1. The Single Most Important Rule
A Digambar Jain Tirthankara idol is completely unclothed. Always. Without exception.
"Digambar" (दिगम्बर) literally means dik (direction/sky) + ambar (garment) - "sky-clad." The word itself means naked. A Digambar Jina pratima wears the directions as its only garment. There is no cloth on the image, and there never has been.
This is not a stylistic choice by a sculptor. It is the doctrinal core of the image. The Tirthankara is depicted at the moment of total renunciation - having abandoned every possession, including clothing, including ornament, including all bodily adornment. To add a single thread of cloth or a single ornament to a Digambar Jina pratima is to destroy its theological meaning entirely.
Historical note from the source text: Although the Digambar–Śvetāmbar division occurred around three centuries before the Common Era, it left no trace on the Tirthankara images of Mathura. Even images consecrated by Śvetāmbars were made in Digambar (nude) form, and this continued right through to the later medieval period. Śvetāmbar-style clothed and ornamented Tirthankara images only begin to appear in the Gurjara-Pratihāra and Kalachuri periods (post-Gupta). Before that, all Jain images, without exception, were made in Digambar form only.
Bhagwan Mahavir - Shree Mahavir Ji Digambar Jain Atishay Kshetra
2. WHAT A DIGAMBAR JAIN IDOL DOES NOT HAVE
This section is the most important part of this document. These are absolute prohibitions. An image containing any of the following is not a correct Digambar Jain Tirthankara pratima.
2.1 No clothing of any kind
· No dhoti, no loincloth, no langoti, no kaupina
· No cloth drape over the lap, groin, thighs or shoulders
· No robe, shawl, sash, scarf, uttariya or antariya
· No garment of any material - cotton, silk, bark, leather, none
· No cloth even implied - no carved fold-lines, no hem, no waist-tie, no fabric texture anywhere on the body
· The figure is nude from head to foot, front and back
2.2 No āṅgī (आंगी) or ornamental covering
· No metal casing, no silver or gold foil covering, no repoussé plate fitted over the body
· No decorative overlay, no applied crown-plate, no fitted ornamental shell
· (The āṅgī is a Śvetāmbar devotional practice of dressing an image in a fitted ornamental covering. It has no place on a Digambar image.)
2.3 No applied eyes (चक्षु / chakshu)
· No enamel eyes, no glass eyes, no silver eyes, no applied eyeballs affixed to the face
· No painted white sclera, no painted pupils, no outlined eyes
· The eyes are carved directly in the stone or metal, as part of the face itself
· They are अर्धोन्मीलित (ardhonmīlita) - half-open, half-closed - lids lowered
· The gaze is नासाग्र दृष्टि (nāsāgra dṛṣṭi) - fixed on the tip of the nose, downcast, inward
· The eyes do not look at the viewer. They do not make eye contact. They are turned inward in meditation.
2.4 No tilak, no sect marks
· No tilak on the forehead
· No chandan mark, no kumkum, no vermilion, no ash marks
· No tripundra, no urdhvapundra, no third eye
· No caste, sect or sampradāya mark of any kind
2.5 No jewellery or ornament whatsoever
· No crown (mukut), no tiara, no diadem, no headband
· No earrings (kundal), no ear ornaments
· No necklace (haar), no chain, no pendant, no torque
· No armlets (bājūband), no bracelets (kangan), no wristbands
· No rings on fingers or toes
· No waistband (kamarband, mekhalā), no girdle, no belt
· No anklets (payal, nūpur)
· No nose ornament, no forehead ornament (maang tika)
· No sacred thread (janeu / yajñopavīta)
· No garland carved onto the body (offered flowers placed by devotees are separate from the image itself)
2.6 No makeup, no cosmetic decoration
· No painted lips, no coloured lips
· No kohl, no eyeliner, no darkened eyebrows
· No rouge, no blush, no skin tinting
· No painted decoration on the body
· No gilding applied as cosmetic surface
2.7 No facial or bodily hair
· No moustache
· No beard
· No chest hair, no body hair
· The face is smooth and clean
2.8 No attributes, no weapons, no objects
· The hands hold nothing - no weapon, no lotus, no book, no rosary, no vessel, no āyudha
· Only two arms. Never four, six or more. (Multi-armed figures in Jain art are Yakṣas, Yakṣīs, Vidyādevīs or Śāsana-devatās - never Tirthankaras.)
· No vāhana under the Tirthankara (the lāñchana on the pedestal is an identifying mark, not a mount)
2.9 No emotion, no motion, no narrative
· No smile beyond the faintest serenity, no expression of joy, sorrow, anger or desire
· No dynamic posture, no movement, no gesture toward the viewer
· No dancing, no walking, no turning
· Absolute stillness, absolute symmetry
2.10 On the depiction of nudity
The nudity is ascetic, not anatomical display. The genital area is carved plainly and without emphasis, in the same restrained, stylised, smooth treatment as the rest of the body. There is no exaggeration, no concealment, no shadow, no cloth, and no attention drawn to it. It is simply part of a body that has been rendered as a renounced, unadorned, meditative form. Jain sculptors across two thousand years have treated it exactly this way, and any correct depiction must do the same.
