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A cast bronze sculpture of a man standing upright on a pedestal with carved details on it. The man slender with wide shoulders. There is a curved, round form behind his head that comes to five rounded points.

The cast bronze sculpture is of a man standing upright and facing the viewer. The sculpture is dark green in color. He is standing on a pedestal with small carved decorations. The pedestal has two square layers and one round layer at the top. The man is naked and his arms are straight down by his side. His ears are long, his hair is short, and has broad shoulders. There is a curved, round form behind his head that comes to five rounded points with small details on them.

Gallery Text

Practiced in India at least since the sixth century BCE, Jainism offers release from the cycle of birth and rebirth through the practice of asceticism and nonviolence toward all living things. Jains follow the teachings of twenty-four jinas, or perfected beings, known as tirthankaras—humans who have achieved enlightenment and become role models for those seeking spiritual guidance. This sculpture represents Suparshvanatha, the seventh jina. According to legend, his pregnant mother saw herself asleep on a couch of serpents, which accounts for the five-headed cobra protecting the jina.

This figure’s nakedness indicates its affiliation with the Digambara or “sky clad” sect, the more austere of Jainism’s two primary branches. The statue of a jina personifies a spiritual ideal and functions as a meditative support. Jains do not worship an image, but venerate it at home or in a temple by singing hymns and making offerings. The jina, who has passed beyond the realm of human affairs, is not believed to reside in the image.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2012.193
People
Unknown Artist
Title
Tirthankara Suparsvanatha in Kayotsarga, or Standing Meditation, Posture and Protected by a Five-Headed Naga
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture, figure
Date
7th-8th century
Places
Creation Place: South Asia, India, Tamil Nadu
Period
Pallava Dynasty, 4th-9th centuries
Culture
Indian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/337768

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2590, South Asian Art, South Asia in the Medieval and Early Modern Eras
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Cast bronze with cold-worked details
Dimensions
maximum, image and base: H. 35.7 x W. 13.1 x D. 13.2 cm (14 1/16 x 5 3/16 x 5 3/16 in.)
figure and naga hood only: H.25 cm (9 13/16 in.)
figure, lotus base, and naga hood, excluding square base: H. 28.7 cm (11 5/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: along the front of the uppermost register of the square base: A short inscription in Grantha characters appears along the front of the uppermost register of the square base. (Note: Grantha script is a Tamil script used to write Sanskrit and Manipravalam in Tamil-speaking regions; it was used in the Pallava and Pandya Kingdoms.) The inscription has been transcribed and translated by Professor Y. Subbarayalu of the French Institute of Pondicherry.

    Transcription: Svasti śrīmat [s.n..]ra dēvan

    The letters within square brackets are worn and abraded; therefore the name can only be guessed. Perhaps it is ’Sundara’. Professor Subbarayalu suggests a translation of “Hail! The revered Sundara devan”.

    Comments: Professor Subbarayalu notes that the “n” ending suggests that the name is in Tamil form. Here, the name “Sundara devan" means “the beautiful lord”.

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[J. J. Klejman, New York (by 1963)], sold; to Paul E. Manheim, New York (1963-1999), by inheritance; to Estate of Paul E. Manheim, New York, 1999-2007. [Carleton Rochell Asian Art, Ltd., 2007]. [Sotheby’s, New York, sale no. N08727, 24 March 2011, lot 42] sold; to Private Collection, 2011-2012, partial gift partial sale; to Harvard Art Museums, 2012.

