A LARGE SVETAMBARA JAIN TIRTHA PAT

Description:

Western India, 19th c. or earlier
248 x 249 / 276 x 259 cm
A religious map depicting a panoramic aerial view depicting one of the five pilgrimage cities used in Śvētāmbara Jainism for representing places of pilgrimage (Tirtha). The Śvētāmbara Jains hold five centers of pilgrimage to be most sacred. These places are Shatrunjaya and Girnar in Gujarat, Mount Abu in Rajasthan, Shikharji in Bihar and Ashtapada in the Himalayas. Every year in October and November this Tirtha Pat was hung near a Jain temple for devotees to worship who were not able to visit the actual pilgrimage place but can achieve its religious merits by viewing a cartographical overview of the pilgrimage site on the Tirth Pat. The style of painting as well as architectural composition seen here suggest an early date.
From an old German private collection, acquired in the 1990s - Wear, damage due to age