Jain art refers to religious works of art associated with Jainism. Even though Jainism has spread only in some parts of India, it has made a significant contribution to Indian art and architecture.
In general, Jain art broadly follows the contemporary style of Indian Buddhist and Hindu art, though the iconography, and the functional layout of temple buildings, reflects specific Jain needs. The artists and craftsmen producing most Jain art were probably not themselves Jain, but from local workshops patronized by all religions. This may not have been the case for illustrated manuscripts, where many of the oldest Indian survivals are Jain.
Jains mainly depict tirthankara or other important people in a seated or standing meditative posture, sometimes on a very large scale. Yaksa and yaksini, attendant spirits who guard the tirthankara, are usually shown with them.
Iconography of tirthankaras
A tirthankara or Jina is represented either seated in lotus position (Padmasana) or standing in the meditation Khadgasana (Kayotsarga) posture. 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. If seated, they are usually depicted seated with their legs crossed in front, the toes of one foot resting close upon the knee of the other, and the right hand lying over the left in the lap.
Tirthanakar images do not have distinctive facial features, clothing or (mostly) hair-styles, and are differentiated on the basis of the symbol or emblem (Lanchhana) belonging to each tirthanakar except Parshvanatha. Statues of Parshvanath have a snake crown on the head. The first Tirthankara Rishabha can be identified by the locks of hair falling on his shoulders. Sometimes Suparshvanath is shown with a small snake-hood. The symbols are marked in the centre or in the corner of the pedestal of the statue. The Digambara and the Śvetāmbara traditions have different iconography of idols. Digambara images are naked without any ornamentation, whereas Śvetāmbara ones may or may not be clothed and in worship may be decorated with temporary ornaments. The images are often marked with Srivatsa on the chest and Tilaka on the forehead. Srivatsa is one of the ashtamangala (auspicious symbols). It can look somewhat like a fleur-de-lis, an endless knot, a flower or diamond-shaped symbol.
The bodies of tirthanakar statues are exceptionally consistent throughout the over 2,000 years of the historical record. The bodies are rather slight, with very wide shoulders and a narrow waist. Even more than is usual in Indian sculpture, the depiction takes relatively little interest in the accurate depiction of the underlying musculature and bones, but is interested in the modelling of the outer surfaces as broad swelling forms. The ears are extremely elongated, suggesting the heavy earrings the figures wore in their early lives before they took the path to enlightenment, when all were royal.
Sculptures with four tirthanakars, or their heads, facing in four directions, are not uncommon in early sculpture, but unlike the comparable Hindu images, these represent four different tirthanakars, not four aspects of the same deity. Multiple extra arms are avoided in tirthanakar images, though their attendants or guardians may have them.
Architecture
Like Buddhists, Jains participated in Indian rock-cut architecture from a very early period. Remains of ancient Jaina temples, monasteries, and sculptures are found throughout India, with much of the earliest Jain sculpture consisting of relief carvings. Jain temples and monasteries excavated using rock-cut techniques often share sites with monuments of other religions, as seen at Udayagiri, Bava Pyara, Ellora, Aihole, Badami, Kalugumalai, and Pataini temple. The Ellora Caves represent a particularly significant late site, containing monuments of all three major Indian religions, with the earlier Buddhist caves followed by later Hindu and Jain excavations.
During the medieval and modern periods, Jains constructed numerous Jain temples, particularly in western India. Among the most celebrated are the group of five Dilwara Temples built between the 11th and 13th centuries at Mount Abu in Rajasthan, and the Jain temple at Ranakpur, regarded as one of the finest examples of Jain architecture. The Jain pilgrimage centre on the Shatrunjaya hills near Palitana, Gujarat, is often referred to as the "City of Temples". Both the Dilwara and Shatrunjaya complexes exemplify the Māru-Gurjara (or Solanki) style, which developed in western India during the 10th century and was employed in both Hindu and Jain temples. The style became especially associated with Jain patronage, who continued its use long after it had declined elsewhere and helped spread it to other parts of India. It remains the preferred architectural style for Jain temples worldwide and has recently experienced a revival in Hindu temple architecture.
A Jain temple, also known as a derasar, is a place of worship for Jains, the followers of Jainism. Jain architecture is largely confined to temples and monasteries, while secular Jain buildings generally reflect the architectural traditions of the region and period in which they were constructed. Derasar is the term commonly used for a Jain temple in Gujarat and southern Rajasthan. Basadi denotes a Jain shrine or temple in Karnataka and is the term generally used in South India. Its historical use in North India survives in the names of the Vimala Vasahi and Luna Vasahi temples at Mount Abu. The Sanskrit word vasati refers to an institution that includes residences for scholars attached to a shrine.
