________________
240: JAINS TODAY IN THE WORLD
manuscripts, with naives miniature paintings in bright colourings, "yantra" used during rituals of atonement, invitations to ascetics to come for their supplies or advices for ordinations. There are paintings on wood or on linen showing places of pilgrimage, with rich colourings, displayed at the occasion of great religious festivals to devotees that cannot travel, "stambha","mana-stambha", towers like the "kirti-stambha" at Chittor, embellished by Tirthankara, dating from the XIIIth century and restored in the XVth. It is also the period of exquisite paintings on rock-sides, walls of buildings, palm-leaves, wood or woven materials, of many monuments, sanctuaries and temple-cities of which we have given a detailed but not exhaustive summary in chapter 5. There is the artistic work of Jain nuns embroidering in a very naive and colourful manner the broomsticks of Śvetämbara ascetics. Are mentioned too the numerous typical Jain “mandala" and the somewhat tantric paintings on cotton, called "citrapata" or "pata", with diagrams containing "mantra" and images of Tirthankara or deities regarded as a direct way to omniscience and illumination. There are also tantric "pata", called “Sūri mantra pata", made by specialists and offered to ascetics to help them in their meditations when they are initiated as “Acārya”.
One can also witness the construction of new Jain temples in India, the restoration of decayed ones, the unearthing of ruins of old ones and of ancient statues showing the efforts displayed on the matter we are speaking. Unfortunately, there are also today people who damage Jain sculptures and statues or steal them to sell to antique dealers. This is a scandal but a new proof of the great interest these works have for specialists in the world.
During the four exhibitions on "Jain art" held in 1994 at the "County Museum of Art' in Los Angeles, in 1995 at the "Art Museum" in Kimbell and the "Museum of Art" in New-Orleans, as well as in 1995-1996 at the "Victoria and Albert Museum" in
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