Footnotes:
J. J. Klejman (1906-1995)
Paul E. Manheim (1906-1999)
Object was on loan to the Harvard Art Museums as 17.2011 from 2011 to 2012.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Partial gift of an anonymous donor in honor of Robert D. Mowry and partial purchase through the generosity of David M. Leventhal and of the Ralph C. Marcove International Understanding Through Arts and Crafts Foundation, Inc.; through the bequest of Edmund Chi Chien Lin, by exchange; and through the Louis Sidney Thierry Memorial Fund and the Anthony M. Solomon Fund for the Acquisition of Asian Art
Accession Year
2012
Object Number
2012.193
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
Formerly thought to represent Parsvanatha, Jainism’s twenty-third Tirthankara, this sculpture has now been identified as Suparsvanatha, Jainism’s seventh Tirthankara. According to Jain beliefs, Suparsvanatha became a siddha, or a liberated soul—that is, one that has destroyed all of its karma and thus gained release from the samsara cycle of birth and rebirth. Although Suparsvanatha is not believed to have been an historical person, Jain beliefs further hold that he was born at Banaras (Varanasi) to Queen Prithvidevi and King Pratistha Raja (of the Ikshvaku clan). His birth date traditionally is given as the twelfth day of the Jayestha shukla month of the Indian calendar. Legend recounts that on the night that Suparsvanatha was conceived, his mother saw the fourteen great signs indicating the birth of a Tirthankara. While the embryo was growing, the Queen saw herself asleep on a couch of serpents which had one hood, five hoods, and nine hoods. On the twelfth day of the bright half of Jayestha, the moon being in Visakha, she bore easily a son, gold colored, marked with a svastika. While young, Suparsvanatha was married and later ascended his father’s throne. He ably conducted the affairs of state, and he tended to the wellbeing of his people. One day while sitting on a rooftop and enjoying nature, he observed the falling of leaves and the wilting of flowers. Suddenly he became aware of the transient nature of life, which gave rise to a feeling of detachment and the desire for spiritual fulfillment. He passed his kingdom over to his son and became an ascetic. After nine months of disciplined practices he became omniscient on the sixth day of the dark half of the month of Phalgun. For a long period he worked for the spread of right knowledge, at the end of which he gained enlightenment and liberation. Because both Parsvanatha and Suparsvanatha are associated with serpents as iconographic symbols—the serpents generally depicted as cobras—images of these Tirthankaras are often misidentified; moreover, because Parsvanatha is represented much more frequently than Suparsvanatha, most Jain images with cobras are identified as Parsvanatha. According to iconographic texts, however, Parsvanatha should be associated with a seven-headed cobra, while Suparsvanatha should be associated with a five-headed cobra. Thus, the five cobra heads that shield the head of the Tirthankara indicate that this image represents Suparsvanatha.

Completely nude, Suparsvanatha stands rigidly straight in the Jain posture of meditation, or "kayotsarga" posture, with his head erect, his eyes wide open, his broad shoulders pulled back, his weight evenly distributed on both legs, his bare feet firmly planted on the lotus base. His long arms hang at his sides, his elbows pointing straight back, the palms of his hands facing his legs, his fingertips curved lightly inward and reaching almost to his knees. A roll of flesh immediately below the navel defines his abdomen, while an intaglio line at its base distinguishes abdomen from hips. Crowned by heavy, arching eyebrows, large, fully open eyes dominate Suparsvanatha’s face; his narrow mouth with thick lips appears below the comparatively large nose. (All of the facial features were integrally cast, except for the irises and pupils of the eyes, which appear to have been incised after casting—i.e., cold worked.) His short hair is arranged in snail shell curls, like that of the Buddha; in like manner, the lobes of his large ears are distended. A "shrivasta" symbol, which is typically associated with Tirthankaras, appears at Suparsvanath’s proper right shoulder, just above the proper right nipple. A five headed cobra, Suparsvanatha’s defining iconographic symbol, appears protectively behind Suparsvanatha. Termed a naga, the snake rises up from the lotus base to Suparsvanatha’s shoulders in a series of gently curved zigzags, its five heads spreading, like a halo, behind, above, and to the sides of Suparsvanatha’s head. The snake’s several head are well defined and clearly separated one from the next; their eyes rise in relief, their tongues protrude forward. (The snakes’ tongues are made of bronze; if they were integrally cast with the sculpture itself, which seems likely, this is a supreme technical achievement. That three of the five tongues survive intact, and a fourth survives in part, attests both to the exceptionally high quality of this sculpture’s casting and to its excellent state of preservation.) Probably incised after casting, a regular pattern of crosshatched lines describes the scales on the naga’s back, while, additional incised lines articulate the snake’s undersides, visible around Suparsvanatha’s head. The figure stands on a hollow, two part base, the circular upper portion of which is a double lotus—the form integrally cast but the individual rising and descending petals incised after casting—and the square lower portion of which is stepped and waisted, in the manner of an Indian throne; the double lotus portion rests directly on the flat top of the throne like lower portion. The square lower portion comprises four registers: the lowest register, which is the base’s widest segment and serves as a virtual plinth, has a thickened lower lip and slightly angled side walls; slightly smaller, the second register has rounded sides, suggesting a pillow; evenly spaced vertical bars partition the strongly indented third register, suggesting three rectangular niches or windows; the sides of the flat, topmost register are unadorned, save the short inscription in Grantha script that runs horizontally along its front face in a single row of text, bordered on the top and two sides (but not on the bottom) by a single bowstring line. It appears that the inscription and framing bowstring lines likely were cast, rather than engraved after casting, though determination of the exact technique by which the inscription was imparted will require technical examination. Several Jain ritual implements are depicted on the top of the uppermost register, surrounding the lower portion of the lotus base; the depictions appear to have been integrally cast, rather than incised after casting.

Publication History

  • Sotheby’s New York, Indian Art, auct. cat., Sotheby's, New York (New York, March 24, 2011), Cat. lot no. 42

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 2590 South and Southeast Asia, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu