Contribution of Jainism to Indian art

CONTRIBUTION OF JAINISM TO INDIAN ART
 K.D. Bajpai

(The author deals with the infrastructural material of Jaina origin that helped the growth of the traditional art of India, He cites references Jo the subtle norms of Jainism that initiated the visible and performing arts■ Aesthatic norms especially in sculpture, architecture and temple art were demonstrated from the Jain sources).  Editor

1. Introduction
A study of the origin and development of Indian culture from the pre¬historic times to the late medieval period is on an absorbing interest. Jainism played an important role in the formation of the integrated culture of this lattd. The Stone Age tools and the pre-historic rock-paintings throw interesting light on the early cultures of India. Most of the rock paintings have been discovered in the valleys of Betwa, Narmada and Chambal in central India. Some of these represent the earliest activity in the field of pictorial art in the country.

Several representations of symbols were adopted from the archaic rock paintings by the artists of the historical times in their media. The recent excavations conducted in several rock-shelters have brought to light interesting material bearing on the cultures of pre and pro historic India.

The relics of the Harappan culture and various Catholic cultures in other parts of the country have clearly indicated that both the plastic and pictorial art developed during the proto-historic period. Some scholars have tried to identify the traces of Jainism in a few art-relics of the Indus Valley culture. The history of Indian art from the Mauryan period onwards represents a harmonious blend of the religious and secular trends in art.- Religion undoubtedly began to play a leading role in almost all the spheres of life and thought. The field of fine arts could not remain an exception.

From the beginning of the=2nd century B.C. the Bhakti movement made a headway in the religious life of the country. This is discernible not only in the Vasudeva-Vaisnava cult but also in Jainism and Buddhism. This movement was largely responsible for a brisk religious activity in the Sunga- Satavahana period. During the Kushana age, more impetus was given to sculpture and architecture. Even the foreign rulers were influenced by the new devotional trends in Indian society. The Ksatrapas and the Kushanas patronized Indian religion and art. A large number of temples, stupas, viharas and statues were made in different parts of northern and western India under their rule. In Afghanistan and parts of central Asia, Indian culture spread during the early centuries of the Christian. era. The fine arts played an important role in this. During the Gupta period, the plastic, pictorial and performing arts had an all-round development both in the north and south India. Activities in these fields continued during the early medieval period.

The contribution of Jainism to ancient Indian art is manifold. The inscriptional and literary evidence prove the existence of Jain stupas and the images of Tirthankaras even before the Christian era. The Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela and some inscriptions from Mathura prove this, In Karnataka and Tamilnadu, Jainism reached in the Maury an period. It is attested to by the early Bralimi cave inscriptions and traditional accounts. From the beginning of the Christian era to the late medieval times Jain religion and art had a continuous growth in various parts of the country.

3.Source-Material
Some Jain works, like the Kalpasutra, Rayapaseniya sutra, Angavijja and Nisitha, furnish valuable accounts pertaining to the advancement of sculpture, architecture, painting, music and dramaturgy in various parts of the country. When we study this literature along with the extant art-relics found at Mathura, Kausambi, Vidisha, Ahicchatra, Rajagriha and other early art centres in the north and south India, we notice that several art-foims tally very well with their descriptions in scriptures. The Jain literature, dealing with the details of iconography and architecture is extremely valuable for the study of artistic development in different parts of the country.

The Jain inscriptions from the earliest times to the Gupta period furnish a useful source-material for the study of Indian culture. They contain certain technical art terms, which are otherwise unknown to us. In the Jain a inscri¬ptions of the Saka-Kushana period from Mathura, Kausambi and some other sites, interesting terms like ayagapatta, ihupa, iorana, Kubha, Mandavika, siladevi, gramadevi and Pratima sarvatobhadrika have been found. Words such as puskaritm arama, vihara and pimyascla occur in the Jain inscriptions* On the pedestal of a Jain statute of .goddess Sarasvati from Mathuia dated in the Saka year 54 (=132 A.D.). the inscription says that the image was installed in a dance-hall. In the inscription the doner of the image is named as Gopa, a lohika-karaka (i.e. an artist, by profession an ironsmith). This and other records furnish an interesting evidence to; the popularity of the performing arts during the Kushana period. The presiding deity of these arts was Sarasvati, the goddess of learning and music.

Artists working on gold, precious and semi-precious metals and stones are also mentioned in several early inscriptions as manikaras and hiranyakaras- On the famous ayagapatta (no. Q. 2) of the Mathura Museum referring to the courtesan Lenasobhika and her daughter Vasu, there is a miniature repre¬sentation of a complete Jaina stupa of the early Saka-Kushana period. It has a decorated toranadvara and vedikas around.

