From Poverty to Riches and Renunciation: A Jain Tale and Its Early Modern Painted Iterations
Friday, February 9, 2024, 9:00-10:20am PST
The Shalibhadra Chaupai, a seventeenth-century Shvetambara Jain narrative tale in old Gujarati, extols the benefits of almsgiving to the monastic community and is directed primarily at merchants. While the end goal remains realization of the futility of worldly ties and renunciation, Shalibhadra’s story, which is meant to be performed with music, promises an individual success in worldly as well as religious affairs. Sumptuously painted manuscripts of the Shalibhadra Chaupai from early modern Rajasthan and Gujarat concretely visualize this ultimate reward through bright and colorful imagery of a luxurious Jain merchant culture. However, this genre remains understudied, having been overshadowed by the illustrious narrative of courtly art. Through the lens of the Shalibhadra Chaupai painted manuscripts, this paper will address the contribution of Jain art, artists, and patrons to the visual culture of early modern western India.
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https://ucr.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEud--hrjkrEtXPHdosYKZeO2hCiLo9r8fd
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Dr. Nandita Punj is the Gurudev Kanjiswami Postdoctoral Scholar in Jain Studies in the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies at Arizona State University. Nandita obtained her doctorate in Art History from Rutgers University. Her research on early modern Jain manuscript paintings from Gujarat and Rajasthan explores Jain artistic practices and highlights their contribution to the construction of eighteenth-century visual culture. Focusing on under-represented workshops and artistic traditions, her study questions binaries such as courtly/elite as opposed to non-courtly/folk. Nandita also holds a PhD in History from the University of Delhi and has worked on various aspects of Jain monastic orders in early medieval western India. Her current research interests include studying the cultural and ritual practices of the Jain diaspora, especially the process of replication of pilgrimage sites and the sanctification of these recreated sacred spaces.
