popular of the twenty for named Tirthamkaras in the Jaina canon that have featured down the ages, have been fourRṣabhanatha, Neminātha, Pārśvanātha and Mahāvīra. The Kalpasūtra delineates mainly the lives of these four saints of whom only the last two earn a proper place in the chronicles of history leading up to the threshold of the 6th century before the birth of Christ.
At the heart of Jaina iconography, as mentioned earlier is the figure of the archetypal Jaina Tirthamkara Mahāvīra, depicted universally in two basic postures: (a) the standing. kayotsarga or khadgasana position in which the arms hang loosely by the sides reaching down to the knees, palms curved inwards, body completely relaxed, the eyes focused on the nose in the nāsāgradṛṣṭi, in deep meditation. The purpose of this meditation is to "to make an end to sinful acts. "In Hemachandra's verse the ideal perception of the kayotsarga pose is portrayed: "At dead of night he stands in the kayotsarga outside the city wall and the bullocks taking him for a post rub their flanks against his body;" (b) the second posture is the sitting, lotus-like padmasana position that corresponds with one of Buddha's meditative positions. The Buddha has a third, reclining and position in his state of nirvāṇa.
The basic core of Jaina iconography, the figure of the tīrthamkara, is supplemented by four layers of images that identify the icon concerned:
1. Symbols of two types: (i) Characteristic attributes: Rṣabhanatha's flowing locks of hair, Pārsvanatha's seven-hooded snake; (ii) emblems of cognizance: bull for Rṣabhanatha,
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STUDY NOTES version 5.0