Book Title: Svasti
Author(s): Nalini Balbir
Publisher: K S Muddappa Smaraka Trust

Previous | Next

Page 125
________________ 124 SVASTI-Essays in Honour of Prof. Hampa Nagarajaiah from his ears. The miniatures show Mahāvīra between the two helpers. The cow-herd is nowhere depicted. The two stories are connected with a story cycle of a monk outdoors in the country who refuses to answer when asked by a cowherd about the whereabouts of his herd. The result is sometimes a cruel practical joke committed by the cowherd against the saint: BRUHN 1954: 105. Mahavira's troubles or trials (upasargas) - caused by men and animals are described in a general manner (no stories) in the relevant sections of the Kalpasūtra (JACOBI 1884: 259-263, esp. 260) and the Acãrângasütra (JACOBI 1884: 79-87). Independently, a cluster of upasarga stories, including the story of Plate 7, originated, not as part of a canonical work but perhaps close to canonical traditions. The stories are best known in the version of Hemacandra. Much later, miniatures, prepared in connection with the upasarga stories in HTr, surfaced in Kalpasūtra manuscripts of the 15th century. For simplicity's sake we treat the famous "Kalpasūtra" (mentioned here, but not directly involved) as a normal, self-contained canonical text. The actual history and structure of the Kalpasūtra is beyond the discussion of the current context. In his study, W.N. BROWN prepared summaries of upasarga stories (BROWN 1934: 35-38), including the two stories quoted above (the "ear-spike story", Plate 7, and the "story of the whip"). The miniatures belonging to BROWN's pp. 35-38 are figs. 75-78. The ear-spike story is illustrated in fig. 76 (lower register, right) and fig. 78 (upper register). The damant ("binding thong", whip) story is illustrated in fig. 75 (upper register). In connection with Plate 7, a few words on the garment of the Śvetämbara Jina should. be intercalated. The standing Jina, seen mostly in upasarga episodes, wears a 'short dhoti'. This also applies to the seated Jina who plucks out his hair before renouncing the world (frequent cliché). See NAWAB 1980: pl. 48, figs. 225 (seated, renouncement) and 226 (standing). In the following cases the Jina is standing. BROWN 1934: figs. 75-78 (upasargas including the spike story); MOTI CHANDRA 1949: fig. 159 (spike story); WUJASTYK 1984: figs. 1 and 3 (spike story). Our Plate 7 (spike story) is irregular. Contrary to expectations, the future Jina wears the traditional dress of a monk. The seated Jina in WUJASTYK 1984: fig. 2, wears an ordinary dhoti. In principle, the seated Jina (standard) wears the same 'short dhoti' as the ordinary standing Jina. However, his "pictogrammatic dhoti" is almost imperceptible (Plates 12; much clearer: NAWAB 1956: pl. 123, col.fig. 422). "Folds" as they sometimes appear (infra) form a supplementary dhoti pictogram (Plate 1). There exists a similar convention in Svetämbara sculpture. Standing Jinas always wear a normal dhoti. Seated Jinas occasionally display minute fanlike "folds" positioned

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446