Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c6.35

c6.35

The walls and ceilings of Sittannavāsal or the Abode of the Siddhas were once fully covered with paintings from which only a few have survived. These consist of the figures of Apsarasas dancing in the clouds¹⁸, a royal couple,¹⁹ and the two lotus ceiling panels ²⁰ (Figs. 1-2), the first depicting a lotus pond with two geese and a human figure, and the second, which is the continuation of the first, has a human figure with a basket of plucked lotus flowers. The disporting elephants are deep russet or yellowish brown and the bulls appear buff coloured. These lotus ponds are thought to be a part of the *Samavasaraṇa* or a resting place made by the gods for a Tirthamkara after he had attained salvation. According to Jain mythology it was circular in ground plan and was provided with twenty thousand steps on four sides, doors, roads and ponds before each gateway. As mentioned in Jain literature, when the Lord sets out for *Samavasaraṇa* the gods prepare nine golden lotuses of a thousand²¹ petals each and place them in succession in front of the Lord. The second lotus pond which has fishes, *makara*, geese, elephant, bulls and human figures, has been identified with the *Khātikābhūmi* of the *Samavasaraṇa* in which the *Bhavyas*, i.e., the faithful, gather lotus flowers.²² As the same subject is depicted at Kailāsanāth Temple, Ellura, it seems the motif was common to both Hindu and Jain paintings. Its Jain interpretation correctly refers it to a special *bhūmi* of the *Samavasaraṇa*; it could, however, as well picture Abhiyogika gods who bring the paraphernalia for Jina’s ablutions. “They take lotuses from the ocean Puṣkarārdha, from the lake Padma—on the other mountain ranges, in every zone, they took water lotuses, etc., insatiable to them like master’s favour.”²³