ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 04

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

Page 118

Jaina sculpture from the earliest stages also subscribes strictly to the conventional Indian tradition of artistic execution to the minutest degree.Sacred images were created strictly in a hierarchical order of images that called for a corresponding system of scales known as Tala. There were ten talas, starting with the highest unit of ten, dasatala, concerning divinities of the top order, and continuing with the human (astatala) and the lower forms (ektala) of life and images. The dasatala images were divided into three parts-uttam, madhyam and adham. Mah v ra, along with Buddha, Bramha, Visnu and Maheshwara, belonged to the prestigious top-club category, the uttam dasatala. These were the images of the supremely realized souls who in their omniscience merited an appropriate artistic representation. The sculptured image of divinity demanded special attention to four main anatomical features: the entire body, face, eyes and nose-reflecting fulfillment, beauty, joyousness, elegance and serenity. The purpose of such an artistic composition of beauty would be to create a sense of awe and veneration in the beholder.
The silpa texts prescribe in detail the measurements and nature for any image-in which the body is positioned perfectly straight with the arms by the sides in a natural way, the feet placed side by side with body weight equally distributed. The height of the body from crown to feet is divided into 124 parts, each part being known as dehangulam or viral, which in turn is divided in 8 parts, each known as yavai. The sculptor uses the established tala norms as well as his own prowess to create the perfect configuration of the features of the face and body of the divinity concerned, taking recourse to nature as well at every turn to enhance the beauty of his subject. The eyebrow can be shaped like a crescent moon and can be elegant and smooth as the arch of a bow: his eyes may parallel the lines of a kayal fish or a spearhead or the shy glance of a doe; his nose can be shaped like a flower gracefully ending with a deep fold. The upper lip should have an edge and three curves, the lower lip shaped like a half moon. The ear resembles a conch in shape.
The exception to Jaina iconography while being "in perfect correspondence with it, is the figure of Bahubali or Gommateshwara. He is no tirthankara in the conventional sense and yet all Jainas revere him as the unique son of the first tirthankara abhan tha. He too renounced the world to find himself. He is one of the most visible of icons within the dynamic repertoire of Jaina sculptures. The colossal statue of Bahubali in Sarvanbelgola, Karnataka, stands 21 m. high on top of a hill, carved out of a single boulder of granite a thousand years ago.
Jaina art, and specifically Jaina sculpture relates the microcosm of the Tirthankara icon at its center to the glorious macrocosm of the faith at large among the laity at the circumference. This phenomena is symbolized in myriad ways: the sculptured magnificence of the Udaygiri, Khandagiri, Ajanta, Ellora and Badami caves; the temples of Mt.Abu, Ranakpur and Khajuraho; the victory pillar in Chitor temple cities like that of Palitana in Saurashtra. All this and more, symbolically comprise the Jaina 'universe' that Mah vra chose to address in the state of his supreme knowledge, his kevala jñana. Such a 'universe' in all its multiplicity as well as unity, is the subject of Jaina art and sculpture. "The main achievements of this age" observes Jose Pereira in Monolithic Jinas, "are noniconographical."
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