The word ‘Lenasobhika’ literary means ‘beauty of a rock-cave’. Association of beautiful damsels with the cave-shelters is attested to by literary and epigraphies!, evidence. These damsels also participated in performing arts, from an early Brahmi inscription (3rd c.B.C.) found at Ramgarh in the Sarguja district of Madhya Pradesh, we know the name of a beautiful lady called Sutanuka, who, according to the inscription, was a devadasi and was the beloved of Devadatta, an expert dramatist. Lenasobhika of the Mathura inscription probably belonged to such a shelter. The fourfold (Sarvatobhadrc,) Tirthankara images, particularly from the north and central India, show on a single stone slab, the four main Jaina gods, viz. Adinatha, Neminatha, Parsvanatha and Mahavira. These Tirthankaras are either.Seated in the padmasana or standing in the khadgasana. The term Pratima sarvatobhadrika for the first time occurs in the Mathura Jaina inscri¬ptions of the Kushana period. It was a new iconographic form, which was later on adopted in^the Vedic-Puranic and the Buddhist pantheons.

Examples of Jain stupas, temples, monasteries and statues of various forms are known in different parts of the country. They furnish an eloquent testimony to the development ot various parts. The canonical injunctions of the Jain a literature and the local religious and social traits were adequately adhered to by the artists, who created variegated art-forms.

4.Aesthetic Norms
From an early time Jainism gave a fillip to the aesthetic norms in art. The decorative patterns adopted in the Jaina art of the Saka-Kushana and the Gupta periods are remarkable for their simplicity and grace. The vedikas made around the Jaina stupas during the period between the 1st centuries A.D. reached a high aesthetic water-mark in the history of Indian art. The human figures, popular stories and a plethora of nature carved on the railing pillars of Mathura represent a degree of excellence unsurpassed in the entire range of Indian plastic art. This art of abiding beauty had a distinct impact on the later plastic art of India and the contiguous regions of the north-west. The ivory figurines found at Begram in Afghanistan bear a testimony to this.

The blending of aesthetic excellence with the iconic norms was a salient feature of the early Jaina art. In the medieval period, more stress was laid on quantity and lesson monographic details. The aesthetic spirit suffered on this account to a great extent. Due to exigencies of time, quantity had an upper hand over quality. This can be seen in the Jaina art both of north and south India. Mention of the art-centres, such as Osia, Ranakpur, Gyaraspur, Kumbharia, Abu, Vadnagar, Sravanbelgola, Mudbidri etc. can be made here.

As in the fields of literature, religion and philosophy, so also in the sphere of fine arts, the Jaina principle of virtue (sila) was adhered to along with the elements of beauty and utility. It was due to this inherent quality that the Jaina art did not suffer from the gross sensuousness which became a characteristic feature of the medieval Indian art, particularly Saiva-Sakta Art.

5.Architecture
For the study of the development of Jainism in India, the Jaina archi¬tectural structures furnish a rich and variegated source-material. In order to give wide publicity to the tenets of a religion, it was deemed necessary to utilize the visual forms of art, such as architecture, sculpture, painting and dramatic arts. The extant architectural remains in different parts of India indicate that the construction of Jaina shrines had started during the Maurya period. The inscriptions carved in the Barabar caves near Gaya in Bihar show that Asoka, the great Maurya emperor, caused the construction of some caves for the monks of the Ajivika sect. The founder of this sect was closely associated with Tirthankaxa Mahavira. The Barabar caves undoubtedly represent the earliest rock-cut structure of a religious character. Near the Barabar hill there is another hill called Nagarjuni, which also has several inscribed caves. They are in the form of Parnasalas (huts of leaves) mentioned in ancient Indian literature.

The construction of rock-cut shrines in eastern and western India received a fillip during the 2nd-1st centuries B.C. In Orissa near Bhubaneshwar several caves were carved out during this period. Jaina caves of Khandagiri and Ucr-.i iiri are well known. The inscription of Kharavela of Kalinga, incised in the rlathigumpha cave has thrown valuable light on the achievements of this king, who brought back from Pataliputra an image of Jina to his capital. The image was earlier taken away by a king of the Nanda dynasty more than a hundred years before Kharavela. From the epigraphical evidence it is known that Jainism was the State religion of Kalinga for some time.

