Organizer: John E. Cort, Denison University
Chair: Janice Leoshko, University of Texas, Austin
Discussant: Richard H. Davis, Yale University
This panel starts with the simple observation that, to the knowledge of the presenters, there has never been a panel looking at the intersection of Jainism and art at any major academic conference in North America. Until the 1993-95 exhibition The Peaceful Liberators, there had not been a major exhibition of Jain art in North America. Jain art, it is safe to say, has long been ignored by western scholars.
Why has this been the case? This neglect of the Jain contribution to the artistic history of South Asia has been part and parcel of the larger neglect of the Jains as a whole. Surveys of South Asian religion or art treat the Jains briefly (if at all), as a tag on to the more "important," "interesting," and "dynamic" Buddhist and Hindu traditions. While the Jain participation in broader artistic genres and idioms has been recognized, this very recognition has been used to further relegate the Jains to a marginal position, since scholars have assumed that the artistic craftsmen were not Jain and so their productions have been viewed as lesser sectarian variants of what the same craftsmen did for other patrons. A final deleterious pre-understanding has been that since "true" Jainism should exhibit a single-minded focus on world-renunciation, as visually symbolized by the naked Digambar monk, any artistic expressions within Jainism must either be tied to renunciation or else were "really" un-Jain.
This panel aims to begin to challenge these perceptions of the Jain involvement in South Asian art history. The four presenters represent two different disciplines-art history and religious studies-and start from two different perspectives-two Jain specialists asking what South Asian art history can tell us about the Jains, and two non-Jain specialists asking what the Jains can tell us about South Asian art history. These papers look at four different artistic media: sculpture, architecture, music, and ornamentation. The careful exploration of these fields leads to two inescapable conclusions: (1) without proper recognition of the Jain contributions, the overall view of South Asian art history is inadequate; and (2) without proper recognition of the role of the arts in Jain lived experience, the overall view of Jainism is inadequate.
The Significance of Studying Jain Art
Janice Leoshko, University of Texas, Austin
The purpose of this paper is to articulate the ways in which Jain art has been presented within the study of Indian art and the larger implications of this treatment. Too often Jain art has been characterized as simply a poor cousin of the more "brilliant" traditions of Buddhist or Hindu imagery so that many of its forms seem little more than feeble copies of images developed first for Buddhist or Hindu devotion. On the other hand, more sympathetic treatments of Jain art tend to isolate it from Buddhist or Hindu art, attempting to emphasize seemingly original elements rather than exploring the intermingling of these traditions. As an example of the problems existing in the treatment of Jain art, this paper will focus on the way in which Jina images from the Kushan period have been discussed and the limits of such discourse. It is through the recognition of biases, such as the emphasis on the emergence of the Buddha image and the preference for changing forms of imagery, that the full significance of these early Jain works becomes clearer. In conclusion, I will briefly consider how such biases have also skewed the understanding of other aspects of Indian art.
A Grammar of Ornament: Svetambar Jain Temple Images
John E. Cort, Denison University
Art historians (and others) frequently complain about the boring sameness of Jina images. But this complaint treats only of images in a museum setting, for in the context of the temple a uniformity of form can be negated by the use of ornamentation. In a temple setting one never sees Svetambar images without some form of ornamentation. Some of this is semi-permanent, such as the glass eyes or gold forehead bands which are glued on, or paint affixed to the eyes and mouth. There is extensive impermanent ornamentation. Silver crowns, earrings, armlets, and body armor are frequently laid over the image. On festival occasions, this silver is then further overlaid with elaborate ornamentations (angi) of flowers, leaves, sandalwood paste, powders of saffron, sandalwood, and camphor, gold and silver leaf, pearls, precious gems, and costume jewelry. This ornamentation is a short-term performance art, for every morning before worship the previous day's ornamentation is removed.
This ornamentation is central to the attraction many Jains feel for temple images, and in significant part shapes the experience of viewing (darsan) such images. The ornamentation is usually done by the Hindu temple employee (pujari), and on special festivals many temples hire professional ornamenters. Jain laity and renouncers frequently remark on the beauty and attractiveness of special ornamentations, and criticize those that they feel are inadequate.
This presentation will analyze some of the aesthetic categories used to discuss the ornamentation. The data come from extensive interviews and conversations with pujaris, professional ornamenters, and Jain laity and renouncers; and from extensive observation of ornamented images and the application of ornamentation. Some of the categories by which people discuss ornamentation are ones we would associate with aesthetic judgments, such as symmetry, stability, balance, color, and fullness. Others are of a more social nature, such as cost and richness, ostentation, loudness, power, and reputation. Still others are of a more religious nature, such as exalting and miraculousness.
By looking at some of the ways in which people discuss, compliment, and critique ornamentation using these categories, this paper will begin to essay a phenomenology of the Jain experience of the ornamentation of temple images.
Jain Performative Aesthetics: The "Fit" Between Song, Dance, and
Jain Religiosity
M. Whitney Kelting, Independent Scholar
Above all, when people describe Jain music and dance, they speak (sometimes pejoratively) of the restraint and calm of the performances. While there was nothing explicitly called "Jain" about the aesthetics of the stavan performances, certain aspects of the performances illustrated a difference between the Hindu and the Jain aesthetics of religious performance. The abandon of the Hindu religious performances, with wild dancing, possession, and loss of emotional control contrasts with the reserve shown in the Jain performances. The release from behavioral restrictions celebrated in the Hindu bhakti tradition (and by its scholars) would be a failure to maintain Jain standards of behavior. For a Jain to lose control is not merely a social impropriety with which they would feel uncomfortable, but also a breach of the Jain ethic of control of action. The precision of the Jain dance and music reflects less a lack of enthusiasm for the performance than an adherence to a Jain understanding of worthy devotional behavior. The match of the song and its melody, the dance gestures and the rhythms shows attentiveness and is proof of devotion. It articulates the women's time spent at practice, which, in a Jain understanding not unlike 'practice makes perfect,' shows the dedication of the women to their spiritual progress. Their sense of Jain devotional behavior is all the more devoted to the Jinas for being precise.
Mapping the City: Haveli Temples and Issues of Community Identity
Catherine E. B. Asher, University of Minnesota
Among the least understood of all Indian religious structures is the north Indian Jain temple. Until the 12th century, the Jain temple was virtually indistinguishable from its Hindu counterpart except for its embellishing deities. Post 12th-century Jain temples purportedly are different from Hindu temples in appearance; no longer were they open free-standing structures, but were encased within walls. From the exterior they resembled dwellings, and are called haveli or mansion-type temples.
This paper seeks to examine two widely believed suppositions: one is that the haveli temple is unique to Jain temples. Two is the claim the haveli temple was a reaction to Muslim presence in north India from the 12th century on; the walls were added to hide the temples from Muslims. To what extent is the change in building type a result of Muslim presence? Why, if temples were enclosed as a reaction to Muslim authority, does the haveli temple type continue to be widely erected even today? Based on recent field work, I will examine these temples built between the 18th and 20th centuries, periods when Muslim authority had weakened or was even non-existent. I contend that these temples can only be understood in their larger urban context. Analyzing placement vis-à-vis neighboring mosques, other Hindu and Jain temples and secular structures as well as probing appearance-both interior and exterior-ultimately may explain the persistence of the haveli style temple. Whatever the original connotation of the haveli style, since the 18th century this temple type, it might be argued, embodies the status and wealth of today's north Indian community.