An Unpublished Image of Adinatha in Bharat Kala Bhavan

Summary

Marutinandan Prasad Tiwari describes a previously unpublished twelfth‑century sandstone sculpture of Tīrthaṅkara Ādinātha (Ṛṣabhanātha) housed in the Bharat Kala Bhavan museum at Varanasi. Labelled sculpture No. 22073 and originally from Khajuraho, the piece depicts the first Jain Tīrthaṅkara seated in meditation (dhyānamudrā) on a double‑lion throne (siṃhāsana) supported by couchant lions. His left leg is slightly damaged and the forearms are broken, but traces reveal that the hands were placed one over the other in his lap. Ādinātha wears the śrīvatsa symbol on his chest and his hair is shown in short curls with two locks falling onto the shoulders—features typical of early medieval Jain iconography. Above his head are miniature figures of the remaining twenty‑three Tīrthaṅkaras carved in three tiers of niches, flanked by trilinear umbrellas and attendants bearing pitchers. On the pedestal is a badly eroded bull, the cognisance (lāñchana) of Ādinātha. Two celestial attendants stand on either side, holding indistinct objects; their upper garments and ornaments are rendered delicately. On the plinth ends are worshippers with folded hands. Surrounding the central figure are elephants with riders and elaborate scrollwork, showing the sculptor’s attention to decorative detail. Tiwari notes that the back slab still preserves traces of a halo behind Ādinātha’s head. Stylistically, the sculpture shares features with other Khajuraho Jain images dated to the tenth–twelfth centuries, such as the combination of austere posture and ornate framework. The author argues that the presence of all twenty‑four Tīrthaṅkaras in a single composition symbolises the completeness of Jain spiritual lineage. The article situates the piece within the broader corpus of central Indian Jain art and emphasises the need for its publication to aid scholars. By documenting the iconographic elements and providing measurements, Tiwari contributes to the cataloguing of Jain antiquities and highlights Bharat Kala Bhavan’s role in preserving lesser‑known masterpieces.