Contributed by Nalini Balbir
This 2010 YouTube video features a rendition of a hymn to the Jinas, sung in Gujarati. A stuti is an old prayer, usually in Prakrit or Apabhraṁśa, that can be either chanted or recited.
The Victoria and Albert Museum provides an illustrated summary of iconography associated with images of Jinas. The information is also available to download in a PDF.
You will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer to open PDF files.
A statue of a Jina is ceremonially anointed during the festival of Dīvālī, the 'Festival of Lights' which marks the new year. For Jains the main celebration at Dīvālī is the commemoration of the liberation of the 24th Jina, Mahāvīra. A ‘head-anointing ceremony’ – mastakābhiṣeka – is a rite performed for any Jain image. Sanctified fluids are poured over the head of the statue, accompanied by a mantra or hymn. The sacred bath is at the centre of all Jain image rituals and can be performed daily in the morning ceremony or during festivals and pilgrimages. This photo on Flickr was taken in Jodhpur, Rajasthan in October 2009.
The pilgrimage centre of Gwalior in central India is famous for its carvings of Jinas. Both freestanding and relief sculptures, the Jinas are found in the temples as well as in panels cut into walls of rock. This collection of drawings and photographs is presented by Professor Frances W. Pritchett of Columbia University in New York.
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routesdata/1000_1099/jaintemples/gwalior/gwalior.html
This page from the Rubin Museum of Art website gives brief information for each of the Jinas. The page was produced to accompany the New York museum's exhibition called 'Victorious Ones: Jain Images of Perfection', which ran from 18 September 2009 to 15 February 2010
You will need Flash on your computer to view these images.
Look through historical photographs and drawings of Jinas in the JAINpedia image gallery, chosen from the online collection of the British Library.
British Library. Or. 13623. Yaśo-vijaya. 1733
British Library. Or. 13472. Unknown author. Perhaps 19th century
British Library. Or. 13623. Yaśo-vijaya. 1733
British Library. Or. 14290. Gangādāsa. 1792