Jain temples may be broadly classified into Shikhar-bandhi temples and the Ghar Jain temple. A Shikhar-bandhi temple is a public place of worship distinguished by its prominent superstructure, typically a north Indian shikhara rising above the sanctum, whereas a Ghar Jain temple is a private household shrine. A Jain temple that serves as an important pilgrimage destination is known as a tirtha.
The principal image enshrined in a Jain temple is known as the mula nayak. A Manastambha ("pillar of honour") is a monumental column often erected in front of Jain temples. It typically bears four stone images of the temple's presiding deity, each facing one of the four cardinal directions: north, east, south, and west.
History
Earliest depictions of Jain deities (3rd-2nd centuries BCE)
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.
Figures on various seals from the Indus Valley civilisation bear similarity to jaina images, nude and in a meditative posture. 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. It is also one of the earliest Indian monumental sculptures in stone of a human, if the dating to the 3rd century BCE is correct; it might be from about the 2nd century CE. Bronze images of the 23rd tirthankara, Pārśva, can be seen in the Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai, and in the Patna Museum; these are dated to the 2nd century BCE.
The early Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves, are a number of finely and ornately carved caves built during 2nd-century BCE excavated by King Kharavela of Mahameghavahana dynasty.
Early reliefs (1st century BCE)
Chitharal Jain Monuments is the earliest Jain monument in the southernmost part of India dating back to the first century BC. The carved Kankali Tila architrave with centaurs worshipping a Jain Stupa, is Mathura art, of circa 100 BCE, showing Hellenistic influence.
The Chausa hoard is the first known bronze hoard discovered in the Gangetic valley and consists of a set of 18 Jain bronzes.Framing the Jina : Narratives of Icons and Idols in Jain History: Narratives ... By John Cort, Oxford University Press, 2009, p. 42 The oldest of such bronzes to be found in India, experts date them between the Shunga and the Gupta period, (from 2nd, or possibly the 1st century BC, to the 6th Century AD).
Jain art under Kushans (2nd-3rd century CE) Various dedications in the name of Kushan kings, such as Vasudeva I, with dates, appear on fragments of Jain statuary discovered in Mathura.
Jain art at Mathura under the Guptas
Pataini temple was constructed during the reign of Gupta Empire in 5th century. A sandalwood sculpture of Mahāvīra was carved during his lifetime, according to tradition. Later the practice of making images of wood was abandoned, other materials being substituted. The bronze sculpture were famous during this period. Akota Bronzes represent a rare and important set of 68 Śvetāmbara Jain images, dating to between the 5th and 12th centuries AD, which were found in the vicinity of Akota near Baroda in the Indian state of Gujarat. 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. Vasantgarh hoard is a set of 240 bronze idols were discovered dating back to early medieval to medieval period. It is indicated by the idols that it is influenced by more styles like styles during reign of Harsha and maitraka of Valabhi. Idols of this hoard show images of tirthankar, sashandevatas (yaksha and yakshi) and Jain deities in Śvetāmbara iconography. These eyes and ornaments are frequently inlaid with silver and gold.
Jain art between 5th-9th century
Kanakagiri Jain tirth was established by Achrya Pujyapada in 5th century during the reign of Western Ganga dynasty. The temple received patronage from Hoysala, Vijayanagara, Maharaja of Mysore, and Wadiyar dynasty. The Badami cave temples and the constructed Aihole Jain monuments were built by Chalukya rulers in the 7th century, and the Jain parts of the Ellora Caves date from around this period. 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. Instead stone-built temples were erected.
Jain caves, Ellora were built around the 8th century. Māru-Gurjara architecture became popular in Jain temples. Mahavira Jain temple, Osian is the oldest surviving Jain temple in Western India and was built during the reign of Mahārāja Śrī Vatsarāja of Imperial Pratihāras.
Hansi hoard contained 58 bronze images of Jain Tirthankaras inside Asigarh Fort dating back to the 8th—9th century. These idols belong to both Digambar and Śvetāmbara sect.
Medieval period (8th-16th century)
The Gommateshwara statue is dedicated to the Jain figure Bahubali. It was built around 983 A.D. and is one of the largest free standing statues in the world. Mahamastakabhisheka refers to the abhiṣeka (anointment) is organised once every 12 years.
Decorated manuscripts are preserved in jaina libraries, containing diagrams from jaina cosmology. Most of the paintings and illustrations depict historical events, known as Panch Kalyanaka, from the life of the tirthankara. Aluara bronzes represent a rare and important set of bronze images dedicated to Jain tirthankaras that dates back to 11th century.
Ayagapata and Jain stupa
Ayagapata is a type of votive slab associated with worship in Jainism. Numerous such stone tablets discovered during excavations at ancient Jain sites like Kankali Tila near Mathura in India. Some of them date back to 1st century C.E. These slabs are decorated with objects and designs central to Jain worship such as the stupa, dharmacakra and triratna.