Nine Planetary Gods and Jina Ajitanātha

Estimated Value:

500 € - 800 €

Schätzpreis:

550 €

Description:

Gujarat or Rajasthan, 18th c. or later
50 x 43,5/ 11,5 x 26 cm
I: The nine planets (Sanskrit: navagraha) are worshipped by Hindus and Jains alike. The illustration shows the planets in anthropomorphic form in three rows. In the centre is the sun god Sūrya, whose sun chariot is drawn by seven horses. To his right, Ketu is depicted as a hybrid being with a serpentine lower body. The group of planetary gods is accompanied by a group of four animals placed in the outer corners: Elephant, Lion (with head of a makara, i.e. a mythical creature formed from river crocodile and river dolphin), Horse and Bull. II: The painting shows a Jina accompanied by two gods. The throne of the Jina is decorated with tendril ornamentation and shows a symbol in the throne base that can be read as an elephant and thus refers to Ajitanātha, the second Jina of the present age. On the right side, the Yakṣa Maṇibhadra is depicted on an elephant. Maṇibhadra was already worshipped in ancient India, but underwent a change in modern Jainism and has since been depicted as a hybrid being. He is particularly revered among the members of the Tapāgaccha, the largest Jainist community in western India, from whose environment the painting may therefore have originated. Maṇibhadra is accompanied here by a Yakṣiṇī riding a peacock.
From an important private collection in northern Germany, collected mainly in India from the early 1950s to the 1980s

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