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10th Biennial JAINA Convention
FRONT COVER A Shirine with Four Jinas
Uttar Pradesh; 7th century Cream-colored sandstone 23 in. (58 4 cm) Los Angeles County Museum of Art Gift of Anna Bing Arnold
Four Jinas are seated in meditation on four sides of a central shaft whose top is missing. Such a configuration is known as sarvotabhadra (auspicious on all sides) or chaumukha (four-faced). There is thus a conceptual relationship with the four-faced sivalinga, the four emanatory forms of Vishnu, and the Buddhist stupa with four transcendental Buddhas on its four sides. A chaumukha (1.12) is an essential part of Jain temples, and this particular example once graced a Digambara Jain complex.
Of the four Jinas represented here two can be definitely identified. The figure with the long hair is Rishabhanatha and the one with the snake canopy is Parsvanatha. One of the others is certainly Mahavira, and the fourth is perhaps Neminatha. Certainly these four are the most important of the twenty-four Jinas, for only their lives are described at length in the canonical Kalpasutra. It should be noted, however, that there is no iconographic tradition prescribing which four should be represented in a chaumukha.
Had the sculptor responsible for this example differentiated the foliage above each Jina, one could have distinguished the two unidentified figures. Each Jina seems to be under an identical tree, perhaps the asoka, which is a cosmic tree for the Jains (Shah 1955, 67 - 71), as is the bodhi tree for the Bud&ists.
When complete the sculpture would have had some sort of a finial and a base that may have carried each Jina's cognizance. Very likely it was carved for a temple in Uttar Pradesh, for the stone has the same features as the buff Chunar sandstone of that region. Stylistic parallels are also found in Uttar Pradesh. Whatever its provenance, it is an impressive example of a chaumukha, with four serenely dignified Jinas, 2
BACK COVER SIDHACHAKRA
Gujarat, Ahmedabad Late 18th-Igth centuries Couched gold- and silver-toned twisted wire and metallic sequins accented with applied glass and cloth; silk and wool embroidery on silk velvet; woven metallic ribbon binding
53 1/2 X32 in.(135.9X81.3 cm)
Private collection
This luxurious and intricately embroidered Svetambara Jain textile depicts a siddhachakra (circle of Jinas). Alternatively it is called a navapada (nine dignities), composed of the five supreme beings (13) and the four essentials of Jainism.
The five supreme beings consist of five types: the arhat (an emancipated soul establishing the Jain assembly), the siddha (an emancipated soul residing at the top of the cosmological universe), the acharya (the head of an order of Jain monks), the upadLyaya (a monk who teaches scriptures), and the sadLu (all other Jain monks). They are represented by the five seated figures in the central lotus medallion: center, north, east, south, and west, respectively. Curiously, while their respective complexions are prescribed in Jain texts to bc white, red, yellow, blue, and black, here the siddha is golden, the upadLyaya is green, and the sadLu is blue. The lotus medallion is set in the center of a representation of a metal plaque, which is a more commonly surviving mode of depicting a siddhachakra.
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