Jain Journal 1974 10

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 18

66
As it has been amply revealed, Vardhamana Mahavira has been represented in the mediaeval art of India often in a conventional grace commended by early Jainism and the array of such images pay a glowing tribute to the spiritual maxim and devotion of the adherents of the Nirgrantha who regarded the perfect knowledge as lying beyond the world of mortal bondage. The faith remained unchanged and created monuments through the succession of centuries. From the birth to the Nirvana the history of Mahavira has epitomised the glory of knowledge as done by the lives of earlier Jinas the time and space having little value to Jaina philosophy which has conveyed the significance of Pudgala-Sunyata, i.e., the meaninglessness of all atoms. Sculpted in the established iconic forms or visualised on miniature shrines or in conformity of the ideal of the Sarvatobhadra-Pratima aside his usual representation in the midst of Tirthankaras Mahavira's life has symbolised the Jaina art in its historical set-up as if from the mystic remoteness of a vanishing cult. Though the sculpture of Mahavira has an eminent position in Indian art including the ancient Jaina icons from West Bengal which reached the height of a distinctive refinement in postGupta and early mediaeval epochs, the number of such images may often be less than what may be expected in the context of the presence of numerous Jinas cast in metal or carved in stone. Herein is perhaps lying hidden an essential trait of the inner truth of the life and teachings of the last Tirthankara since the knowledge of Kevala attained by him actually glorified the knowledge itself and the saints of the past who belonged to the same spiritual norm. This ideal remained constant without any deviation in the metaphysical plane. The images of Rsabhanatha and Mahavira standing in Kayotsarga pose on a single stela now preserved in the British Museum recollects the cherished sublimity of the knowledge of the Pudgala.41 The question does not so much involve aspects concerning the divinity of Prana in the perspective of the transitory world as much upon the Supreme knowledge. Thus, Mahavira's images can be found within the holy milieu of Jaina iconography infusing as it were a faith in redemptipn to be conveyed by the appearance of a Tirthankara who may at the same time recall the mystic remoteness of the SasvataJinas. The latter, the eternal Jinas, are known to have crowd
41 Studies in Jaina Art, Plate XIV, Fig. 35.
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