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Śramana, Vol. 61, No. 4 October - December 10
REPRESENTATION OF NATURE IN
JAINA ART AND TRADITION (with special reference to Khajurāho)
Dr. Shanti Swaroop Sinha
Jaina Art and Architecture depicts the close association of Jaina Ācāryas and. Tirtharikaras with nature. If we look at the images of twenty-four Tīrtharkaras, all the images are found necessarily imbibed with the figure of either any tree or any animal based on the cognizance of that particular Tīrtharkara. It shows the concern of the great exponents of Jainism towards nature as well as their close relationship with environment. The author of the article has beautifully described this theme with the help of several examples from Jaina Art and Architecture.
Since man appeared, there have been two kinds of things on earth -objects of nature and objects of art. Objects of nature existed even before Men came. Human art is in fact an utterance of man's understanding of Nature. The best gift of god to man is nature. The cosmic phenomena of Nature are represented everywhere in human art as an integrated expression and also in the backdrop. The present paper deals with "Representation of Nature in Jaina Art and Tradition with special reference to Khajurāho”.
Jainism being the religion of deep faith in Ahiṁsā (nonviolence) and principle of life in the vegetation world had sustained nature as the benevolent protector of humanity. The Jaina texts frequently speak of the prohibitions towards making injury to world of flora and fauna. To impart this massage of essentiality of flora and fauna for the survival of the human life, the Jaina texts
* Assistant Professor, Department of Visual Arts, BHU
