Iconography of Jaina Deities (Set of 2 Volumes)

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About the Book

Jainism has to its credit a large number of religious treatises enshrining besides the other religious practices, the lives and teachings of the Tirthankaras, twenty-four in number, besides other minor deities. The iconography of these Jaina deities, some of which owe their origin to the Brahmanical faith is quite complex in nature. The iconography of these deities has been discussed at length, correlating it with the development of Jaina sculptural art from the earliest times to the medieval period. While doing so, the sculptural art as preserved in the Jaina temples at Deogarh. Khajuraho, Kumbharia, Osian, Abu, Taranga, Gyaraspur, Jalor, Ghanerao and many other Jaina shrines and the vestiges of the past have been discussed in considerable details. Stress has also been laid in the description of the Sasanadevatas of the Tirthańkaras viz., the Yaksas and Yakşıs, in addition to the Mahavidyās, and other Tantric deities. The composite forms of the Jaina deities available in the Jaina shrines and other antiquarian remains have also received due attention. The prominent Jaina personalities of divine nature like Bahubali, Bharata, Cakravarti, the parents of the Jinas and other issues connected with them have also been suitably brought out.

The life scenes of the Jinas have been projected mostly in the Śvetämbara Jaina temples, besides in the form of miniatures in the Kalpasūtra manuscripts. These have been highlighted in this work in a befitting manner in addition to the hitherto lesser known deities of the Jaina pantheon. The entire study has been authenticated by the numerous Jalna texts, the evidence of the sculptural art in the country, besides the historical and other archaeological evidence which would interest the students and scholars besides the common people as well.

About the Author

Shantilal Nagar, a graduate of the Punjab University, served in the curatorial capacity in the Central Asian Antiquities Museum, New Delhi, the Archaeological Museum, Nalanda, and Archaeological Section of the Indian Museum, Calcutta for a number of years. He has to his credit the scientific documentation of over fifty thousand antiquities, in these museums, representing the rich cultural heritage of the country and comprising of sculptures, bronzes, terracottas, beads, seals and sealing. ancient Indian numismatics, wood work, miniatures and paintings, textiles and Pearce collection of gems, ranging from the earliest times to the late medieval period. He was awarded, in 1987, a fellowship, for his monograph on the Temples of Himachal Pradesh, by the Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi. He has authored more than fifty books.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgement is a sacred duty with an author, which has to be as faithfully performed by him as the composition of the work itself. While completing this work, I am reminded of the great scholars like Dr. V.S. Agrawala, K.C. Panigrahi, A. Ghosh and Dr. K.N. Puri, with whom I had the privilege to work. They were indeed the great souls and their official functioning left an indelible impression on my life from quite an early age. I bow in reverence to their departed souls at the time of the completion of this work. Of other great souls who are held by me in high esteem, the foremost of them happens to be Dr. U.P. Shah, whose contribution to the Jaina religion and art is so massive that only a few of the Indian scholars can indeed compete with him. He had been a great scholar of international repute on the Jaina art and thought and the posterity shall always remember him for his unprecedented contributions in the respective literary activities. His works have inspired me to a considerable extent and as such I also bow in reverence to the departed soul of the great scholar of which not only the posterity but also the literary world and entire country will always feel proud of. He deserves all praise in this aspect.

Preface

The sacred land of India, is the land of religion. Many religions, religious beliefs, and religious sects have played their role for the enlightenment of the man and for the removal of the sufferings of the mankind. In order to achieve this objective many religious beliefs dominated the Indian religious scene from time to time in the past. While some of them vanished from the Indian religious thought as rapidly as they had mushroomed, some of them faded away from the public mind, with the passage of time, having outlived their respective utility or having lost the public appeal. Still there were certain cults, creeds and the religious beliefs which claim their genesis to the remote past but never lost their public appeal and have reached the modern times. Jainism, happens to the one of them, the historicity of which could conveniently be traced to centuries before the advent of the Christian era, and has come down to us during the present times facing many storms and upheavals, before reaching the modern age. Though by about the beginning of the Christian era, the faith was divided into two separate but parallel streams of ideologies, but its basic character remained unchanged.