A Jain Cosmic Diagram, Manushyaloka
Property of a Private Connecticut Collection
A Jain Cosmic Diagram, Manushyaloka

INDIA, GUJARAT OR RAJASTHAN, DATED AH 1560 (1502)

Details
A Jain Cosmic Diagram, Manushyaloka
India, Gujarat or Rajasthan, dated AH 1560 (1502)
Depicting Mount Meru at center of 'The Middle World', or Manushyaloka, encircled by alternating oceans containing aquatic animals and two-and-a-half continents, the four corners depicting Jinas in elaborate shrines; inscribed throughout in Devanagari; framed
Image: 32¾ x 33¾ in. (83.5 x 85.5 cm.)
Provenance
Sotheby's New York, 16 September 1999, lot 186

Lot Essay

Pictured as a diagram of concentric forms and reproduced with considerable precision to the details of the complex structure of the Jain cosmos, such concise representations of the 'myriad of destinies' in Jainism guide its followers to liberation. Manushyaloka, the most important of the three worlds in Jain cosmography, is the world of mortals, where jinas are born and achieve enlightenment. Mount Meru, at the center of the diagram represents the axis mundi, and the realm of perfection and transcendence.

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