Studies in Jaina Art

Description

Studies in Jaina Art Sheth Śrī Bholabhai Dalal and Sheth Śri Premchand K. Kotawala, the Trustees of Śrī Poonamchand K.Kotawala Trust kindly decided to donate, from the above Trust, an annual grant of Rupees Two Thousand to the Jaina Cultural Research Society, Banaras. This sum is being utilised in inviting different scholars to deliver lectures, in the Banaras Hindu University, on any aspect of Jainology (Jaina Studies) and publishing such lectures. Accordingly, I invited Dr. Umakant Shah, who had submitted his Doctorate Thesis on Jaina Iconography, to deliver lectures on Jaina Art. He was generous in accepting the invitation and kindly co-operated by agreeing to deliver deliver three three lectures lectures on on Jaina Art.

These lectures were delivered in the College of Indology, Banaras Hindu University, under the Chairmanship of Dr. Vasudeva Sarana Agrawala, on 11th 12th, and 15th March, 1954. They are printed here with slight changes as “Studies in Jaina Art”.

In his first lecture, Dr. Shah has attempted a critical survey of the Jaina Art in North India, e., in the regions North of the Vindhyas, such as Punjab, Sindh, Kachchha, Saurashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Bharat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Bengal, Orissa etc., and even parts of the Deccan in the Bombay State. In his survey he has referred to all important known cave-temples, shrines, sculptures, paintings, etc. He has surveyed antiquities dating from earliest times to about the fifteenth century A.D. Here he has discussed specimens of both the Śvetämbara and the Digambara sects of the Jainas.