Jain Journal 2001 07

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

Page 28

EKAMBARANATHAN : MAHÄVIRA IN SCULPTURAL ART-TAMIL NADU
23
sneeze violently. As a result, the devas who assembled on the mountain were thrown out in different directions. Realising the strength of the baby, the devas paid their obeisance to him and endowed him the name "Virasvāmi.20 Apart from this, the upasargas undergone by Mahāvīra during the course of his penance are also elaborately dealt with in the work.
Coinciding with the establishment of the Jinakāñchi Mutt at Chittamur in the 15th or 16th century A.D., there was also a spurt in building temples dedicated to Mahāvira. Consequently, Jaina centres like Tirumalai, Tachchambadi, Tayanur, Tellaru, Tondur, Peravur, Mullippattu, Valaipandal, Vilankadupakkam, Veliyanallur, Venpakkam, Esakulattur, Kattumalaiyanur, Kilvilivanam, Koilampundi etc., came to possess Mahāvira temples, which are under worship even at present. In all these temples, the main deity is a bold relief of Mahāvira with the usual iconographical features. Besides, bronze images of Mahāvira are also commonly met with in these temples, which are taken out in procession during festivals. These icons become very stiff and have angular profiles of the body and limbs. Their eyes are bulging, nose is sharp and lips are deep cut, Decorations on camaradaris, prabhāvali and triple umbrella are more pronounced in them. Even the earlier stucco figures of Mahavira as at Tirupparuttikunram, Karantai and Tirumalai, after their renovations in the 15th century and thereafter, exhibit these rigid physical features.
A majority of the stone and metal icons of Mahävira since the 17th or 18th century, contains the lion emblem carved on their pedestals, the practice of which is continued till date.
The events connected with the life story of Mahāvīra attracted the attention of painters also. As a result, the ceiling of the Sangitamandapa of the Vardhamana temple at Tirupparuttikunram was executed with two layers of paintings, one in the 14th century and the other in the 17th century. The earlier paintings, now extant only on the eastern part of the ceiling, depict the birth of Vardhamana to Priyākarāṇī, his janmabhiseka performed by Saudharmendra, god Sanghama as a snake entwining a tree. Vardhamana subducing it and finally a beautiful illustration of his samavaşarana21
In the second layer of painting, the life story of Mahāvīra is picturised in twenty seven panels and each one contains a label mentioning the event. In the first panel, the dream of Priyakarāṇī, its
20. Ibid., pp. 619-620. 21. T.N. Ramachandran, Tirupparuttikkunram and its Temples, pp. 161-163.