Jain Journal 1975 07

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

Page 32

JULY, 1975
has been convincingly referred to. "Who can say with certainty", it has been told in a descriptive list published on the occasion of the Exhibition, "that Sambhavanatha Hill and Candranatha Hill near Sitakund in the District of Chittagong (in Bangladesh) were not dedicated to the 3rd Tirthankara Sambhavanatha and the 8th Tirthankara Candranatha? Tirthankara images carved on the Surya Hill near Goalpara in Assam is a standing proof that Jainism spread to the eastern extremity of the country". Highlighting as it were the echoing hymns of the Vaisnava poets and the cults of the Auls, Bauls and the Nath Yogis where the breakers of an ancient faith as that of the thoughts involving the ideology of the Nirgrantha are ever lamenting for universal love the Exhibition completed an epic of Jaina history and its glory sparkling from a world beyond human bondage.
The series of paintings shown in the Academy of Fine Arts included a number of outstanding brush-works of Lalwani. With their softly glowing colours harmonising a symbolic mood and lay-out in the perspective of holy legends and allegories the paintings often reveal the ingredients of a masterpiece. The works include the lonely hills and wood-lands on the way to the sacred mount of Pareshnath as also themes associated with the Tirthankaras, a painting visualising Jaina Sarasvati, a glimpse of the legend of Samudrapaliya and some metaphysical diagrams envisaging the mystery of the Jain Tantra. While dealing with the account of young Candanbala's dedication to Mahavira and the renunciation of prince Neminatha watched by his bride-to-be from the palace-balcony the paintings have offered the essence of a virtue eternal in its appeal. Here the style is as restrained and suggestive in its delicate workmanship as the mediaeval tradition of art which achieved a warmth in Rajput and Mughal courts. Besides the schematic balance the lines and motifs have attained a reposeful harmony by their pleasing tone or angularity often verging to a lyrical import. As it will appear, the paintings Dipavali and the Life of Parsva are the results of a cherished ideal yearning for a spiritual splendour which can only be enshrined in the ultimate perception of the reality underlying all existence. While the former reveals a moment of eternal glory, the Nirvana of Mahavira, when tears of the devotee sparkled in the receding light, the latter depicts the meditation of Parsvanatha unhindered by a wave of marine blue which splashes like the mirage of life. Whether following the ideals of cubism or the tradition the art of Lalwani has indeed opened a new vista of perception.
The Exhibition was sponsored by Jain Bhawan, Calcutta.
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--P. C. Dasgupta