Jain art

Even though Jainism has spread only in some parts of India, it has made a significant contribution to Indian art and architecture.

Jains mainly depict tirthankara or other important people in a seated or standing meditative posture, sometimes on a very large scale.

[2] A tirthankara or Jina is represented either seated in lotus position (Padmasana) or standing in the meditation Khadgasana (Kayotsarga) posture.

[3][4] This latter, which is similar to the military standing at attention is a difficult posture to hold for a long period, and has the attraction to Jains that it reduces to the minimum the amount of the body in contact with the earth, and so posing a risk to the sentient creatures living in or on it.

The ears are extremely elongated, suggesting the heavy earrings the figures wore in their early lives before they took the path to enlightenment, when most were wealthy if not royal.

Ellora Caves in Maharashtra, and the Jain temples at Dilwara near Mount Abu, Rajasthan.

The Sanskrit word is vasati, it implies an institution including residences of scholars attached to the shrine.

[15] During the 3rd-2nd centuries BCE, the adoption of stone sculpture, there was an older tradition of using clay or wood to represent Jain deities, which, because of their inherent fragility, have not survived.

[16] Figures on various seals from the Indus Valley civilisation bear similarity to jaina images, nude and in a meditative posture.

[2] The Lohanipur torso is the earliest known jaina image (presumed to be Jain because of the nudity and posture), and is now in the Patna Museum.

[19] The carved Kankali Tila architrave with centaurs worshipping a Jain Stupa, is Mathura art, of circa 100 BCE, showing Hellenistic influence.

[22] Various dedications in the name of Kushan kings, such as Vasudeva I, with dates, appear on fragments of Jain statuary discovered in Mathura.

Hoard includes two Jivantasvami images (representation of Mahavira who was still a prince), are widely mentioned examples of the early western Indian school of art.

[27] Idols of this hoard show images of tirthankar, sashandevatas (yaksha and yakshi) and Jain deities in Śvetāmbara iconography.

[28][29] Kanakagiri Jain tirth was established by Achrya Pujyapada in 5th century during the reign of Western Ganga dynasty.

The earliest of the large group of Jain temples at Deogarh were begun, and in general the excavation of new rock-cut sites ceased in this period, as it also did in the other two main religions.

[33][34] Hansi hoard contained 58 bronze images of Jain Tirthankaras inside Asigarh Fort dating back to the 8th—9th century.

Numerous such stone tablets discovered during excavations at ancient Jain sites like Kankali Tila near Mathura in India.

These slabs are decorated with objects and designs central to Jain worship such as the stupa, dharmacakra and triratna.

[2] The Jivantasvami images represent Lord Mahavira (and in some cases other Tirthankaras) as a prince, with a crown and ornaments.

[47] Jain temples and monasteries had mural paintings from at least 2,000 years ago, though pre-medieval survivals are rare.

[50] The manuscript text most frequently illustrated is the Kalpa Sūtra, containing the biographies of the Tirthankaras, notably Parshvanatha and Mahavira.

The illustrations are square-ish panels set in the text, with "wiry drawing" and "brilliant, even jewel-like colour".

[36] Depiction of Samavasarana, the divine preaching hall of the tirthankara, is a popular subject in Jain art.

[citation needed] In 1974, on the 2500th anniversary of the nirvana of Mahāvīra, the Jain community chose one image as an emblem to be the main identifying symbol for Jainism.

[62] The overall shape depicts the three loka (realms of rebirth) of Jain cosmology i.e., heaven, human world and hell.

[63] According to Anne Vallely, this mantra is from sūtra 5.21 of Umaswati's Tattvarthasūtra, and it means "souls render service to one another".

[64] The five colours of the Jain flag represent the Pañca-Parameṣṭhi and the five vows, small as well as great:[65] The Ashtamangala are a set of eight auspicious symbols, which are different in the Digambara and Śvetāmbara traditions.

[66] In the Digambara tradition, the eight auspicious symbols are Chatra, Dhvaja, Kalasha, Fly-whisk, Mirror, chair, Hand fan and Vessel.

In the Śvetāmbara tradition, these are Swastika, Srivatsa, Nandavarta, Vardhmanaka (food vessel), Bhadrasana (seat), Kalasha (pot), Darpan (mirror) and pair of fish.