First Tirthankara Rishabhanatha in seated meditation (Gujarat, India, c. 8th century). From the Humboldt Forum in Berlin, Germany.
Brief Identification[]
This statue depicts Rishabhanatha, the first tirthankara of Jainism. It is quite small, measuring around 7.4 by 5.3 by 3.1 inches. It was made in the 8th century CE and found in Gujarat in Western India. In 1972, the statue was purchased by the Museum of Asian Art in Berlin.
Technical Evaluation[]
The statue is made primarily of brass, most likely made using lost-wax casting typical of the time and region [Adirai 2016, 87]. Because the mold would have been destroyed, these statues would have been made individually by artisans instead of mass-produced. However, as numerous other icons of Rishabhanatha exist [Eastman 1935], this artifact should not be considered truly unique.
The srivatsa mark on the chest is inlaid with silver and distinguishes the statue as a Jain tirthankara [Eastman 1934, 20] as opposed to a visually similar statue of the Buddha. To identify the statue as a specific tirthankara, a mark would often be placed on the base to distinguish it [Rajan 2018]. However, in this case, the long hair indicates that this is a statue of Rishabhanatha specifically [Vyas 1995, 19].
Here, Rishabhanatha is depicted in a seated meditation pose, as opposed to the standing pose that was also common at the time [Eastman 1934]. The somewhat passive expression is typical of tirthankaras and of the Buddha. While Rishabhanatha is not specifically shown as clothed, as in later Svetambara images, there is no attention drawn to his nudity, as became commonplace in later Digambara images [Eastman 1934].
Local Historical Context[]
This statue is an icon of Jainism, a South Asian religion focused on liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth through asceticism. Jain monks renounce possessions and assume the role of wandering mendicants, a practice that has remained more or less common through the centuries. Around the first century CE, a schism developed between two sects: the Digambaras (“sky-clad”) and the Svetambaras (“white-clad”), primarily over whether mendicants were permitted to wear clothes. Given that Gujarat was the main stronghold of Svetambara Jainism at the time of the statue’s making [Jones 2005, 4765], this statue is most likely a Svetambara icon.
At the time of this statue’s making, the region was controlled by the Gurjara-Pratihara Dynasty, which rose to power after repelling an Arab invasion [Sen 1999, 266]. While the exact origin of the Pratihara clan is unknown, they claimed direct descent from the Ikshvaku dynasty of Hindu legend [Mishra 1954, 42]. The Pratiharas were known as patrons of art and architecture, and commissioned Jain temples and art despite being Hindus themselves [Srivastava 2017, 78]. Rishabhanatha is significant to Jainism because he is the first tirthankara (“ford-crosser”) in the line of twenty-four legendary teachers ending in Mahavira by which Jains trace their history. All the tirthankaras were also known as jinas (“victors”) for their achievement of nirvana. Jain tradition dictates that Rishabhanatha lived millions of years ago; of course, there is no historical evidence to support this [Eastman 1935]. Jainism also claims Rishabhanatha as the founder of the Ikshvaku dynasty [Ghosh 2021, 14].
World-Historical Significance[]
The creation of icons such as this shows a trend towards worship of the tirthankaras, despite the fact that Mahavira never laid down principles of such worship [Sahoo 1993]. In fact, the Jinas were often described and treated as deities on a par with Hindu gods [Fleming 2025, 179]. This same trend away from original teachings in favor of deification can also be seen in Buddhism, where religious art initially did not depict the Buddha at all, and where bodhisattvas were venerated by the Mahayana sect that formed later.
Furthermore, the fact that this icon remains unclothed despite likely originating from the Svetambara sect shows that the iconography of the two sects had not yet diverged despite the schism taking place centuries earlier. This commonality becomes even more important when considering that the oral tradition was disrupted by the schism [Jones 2005, 4767], resulting in a total lack of undisputed scriptures. Art was the primary method by which the Svetambaras and Digambaras continued to tell the same stories.
In addition, the creation of Jain icons under the Gurjara-Pratiharas shows that Jainism continued to flourish despite the ruling class being Hindu. This could be in part due to shared mythology between the two religions — the Pratiharas claimed legitimacy through their alleged descent from the Ikshvaku dynasty, which Jains claim Rishabhanatha founded. In this way, the Pratiharas laid claim to the right to rule through Jain traditions as well as Hindu traditions, much in the way China’s Tang dynasty patronized Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism at the same time.
Bibliography[]
Adirai, G. Ezhil. “Technological Methods in Making Sculptures: From Pre-Historic to Early Chola Period (1000 Bc to 985 Ad) Tamil Nadu.” Proceedings of the Indian History Congress 77 (2016): 83–89.
Eastman, Alvan C. “A Digambara Image of Rishabhanatha.” Parnassus 6, no. 8 (1935): 20–31. https://doi.org/10.2307/771305.
Eastman, Alvan C. “A Jina Image of the Gupta Dynasty.” Parnassus 6, no. 3 (1934): 20–39. https://doi.org/10.2307/770966.
Fleming, Christopher T. “Equity and Trusts in Classical Indian Legal History.” In Equity and Trusts in Sanskrit Jurisprudence. The British Academy, 2025. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.27435699.10.
Ghosh, Soma. “Samgrahani Sutra: A Rare 17 Th Century Jaina Illustrated Manuscript in the Salar Jung Museum Library, Hyderabad, India.” The Chitrolekha Journal on Art and Design, 2021. https://www.academia.edu/download/73156089/v5n101_1_.pdf.
Jones, Lindsay, ed. Encyclopedia of Religion. 2nd ed. Vol. 7. Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. Gale eBooks. https://link.gale.com/apps/pub/5BTO/GVRL?sid=bookmark-GVRL.
Mishra, V. B. “Who Were the Gurjara-Pratīhāras ?” Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute 35, no. 1/4 (1954): 42–53.
Rajan, K. Jaina Traces at Eswarankod in Palakkad, Kerala. n.d.
Sahoo, Anand Chandra. “Origin of the Tirthankara Image (Summary).” Proceedings of the Indian History Congress 54 (1993): 909–10.
Sen, Sailendra Nath. Ancient Indian History and Civilization. New Age International, 1999.
Srivastava, Surabhi. “Jainism in the Historical Sources of Central- Western India from C. 8th - C.12th Ad.” Proceedings of the Indian History Congress 78 (2017): 78–86.
Vyas, R. T. Studies in Jaina Art and Iconography and Allied Subjects in Honour of Dr. U.P. Shah. Abhinav Publications, 1995.