Jaina Non-Tīrthas in Madhyadeśa

The project centres on the examination of obliterated, forgotten, rediscovered and revitalized medieval Digambara sites in Central India.

Its central concern is the documentation and assessment of the fate of the vestiges of temples that either have already vanished or will soon disappear, in particular valued Jina images and other sanctified objects, whether they have been destroyed, dispersed or re-assembled, also to probe the usefulness of the newly introduced typology of Jaina “non-tīrtha”.

The reconstruction of the history of the temples, monastic lineages, Jaina support networks and Jaina art in Central India remains a challenge, because much of the historical evidence has been obliterated or displaced, and requires more research, supplementing the pioneering work of M.B. Garde, U.P. Shah, K. Bruhn, O. Viennot, B. Jaina, K. Deva, M. Meister, K.C. Jain, J. Hegewald, R.S. Rajput, A.K. Siṃha and N.K. Jaina, and others. This research project on regional Jaina history is cross-linked to the Jaina Prosopography Database Project and doubles as a case study in the ontology of non-being.

In the course of the documentation of the 10th -12th century Digambara temples at Tumain and at Bīṭhalā, which soon will be submerged in a new artificial lake, the following theoretical approaches and readings of Jaina iconography were developed to date: (1) theory of the non-tīrtha, (2) theory of the Jaina temple as an auto-poietic system, (3) theory of the iconographic structures of medieval Jaina temples as self-exegetical programmes, (4) theory of the Jaina heritage temple, (5) discovery of new motifs and patterns in regional temple doorframe iconography.

• Flügel, Peter, Jaina Non-Tīrthas in Madhyadeśa II.2: Heritage without History, Berliner Indologische Studien (26), 2024
• Flügel, Peter, Self-Reference in Jaina Art and Architecture. Beyond Boundaries: A Celebration of the Work of John E. Cort. UC Davis, 12.8.2022 (Invited Conference Paper)
• Flügel, Peter, Jaina Non-Tīrthas in Madhyadeśa II.1: Sites of Non-Memory, Berliner Indologische Studien (25), pp 213-308, 2021
• Flügel, Peter, Balogh, Dániel, Wright, J. Clifford and Mallinson, James, Jaina Non-Tīrthas in Madhyadeśa I: Fragments of Digambara Temples and A New Vaiṣṇava Inscription in Tumain, Jaina Studies - Newsletter of the Centre of Jaina Studies (15), pp 23-30, 2020
• Flügel, Peter, Wright, J. Clifford, Balogh, Dániel, Mevissen, Gerd and Willis, Michael, Riddles of the Rock-Carved Hindu and Jaina Sculptures and Inscriptions at Rakhetrā, Jaina Studies - Newsletter of the Centre of Jaina Studies (14), pp 24-30, 2019

• Bruhn, Klaus. “Jain Tīrthas in Madhyadesha. (1) Dudahi.” Jain Yug (November 1958) 1-5.
• Bruhn, Klaus. “Jain Tīrthas in Madhyadesha. (2) Chandpur.” Jain Yug (April 1959) 67-70.
• Bruhn, Klaus. “Jain Tīrthas in Madhyadesha. (3) Devgaḍh.” Jain Yug (May 1959) 3pp. (in Hindi).
• Bruhn, Klaus. The Jina-Images of Deogarh. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1969 (Studies in South Asian Culture 1).
• Cort, John E. Framing the Jina: Narratives of Icons and Idols in Jain History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
• Flügel, Peter, Krümpelmann, Kornelius, et al. Jaina-Prosopography Database. 2020ff.: https://jaina-prosopography.org/
• Garde, M. B. Annual Report of the Archaeological Department Gwalior State for Saṃvat 1971 (A.D. 1914-15). Gwalior, c. 1915 [Not accessible].
• Hegewald, Julia A. B. Jaina Temple Architecture: The Development of a Distinct Language in Space and Ritual. Monographien zur indischen Archäologie. Berlin: G. H. Verlag, 2009 (Kunst und Philologie 19).
• Meister, Michael W., Madhusudan A. Dhaky & Krishna Deva (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Indian Temple Architecture, Volume II, Part I: North India. Foundations of North Indian Style c. 250 B.C. – A.D. 1100. Two Volumes: Text & Plates. Delhi: American Institute of Indian Studies, Oxford University Press, 1988. 
• Meister, Michael W. & Madhusudan A. Dhaky (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Indian Temple Architecture: Volume II, Part II: North India. Period of Early Maturity c. A.D. 700 - 900. Two Volumes: Text & Plates. New Delhi and Princeton: American Institute of Indian Studies, Oxford University Press, 1991.
• Mevissen, Gerd J. R. “Corpus of Jaina Stone Sculptures Bearing graha.s as Subsidiary Figures.” Berliner Indologische Studien 13-14 (2000) 343-400.
• Mevissen, Gerd J. R. “Revised Corpus of Jaina Stone Sculptures Bearing Graha Figures, Part II: Eastern India (Odisha/Orissa).” Berliner Indologische Studien 13-26 (2023) 177-218.
• Sears, Tamara I. Worldly Gurus and Spiritual Kings: Architecture and Asceticism in Medieval India. New Haven, 2014.
• Siṃha, Aravinda Kumāra & Navanīta Kumāra Jaina. Pacarāī Ke Jaina Mandira. Naī Dillī: Risarca Iṇḍiyā Presa, 2014.
• Willis, Michael D. Inscriptions of Gopakṣetra. London: British Museum, 1996.

Personnel

Dr Peter Flügel pf8@soas.ac.uk

Schedule

2018-