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RELIGION & CULTURE OF THE JAINS
The art of calligraphy and decorating the palm-leaf and paper manuscripts and their cover-boards was also highly developed by the mediavel Jainas. So was also the art of inscribing on rock or copper plates, some of which are of no less artistic interest than of historical value. The Kudlur plates of Narasimha Ganga, for example, are literature, art and history rolled in one. Particularly noteworthy is its seal which is beautifully executed. The royal banners of Jaina kings are also not without interest, which indicate the stamp and symbol of Jainism, viz, the picchadhvaja, decribed as the banner of the divine Arhat.
Other fine arts, like dancing and music, vocal and instrumental, were and are still cultivated by the Jainas in so far as these form part of their religious devotion, worship and ritual. The Jaina literature, paintings and sculptures have numerous representations of and referneces to these arts. Several works on the art and science of music have also been composed by the Jainas.
It is thus evident that the Jainas have all along realised the truth of such sayings as "Nothing more nearly approaches the spirit of true religion than the spirit of true art", and that "Art is the purest means to attain and become one with the Divine".
