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

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Record Details

Accession Number
1975/2.176
Title
Digambara Jain manuscript page: Jina and devotees
Artist Nationality
Indian
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)
Style/Group/Movement
Sirohi, Jain mss.
Dimensions
18.4 cm x 29 cm (7 1/4 in. x 11 7/16 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. Prominent reds, yellows and blues. Six figures, three smaller (clothed), three larger (nude or semi-nude). 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.
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Technical Details

Image Size
1345 x 853
File Size
153 KB
Record
1975/2.176
Link to this Item
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1975-sl-2.176/1975_2.176.jpg

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https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/musart:1975-SL-2.176:1975_2.176.JPG

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"Digambara Jain manuscript page: Jina and devotees; Artist Unknown, India, Sirohi School." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1975-sl-2.176/1975_2.176.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed March 28, 2024.
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