Jina Parsvanatha thumbnail 1
Jina Parsvanatha thumbnail 2
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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
South Asian Sculpture, Room 47b

Jina Parsvanatha

Figure
late 12th century - early 14th century (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Here Parsvanatha, the 23rd Jain Saviour (‘tirthankara’), stands in the ‘kayotsarga’ posture. Long periods of immobility, with the arms hanging freely from the body, represent one form of severe penance undertaken on the path to liberation.

A ‘naga’ (serpent) protects him with the coils of his body and shelters him with his seven hoods. Parsvanatha is flanked by the attendant minor deities Dharanendra and Padmavati, both holding a goad and noose in their hands. A triple umbrella and fly-whisks evoke Parsvanatha’s regal status. Here he is represented naked, which identifies the image as belonging to the Digambara ('sky-clad') sect of Jainism.

An inscription on the base records that this image was made for a Jain shrine dedicated to Parsvanatha. It was created at Gulbarga when the temple was restored in the 12th [now thought to be 13th] century after a period of persecution. It also records the name of the ‘stone engraver’, Chakravarti Paloja, which is rare in Indian sculpture.

The reverse of the back plate is inscribed ‘Parasa-naat’, an Anglicised rendition of Parsvanatha’s name, and ‘C.McK 1806’. These initials indicate that this sculpture once formed part of the collection of Colonel Colin McKenzie, the British antiquarian.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleJina Parsvanatha (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Schist, highly polished. The stone contains quartz, mica, feldspars (mainly albite and traces of microcline) and calcite, which are found in schist.
Brief description
Figure of Parsvanatha, schist, Karnataka, India, late 12th - early 14th century.
Physical description
Parsvanatha, the 23rd Jain Saviour (tirthankara), is standing in the kayotsarga posture, the 'setting free' of a body from earthly distractions. A seven-headed naga or serpent spirit protects the saint with the coils of his body and shelters him with his seven hoods. Parsvanatha is flanked by the yaksha or god Dharanendra and yakshi or goddess Padmavati, both holding a goad and noose in their hands. Long periods of immobility, with the arms hanging freely from the body, represent one form of severe penance undertaken on the path to liberation. The proportions of the figure follow iconic convention: the shoulders are broad and the chest is slightly expanded, representing an inner breath. The waist is slim and athletic, with muscular details represented on the abdomen. Parvanatha is here represented as a naked image of the Digambara sect of Jains. A triple umbrella and fly-whisks evokes the regal status of Parsvanatha. The base bears an inscription in Old Kannada. On the back is another inscription in Roman characters.
Dimensions
  • Height: 151.1cm (Note: Height as published in the 'Peaceful Liberators' catalogue.)
  • Width: 66cm (Note: Due to a possible system error this dimension may be inaccurate and needs to be checked.)
  • Depth: 28cm (Note: Due to a possible system error this dimension may be inaccurate and needs to be checked.)
  • Weight: 290kg (Note: Due to a possible system error this weight may be inaccurate and needs to be checked.)
Style
Gallery label
  • The Jina Parshvanatha 1100–1300 In seeking liberation,Jain ascetics followed a rigorous path.They abandoned all possessions and remained immobile for long periods. Here,the 23rd Jain saviour stands meditating in the kayotsarga (bodyabandonment) posture.Like monks in the Digambara (‘sky-clad’) sect today, he is naked. Parshvanatha is protected by the seven-headed serpent king Dharanendra,who also appears in the form of a god with his consort Padmavati.The triple umbrella shows Parshvanatha’s sacred status. Black shale Southern India (Deccan) With an inscription saying it was made by Chakravarti Paloja for a shrine at Garsoppa (Jainabastikere) [now thought to be Yelburga] Collected by Colin Mackenzie, compiler of the survey of the Kingdom of Mysore (1799–1810) Museum no. 931(IS) (06/06/2011)
  • PARSVANATHA Black shale From Gulbarga, Karnataka, Deccan Western Calukya period, 12th century Parsvanatha, the 23rd Jain Saviour (tirthankara), is standing in the kayotsarga posture, the "setting free" of a body from earthly distractions. A naga protects the saint with the coils of his body and shelters him with his seven hoods. Parsvanatha is flanked by a yaksa Dharanendra and yaksi Padmavati, both holding a goad and noose in their hands. The base bears an inscription in Kanarese recording that this image was made for a Jain shrine dedicated to Parsvanatha at Gulbarga at the time of the temple's restoration in the 12th century after a period of persecution. It also records the name of the sculptor ("stone engraver"), Chakravarti Paloja, a rare occurrence in Indian sculpture. 931(IS)(1988)
Object history
On the base is an inscription in Old Kannada (Haḷegannaḍa). It records that when the Jainism in Erambarage (Yelburga or Yalaburga, in the Koppal District of Karnataka) had experienced difficulties or perished because of persecution by Mummadi Singa, the Jain temple was restored by a senior Jain religious teacher. A layman, Malli Setti, son of Keti Setti of Mindagudali, caused the image of Parshvadeva (Parshvanatha) to be made by Paloja, a ruvari chakravarti or 'emperor among sculptors'. Scholars have expressed different opinions about the meaning of some aspects of the inscription and the identity of Mummadi Singa is uncertain but he seems most likely to be Mummadi Singa Nayaka, a military leader who founded a small kingdom in Kampili-Kummata in Karnataka and was involved in wars against larger states in the 1270s and 1280s. If so, the probable date of the sculpture would be late 13th to early 14th century.

