Manuscript Illustrations Of Uttaradhyayana Sutra

Author(s): W Norman Brown
Publisher: American Oriental Society

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28. THE ROAD TO SALVATION The road to salvation (mokşa) taught by the Jinas, says this chapter, depends on four causes and has right knowledge and doctrine (faith) as its characteristics. The four causes are Right Knowledge, Doctrine (Faith), Conduct, and Austerity. Each of these is analyzed in the text in considerable detail, and this chapter and those following it constitute an epitome of Jain metaphysics and practice.
Salvation, that is, deliverance (mokşa) from the bonds of Karma (works), is attained in life; at death Nirvāṇa is the result. The souls of the perfected reside at the top of the universe. Just below the top of the universe is the place called İşātprāgbhāra, made of pure gold, shaped like an inverted umbrella, 4,500,000 yojanas long and as many broad, somewhat more than three times as many in circumference, eight yojanas thick in the middle and tapering toward the edge, which is thinner than a fly's wing. Immediately above Işātprāgbhāra is a place Sitā, white, and a yojana from there is the end of the universe. Perfected souls penetrate to the last krośa of this yojana, and there they abide (Uttarādhyayana Sūtra 36, 58-64).
The illustrations of HV (fig. 111) and JM (fig. 112; wrongly placed in the manuscript with chapter 30) are essentially alike, each showing five Siddhas (perfected being) in Sitā. They are fully ornamented and gloriously seated like kings; above each is a parasol, fully shown in JM (fig. 112), but only outlined in HV (fig. 111). This royal appearance, rather than that of a monk, is the usual Jain inconography of incorporeal souls, which, of course, can only be symbolized, never actually depicted. In the lower register of each painting are two monks engaged in conversation. In DV (fig. 114) only three monks are shown, who are seated under a common umbrella. There is no lower register, but under İşātprāgbhāra are the mountain peaks of the Sarvārtha Vimāna (heaven); similar scenes appear in BrKS figs. 81, 92, 114, 128.
JP (fig. 113) has in the upper register a monk preaching to a layman. In the lower register is a curious scene of a layman, ornamented and seated on a throne, apparently preaching to another layman, both using attitudes common in representations of monks. I cannot explain the scene.
See remarks on the illustrations to Chapter 1 (above).
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