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Lot 1840
Jainist Yantra
Estimated Value:
800 € - 1.200 €
Schätzpreis:
400 €
Description:
Western or Northern India, 19th c.48 x 43,5 cm R.
In Jain cosmography, the universe consists of three worlds: the upper, inhabited by divine beings, the middle, inhabited by mortals, and the lower, belonging to the "damned and disordered" (Pal 1994: 223). This image represents the middle world, manushyaloka, the place where the jinas are born and where it is possible to escape rebirth. The centrally placed circular image area shows the sacred syllables aum, hṛīm and śrīṃ in the middle. This mantra is used in Hindu traditions to invoke the goddess and is meant to allow the meditator a deeper connection and participation in divine wisdom. In this sense, various goddesses are depicted around the mantra, among whom the goddess of fortune Lakṣmī, who is also revered in Jainism, is particularly highlighted; two white elephants bathe the goddess in milk, while frond-bearers flank the scenery. A seated Jina is placed at the upper edge of the picture, accompanied by two adorants with fly fronds, proving the Jain context. Divine beings as well as symbols of good fortune are lined up at the lower edge of the picture. The surrounding inscriptions in the margins contain further mantras as well as hymns and invocations to the deities depicted.
From an important private collection in northern Germany, largely collected in India from the early 1950s until the 1980s