As well as the inscription on the front, the sculpture also bears a second inscription that throws light on another chapter of its history. On the reverse of the back-plate is an anglicized rendition of the deity's name, "Parasa-naat", and the marks "C.McK" and "1806" which confirms that this sculpture once formed part of the collection of Colonel Colin Mackenzie, the British antiquarian whose survey of the Deccan was completed in that year.

The sculpture was given to the East India Company in 1808 by Col. Mackenzie, who wrote in a letter that year that he had shipped it to their Directors in London in the ship 'Phoenix'. The figure was incorporated in the collections of the East India Company's India Museum in London.

In 1879 the sculpture was transferred to the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) from the India Museum. The India Museum slip book entry states that it was received from 'McKenzie' and that it was 'taken from a ruined Busti (or temple) of Gasoppa [Gersoppa] anciently called Yarrum bardgaya [Yarumbaragaya or Erambarage], a town at the foot of the Western Ghats of Canara'. See J. Howes under 'References' for further details and discussion of the sculpture's provenance including information on documentation preserved in the British Library, which includes Mackenzie's letter of 1808 recording the discovery of the object at Garsoppa, now in Karnataka, and its transport to London, a drawing of a figure and a facsimile and translation of the Old Kannada inscription by an 'old Jain Poorohit' in his employment. The Jain temple site near Garsoppa is now called Jainabastikere. However, it seems probable that Yarrum bardgaya, rendered as Erambarage in the inscription, actually refers to Yelburga (Yalaburga), in the Koppal District of Karnataka, and that the object was moved at some point in the medieval period from there to Gersoppa, where a Jain kingdom thrived from 1409 to about 1610 before being eventually subsumed into a larger state and abandoned. The Italian traveller Pietro della Valle described seeing its ruins in 1623. See Barnard, N. under references for further information.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Here Parsvanatha, the 23rd Jain Saviour (‘tirthankara’), stands in the ‘kayotsarga’ posture. Long periods of immobility, with the arms hanging freely from the body, represent one form of severe penance undertaken on the path to liberation.

A ‘naga’ (serpent) protects him with the coils of his body and shelters him with his seven hoods. Parsvanatha is flanked by the attendant minor deities Dharanendra and Padmavati, both holding a goad and noose in their hands. A triple umbrella and fly-whisks evoke Parsvanatha’s regal status. Here he is represented naked, which identifies the image as belonging to the Digambara ('sky-clad') sect of Jainism.

An inscription on the base records that this image was made for a Jain shrine dedicated to Parsvanatha. It was created at Gulbarga when the temple was restored in the 12th [now thought to be 13th] century after a period of persecution. It also records the name of the ‘stone engraver’, Chakravarti Paloja, which is rare in Indian sculpture.

The reverse of the back plate is inscribed ‘Parasa-naat’, an Anglicised rendition of Parsvanatha’s name, and ‘C.McK 1806’. These initials indicate that this sculpture once formed part of the collection of Colonel Colin McKenzie, the British antiquarian.
Bibliographic references
  • L.D. Barnett, "Inscriptions in the V & A Museum", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, April 1915 pp. 337-9.
  • Pal, Pratapaditya Dr. (Ed.) The Peaceful Liberators: Jain Art from India, New York and London, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and V&A, 1995 Guy, John, p.166
  • Guy, John Indian temple sculpture . London: V&A Publications, 2007 p.56, pl.57
  • Howes, Jennifer. 'The Mackenzie Parsvanath at the V&A: Research in Progress on the British Library’s Mackenzie Collection', SAALG Newsletter, issue 2, pp.3-6.
  • Howes, Jennifer. Illustrating India : The Early Colonial Investigations of Colin Mackenzie (1784-1821) New Delhi : Oxford University Press, 2010. 269 p., ill. ISBN-13: 978-0-19-806441-1. ISBN-10: 0-19-806441-1. pp. 71-74 and 193.
  • Shah, U.P. Jaina-Rupa-Mandana Vol. 1. New Delhi, 1987. p.328 and fig. 46 (Pl. XXVII)
  • Barnard, Nick, Arts of Asia, Vol. no. 46, no 1, "The Jain Collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum".
  • In the image of man : the Indian perception of the universe through 2000 years of painting and sculpture : [exhibition / organized by Catherine Lampert assisted by Rosalie Cass]. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson :in association with the Arts Council of Great Britain, 1982 Number: 0297780719, 0297781243 (pbk.) p. 195, cat. no. 344
  • Irwin, John C., Indian Art, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1968 pl. 18
  • Haworth-Booth, Mark; Indian Sculpture: A Travelling Exhibition, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 1971 No. 13
  • Patil, Channabasappa S., and Vinoda C. Patil. Government of Karnataka : Inscriptions of Karnataka Vol. III : Inscriptions of Koppal District. Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, Mysore, 1988, No. 392, p. 118.
  • Reddy, Dr Devakonda (ed.). Kannada University Epigraphical Series-III: Koppala District. Kannada University, Hampi, 1999, Yalaburga no. 6, pp. 162-3.
  • Barnard, Nick. 'A Digambara Jain Pārśvanātha Figure from Karnataka: Making and Movement of a Jain Icon.' Pure Soul : The Jaina Spiritual Traditions. Ed. Peter Flügel, Heleen De Jonckheere, Renate Söhnen-Thieme, 56-67. London: Centre of Jaina Studies, 2023.
Collection
Accession number
931(IS)

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Record createdFebruary 14, 2000
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