After the Sunga-Satavahana Age, jthe preparation of rock-cut caves and shrines continued in some regions of India for several centuries. In western and central India and the Deccan a number of Jaina temples were carved out of living rocks. Two of the Udaigiri caves near Sanchi were made Jaina caves. The first (no. 1) of them represents the archaic form of Jaina temple of the Gupta style. Cave no. 20 of Udaigiri is another Jaina shrine in which an artistic image of Parsvanatha was found. In the Gujarat, Maharashtra and Western Ghat regions, several old rock-cut Jaina shrines are still preserved. The origin of the Dravidian style of temple architecture is traceable in the temples of the Chalukyas. The extensive Jaina rock-cut cave at Badami is significant from the point of view of decorative designs and iconography of Jaina icons. The early Jaina shrines of this era show the Dravidian type of tower, having an octagonal domical finial. A few of the shrines represent the traits of Nagara style of Indo-Aryan architecture. At Aihole is preserved a triple-shrined temple style, which is regarded as a special technique.

During the region of the Rashtrakutas, the well-known Kailasa temple at Ellora was constructed out of a huge rock. The details of statuary and ornamental designs are testifully carved in the temple. At Ellora, the Jaina complex of temples follows the pattern of the Kailasa temple. The shrine called Indra-Sabha dates from about 800 A.D. It is approached through a rock-cut door-way, which opens on to a square courtyard of fifty feet wide. In fits centre is a monolithic shrine in the form of a miniature Dravidian temple. A free standing pillar, called dhvaja-stambha, is also there- The construction of such high pillars in the front of Jaina temples became an indispensible feature in the medieval period. It was decorated with various designs. The second and more important category of Jaina temples is the structural one. These were made of stones and bricks. They were sometimes construc¬ted alongwith the Jaina stupas. The literary references to Jaina stupas and temples indicate that they were constructed on a large scale after about 700 A.D. The remains of ancient and medieval Jaina temples have been discovered almost throughout the country. They eloquently prove that the construction of temples and images got an impetus during the rule of the early and late Medieval dynasties. The merchants and tradesmen also contributed to the construction of a large number of them in different parts of the country.

The study of the Jaina shrines reveals the gradual development of architectural styles with marked local traits. The temples throw light on the history of plastic art. Both for the study of iconography and aesthetic excellence these monuments are extremely valuable.

The ‘Jaina temples’ of Khajuraho represent the well-known Sikhara style. The parallel friezes in these temples, like those in their counterpart local Saiva shrines, are decorated with excellent statuary in the typical style of Khajuraho. Rows of beautifully carved. figures dominate the entire scheme, of composition. The Parsva.na.tha, temple is the largest of the group. It is 68 feet high and faces., east. Internally it consists of three chambers—the MAHAMANDAPA, the ANTARALA and the GARBHAGRIHA. They are surrounded by a circumambulatory passage. The recessed ceiling of the portico of this temple is a masterpiece of carving. On the entrance door to the temple is a ten-armed Jaina goddess riding on GARUDA.* On the lintel of the structure are carved the figures of seated and standing Tirthankaras.

On the outer walls of the Khajuraho temples are portrayed the figures of APSARAS in playful moods. They indicate superb grace in modelling. The Adinatha temple at Khajuraho shows the same features as- found, in the Parsvanatha temple... In the Maladevi temple at Gyaraspur, the workmanship of the decorative detail of the exterior and the huge images of the sanctum display a high degree of art and architecture. The temple originally belonged to the Sakta cult. Ill Rajasthan, the Jaina temples at Osia, Ranakpur. Sadri and Mount Abu are well-known shrines representing a combination of grandeur and refinement. The ornamental carvings of the temples at Mount Abu are. remarkable for their delicate art in marble. In Karnataka, the later structures and statues at Sravanabelgola and several other sites are well-known for their abnormal size. The colossal image of Gommatesvare is unique of its type. Several such huge images of Bahubali were later on made in the Karnataka region.

The Jaina art continued to develop in South India upto the time of the kingdom of Vijayanagar. The temple style of Vijayanagar spread throughout South India. One significant feature of Jaina shrines is the building up of temple-- cities. Examples of such cities can be seen at Abu, Girnar, Satrunjaya. and several other places in the country. Sometimes the number of Jaina edifices at one site runs into several hundreds. The sites of hillocks provide a good location for such temple cities. These in course of time grew up into great Tirthas, being visited by a large number of devotees. The recent Jaina temple exhibit, in a large measure the traditional temple styles which developed in the country through a long period of time.