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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
The Visnu, Umā-Maheśvara and Buddha images along with others are put here in a group to represent the art of eastern India. An assorted group of bronzes from the famous Ghogha hoard arc on display. One of the large images of Adinātha in its 24Jina composition is a rare example of the art of the later Akota style. It bears a date 1066 inscribed on its back. The Ādinátha, from Sirpur near Nandurbar in Maharastra, is a classic cxample in itself. This rare bronze found its way in the present collection by virtue of its mistaken identity as Buddha, at the hands of Jains of the Sirpur establishment. They feared its discovery might prompt Buddhists to stall their claim over the site.
The nine life size sculptures from the Chola kingdom, a rare sight in Indian muscums of North India, adorn the gallery. Siva Daksiņāmurti, an image of the goc as a grcat teacher of dance, music and sciences, is a rare image for its animated countenance. His open mouth and hands in yākhyāna mudrā, impart an impressior of a particular moment of his discourse in progress, has been very successfully frozer by the sculptor in this image. This kind of animated representation, never attempter before, makes it a rare example in the history of Indian sculpturc. The goddess Vaishnavi from a local private collection, is yet another sculpture of rare occurrence for it is al unfinished sculpture in the history of Indian sculpture. It represents a phase of carvin just before its completion. It was abandoned for some reasons. On closer, cxamination one can casily observe that the sculpture began to finish the image but soon abandone it for obvious reasons. The broken right hand or the chipped off corner of the lip mig! have prompted him to give up the commission as such images are never consecrate in a temple. Other possibilities cannot be ruled out. Curiously enough the image tha was of no value to a temple project escaped the waggerics of time and found he ultimate destination in this muscum.
The portrait sculpture of Jaisimha Siddharāja dated - 1285, is a rare sculptu: from a group of other royal portrait images from Harij. These were done after h lifetime by one Thakker Vilhaņa. Other noted examples in the collection inclus Brahmanical bronzes from south India, and western India. Other cxamples of art display are not less important in the history of Indian art. In this way art from all 1 four quarters of the country give this gallery a rare and distinct status of a nation gallery of Indian sculpture (after the National Museum, New Delhi).
The collection is cqually rich in the area of other forms of visual art. T museum has the finest collection of the Gujarati Painting style in the world housed the Muni Punyavijayji Gallery. Muni Punyavijayaji, an erudite Jain scholar and Sht Kasturbhai, the industrialist, were responsible for the cstablishment of the L.D. Instit of Indology, Ahmedabad in 1956. The finest examples of the illustrated Jain mar scripts in this collection come from Muniji's collection. The Kälakācāryakathā of 1430 is a precursor of the Mandu stylc of Jain painting. The famous Sangrahanisu
ulso Elulais - tiszł.-td. Bal., 2001.29
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