Digambara Jain manuscript page: Jina and devotees / Artist Unknown, India, Sirohi School

Accession Number

1975/2.177

Title

Digambara Jain manuscript page: Jina and devotees

Artist

Artist Unknown, India, Sirohi School

Artist Nationality

Indian

Medium and Support

ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper

Object Creation Date

circa 18th century

Object Creation Place

Asia (continent)

India (nation)

Rajasthan (state)

Sirohi (inhabited place)

Creation Place 1

Asia (continent)

Creation Place 2

India (nation)

Creation Place 3

Rajasthan (state)

Creation Place 4

Sirohi (inhabited place)

Credit Line

Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Leo S. Figiel and Dr. and Mrs. Steven J. Figiel.

Style/Group/Movement

Sirohi, Jain mss.

Dimensions

28.9 cm x 17.9 cm (11 3/8 in. x 7 1/16 in.)

Century

18th century

Primary Object Classification

Painting

Primary Object Type

album leaf

Secondary Object Classification

Books and Folios

Secondary Object Type

manuscript

Physical Description

Multi-colored ink on paper. Reds and golds make up the primary focus colors and are accented by dark blues. Features five figures, two larger figures on the top half of the page and three smaller figures on the bottom. Scene of worship.

Subject Matter

In the Jain religion, book production reflects the integral relationship among the laity, monastic community, and the Jina, or enlightened Jain teacher. The dedication of sacred books for shrines is required of devotees, while commissioning a book fulfills the lay obligation of charity, and beholding a book helps the individual achieve the proper mental state for spiritual guidance. It was customary for a lay donor to commission a copy of a text for presentation to his spiritual teacher and ultimately to the temple library. Over the centuries, monastic libraries received great quantities of texts, which were employed in the instruction of monks and nuns, themselves discouraged from practicing the art of painting: one text expressly warns of the power of painting to arouse sensual feelings.

In these colorful pages, the golden-hued Jinas and the monks who venerate them are nude, identifying them as belonging to the Digambara (sky-clad) sect of Jainism. A central concern of many medieval hymns and rituals is curing disease with many of the verses promising relief from sickness. The verse that originally accompanied the page on the right was about dropsy, more commonly known as edema. The patient is reclining, belly visibly swollen. The verse tells us, “Those who have been utterly wrecked by their burdensome, swollen abdomens, who are plagued by the terrible disease of dropsy and have given up all hope, become as handsome as the god of Love himself, their bodies anointed with a life-saving nectar, the dust from your lotus feet.” Reciting this verse in prayer to the Jina brings relief from this unendurable disease.

The page on the left praises the divine drum that resounds on the Enlightenment of the Jina, proclaiming the greatness of his teaching. We see in the upper register the Jina seated in meditation with the naked monk Manatuga at his side. In the lower register two gods beat kettle drums, while a third god dances and beats a tambourine.

Primary Keywords

album leaf

deity

devotional images

figures (illustrations)

flowers (plants)

kettles

manuscripts

musical instruments

nudes

painting

pot drums

sitting

Secondary Keywords

layout features

asian

bowl-shaped drums

buildings and the land

components

components and systems

components by specific context

containers

containers by form

drums (membranophones)

figures (representations)

forms

herbaceous plants

illustrations

illustrations by form

images and ornament

information form components

landscapes (environments)

layout features

making art

membranophones

natural landscapes

objects we use

people

people (agents)

people and culture

people by state or condition

physical activities

physical activities by general context

plants

religious visual works

settlements and landscapes

sound devices

sound devices by acoustical characteristics

sound devices by function

struck drums

text-based art

vegetation and vegetation components

vegetation components

vessels

visual works

visual works by function

visual works by subject type

woody plants

Rights

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Collection

University of Michigan Museum of Art

Image Size

839 x 1321

File Size

161 KB

Record

1975/2.177

Link to this Item

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1975-sl-2.177/1975_2.177.jpg content_copy

In public portfolios

Art of the Mughal Empire (99)

Introduction to manuscripts and early print (148)

JAINpedia - Bhaktāmara-stotra (17)

Manifest

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/musart:1975-SL-2.177:1975_2.177.JPG content_copy