The Jain 1988 07

Author(s): Natubhai Shah
Publisher: UK Jain Samaj Europe

Page 64

Egain=
the Jain population has declined which have fallen into decay. In a way, though, this shows that the Jain temple is a vital living institution, not simply an artistic museum piece. The temples of the great pilgrimage centres attract throngs of the devotees. But the smaller less well-known temples as well are centres for active religious life. it is right to beautify the edifice which houses the Jina image, as a sign of pious devotion and because the beauty of the surroundings can lead people to a spirit of religious worship. Some, it is true, prefer to worship in plain surroundings: they are, or should be, respected by those who prefer more elaborate outward forms. The object of Jain worship is not really confined within walls, but the temple, hallowed by the presence of the Jina image and by the prayers of devotees is a most important institution of the living faith of the Jains.
ur
THE IMAGES OF THE TEMPLE
.W
..
The Jain temple is sanctified by the presence of the Jina image. The image of the Tirthankara is the focus of worship by the faithful, approached with reverence, treated almost (but not quite) as a living god. An image which has undergone the ritual consecration is highly venerated and must receive daily worship and care. Such an image is a great responsibility for the guardians of the temple : if the services of a permanent pujari, a temple custodian, are not available the community must make arangements for the daily attention to the image, the ritual bathing, offerings and worship, and the arati ceremony of waving lights before it.
riye
YOUR
TEET
and the absence of a dot on the forehead, as well as the total nudity of many Jain images, distinguish these from the Buddha images with which they can sometimes be confused. Conventionally the ear-lobes are enlongated. the hair of the head is carved in close stylised curls. Only Rsabha, the first Tirthankara, is shown with pendent locks of hair : in an account of his renunciation he is said to have desisted from pulling out the last locks of hair on the intervention of a follower.
The Jina image is most commonly depicted in a seated position. Usually the full lotus' (padmasana) posture is shown, the right foot on the left knee and the left foot on the right knee, the hands laid in the lap, right over left. The *half-lotus' posture with the right foot under, not over, the left knee is sometimes seen, more often with images from south India. Although, according to Jain tradition, twenty- one of the twenty-four Tirthankara achieved enlightenment in the standing posture of meditation (kayotsarga), this is not so frequently depicted in Jain iconography. Standing figures are, however, by no means rare : when shown standing the Jina figure is in a natural, rather relaxed, position, indicative of meditative detachment, with the feet slightly apart and the arms hanging by the sides. The sculptural convention makes the arms rather long and the shoulders (as with the seated figure) broad. The Digambara image is completely naked (in the tradition of Digambara monks): the Svetambara often show the Jina clothed in a simple garment and the image may be adorned with a crown and jewels. Usually, but not always, there is a diamond-shaped, four-petalled srivarsa symbol on the chest of the Jina image, this symbol
The nineteenth Tirthankara, Mallinatha, is believed (though not by the Digambara) to have been a woman but this is rarely indicated in sculpture. Indeed the conventional representations of the twenty-four Tirthankara may usually only be distinguished by the accessory emblems and figures. Parsva, the twenty-third Tirthankara, has a canopy of seven hooded snakes, an allusion to the account of his having saved a snake from fire. As the immediate predecessor of Mahavira, though some two and a half centuries earlier, Parsva is one of the most commonly represented Tithankara in Jain
Jain Education Interational 2010_03