Elements Of Jaina Iconography

The Present Volume Is Published By The Oriental Institute, M.S. University Of Baroda In Sacred Memory Of Late Dr. U.P. Shah, Ex-Deputy Director And General Editor, Ramayana Deptt. Of The Institute. It Contains Research Articles Specially Written By Scholar-Friends Of Dr. Shah From The World Over, Ranging From Jaina Philosophy, Jaina Iconography, Art-History To Indian Literature In General, As His Interest Too Ranged To All The Afore-Mentioned Subjects. As Will Be Evident From The Life-Sketch And The Bibliography Of His Works, Dr. Shah Made An Impact In The Field Of Jaina Iconography And Art-History, Though He Handled, With Equal Felicity, Subjects Related To Oriental Studies. Some Of The Articles Appearing In This Volume Break New Ice Regarding Certain Knotty Points Of Jaina Philosophical Thought And Religious Practices. It Would Be Helpful To View The Contents Of This Volume From The Standpoint Of Long, Mutual Affinity And Correlatedness Of The Ancient Vedic And Jaina Traditions That Flourished Coevally Over A Great Stretch Of Time In This Country Of Uncommon Tolerance And Understanding Of Opposing Ideas And Ideals, Evincing Brilliant Insights Into The Problems Of Being And Consciousness Ever Probed By Human Mind. The Methodology Of Symbolical Representation Of Transcendental Principles And Perceptions Evolved In Both Jaina And Brahmanical Traditions Of Thought Is Well-Documented In This Volume, Which Will Prove To Be A Treasure For The Students Of Oriental Studies In General And Indology In Particular

The JAINA-RUPA-MANDANA Volume I is an authentic work on Jaina iconography from the pen of a well-known authority on the subject, Dr. Umakant P.Shah, an eminent Indologist and art-historian with specialization in Jaina art and literature. Illustrated profusely with over two hundred monochrome plates, the work is a standard textbook and a very useful guide to all students in Indian art and archaeology and to Museum Curators. The work is supplemented with a large number of iconographic tables for images of all important Jaina gods and goddesses. Dr. Shah, the author, has for the first time given solutions to various basis problems of Jaina iconography supported with ample evidence from both archaeology and literature including unpublished original texts still in manuscripts.

This Book in twelve chapters under two Sections the treatise presents the panorama of Jaina icons in their age-long growth, often with reference to comparable and borrowed concepts from the cognate faiths, Brahmanism and Buddhism. Though Jainism subjects in the belief in man's elevation and emancipation by himself, and therefore, has very Little, the Tirthankaras, yet in the ages that followed, there grew quite a large number of icons with extra-normal features by the touch of the waves of Mahayana Buddhism and Tantric Hindusim. The volume has treated this development iconography with references to the relevant back-drop of literature,. It has taken into account the early forms, the Tirthankara images, studied their pedestals and followed them in their steady growth with the yaksa-yaksini-sushered, in Sasanadevatas. Of two very details. A chapter on the sixteen Vidyadevis, a creation of the Jaina genius, concludes the treatise, and thus fills the long panaorma of Jaina Iconography.