Jain Journal 2006 04

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

Page 10

A.K. Bhattacharyya: Studies in Jaina iconography
however, a peculiarity in Buddhist art for which we have no exact parallel in Jainism. The symbolic representations by the Jains in their mss, and religious sculpture is more or less the character of sacred objects of worship sometimes singly so, sometimes taken in groups. A clear iconoclastic attitude which the Buddha is understood to have taken, on the strength of the above statements, is, however, only used as a justification for the dearth of the iconic representations in early Buddhist art and its abundance in later ages. The position of a Buddhist worshipper of the images is, however, clearly stated in the Divyāvadāna that he worships not the icon or the image as such but the principles it embodies. The Jains like the Hindus and the Buddhists had their own way of thinking in regard to the significance of imageworship. Images they held, were to be installed not so much because of their representing the actual avatāras, the Tīrthankaras and other deities of the pantheon, but primarily because in them the truest essence of the divine qualities is sought to be concentrated. In these material objects the divine qualities are sought to be made manifest so that meditating on these forms may make the influence of the divine presence felt in the minds of the devotees. Worship of these images means nothing other than an extolling of the excellence of the divine attributes they represent. It is also following this idea that we get into the real significance of the conception of a presiding deity over a tank or a residential quarter. Thus it is that an image of a Tīrthankara is to be conceived as the object which represents or reflects a collection of all the qualities we may most naturally conceive of in a Giver of the Law or the Maker of Religion or Piety, a Tīrthankara, so that it helps to inspire that feeling of reverence for the person it represents. It is said that Pratisthā is nothing other than the ceremony (of consecration) implying a recognition of the excellence and influence of the person or the object installed (pratişthā nāma dehinām
3.
Divvavadūna, (cd. E.B. Cowell & R.A. Neil) Ch. XXVI - p. 363 - The idea is expressed in the words of Sthavira-Upagupta addressing Māra thus : mrnmavişu pratikrtişvamurūņām vathā januh/ mitsamjñām anāditya namatyamarasamjiavā // tathähari tām ihodviksva lokanāthavapurdharam / māra - sanjñām anadrtwa natah Sugata - samjñavā //