Bhagwan Rishabhdev
3. WHAT A DIGAMBAR JAIN IDOL DOES HAVE
3.1 Posture - only two are permitted
(a) Padmāsana (पद्मासन) - the seated form
· Seated cross-legged in full lotus, both soles turned upward
· Hands resting in the lap, palms facing upward, right hand over the left
· Spine erect, shoulders level, head straight
· This is the dhyāna-mudrā (meditation posture)
· In the Śaka-Kuṣāṇa period, Tirthankara images were made predominantly in padmāsana
(b) Khaḍgāsana (खड्गासन) - the standing form
· Standing perfectly erect and motionless
· Arms hanging straight down at the sides, not touching the body, fingers extended downward
· Feet placed slightly apart, flat, parallel
· This is kāyotsarga - "abandonment of the body"
· The Lohanipur torso (Patna Museum), held by archaeologists to be India's oldest Tirthankara image and dated to the Mauryan period (320–185 BCE) by its bright polish, is headless and broken at elbows and knees - but the shoulders and arms prove it to be khaḍgāsana
No other posture exists. No reclining, no seated-on-throne with legs down, no walking, no half-lotus, no leaning, no contrapposto.
3.2 The Śrīvatsa (श्रीवत्स)
· A mark on the centre of the chest
· Described in the source as lotus-shaped (कमलाकार) and elsewhere as shaped like the śrī-vṛkṣa
· It is the single mark permitted on the body of the Tirthankara
· Chronology: entirely absent on images up to the end of the Śaka-Kuṣāṇa period; its use most likely begins from the Gupta period onward
3.3 The Lāñchana (लाञ्छन / चिह्न) - the identifying emblem
The source text is explicit: Tirthankara images are essentially identical to one another. There is no difference in face, body or posture between the twenty-four - except in three cases noted below. Therefore:
The only means of identifying which Tirthankara an image represents is the emblem carved on the charaṇa-chaukī (चरण-चौकी), the foot-pedestal.
Without the lāñchana, even a knowledgeable viewer falls into confusion.
Scripturally, the emblem originates on the big toe of the right foot. Per Hemachandra's Abhidhāna Chintāmaṇi (kāṇḍa 1, ślokas 47–48) and Paṇḍit Āśādhara's Anagāra Dharmāmṛta (8.41), Indra declares as the lāñchana whatever mark he observes traced on the Lord's body at the time of the birth-abhiṣeka. The verse quoted from Trikālavartī Mahāpuruṣa (p. 56) states that Indra fixes as the lāñchana whichever sign he sees on the right foot's toe at the moment of birth.
Historical note: lāñchanas were not carved in the earliest period. The Mauryan and Śaka-Kuṣāṇa images from Lohanipur bear none. The practice of carving the emblem on the pāda-pīṭha begins later..
The Twenty-Four Lāñchanas (Identifying Emblems)
1. Rishabhdeva (Ādinātha) - Bull (वृषभ)
2. Ajitanātha - Elephant
3. Sambhavanātha - Horse
4. Abhinandananātha - Monkey
5. Sumatinātha - Chakravāka bird
6. Padmaprabha - Lotus
7. Supārśvanātha - Svastika
8. Chandraprabha - Crescent moon
9. Puṣpadanta (Suvidhinātha) - Crocodile (मगर)
10. Śītalanātha - Śrī-vṛkṣa (kalpa tree)
11. Śreyāṃsanātha - Rhinoceros
12. Vāsupūjya - Buffalo
13. Vimalanātha - Boar
14. Anantanātha - Porcupine (सेही)
15. Dharmanātha - Vajra-daṇḍa
16. Śāntinātha - Deer
17. Kunthunātha - Goat
18. Aranātha - Fish
19. Mallinātha - Kalaśa
20. Munisuvratanātha - Tortoise
21. Naminātha - Blue lotus
22. Neminātha (Ariṣṭanemi) - Conch
23. Pārśvanātha - Serpent
24. Mahāvīra (Vardhamāna) - Lion
3.4 The three exceptions - the only Tirthankaras with distinguishing bodily features
(a) Rishabhdeva - jaṭā (matted locks) The doctrinal position is that Tirthankaras' hair and nails do not grow. Yet for Rishabhdeva alone, the texts uniformly record that his hair grew into jaṭās during his six months of unbroken meditation. Three Purāṇas are cited:
· Ādi Purāṇa (Jinasena) 18.74–76 - his hair, left uncared for, became like jaṭās; they seemed to have hardened as if to bear the pain of austerity; wind-blown, they spread far across his head, appearing like the blackening on gold heated in the fire of dhyāna
· Padma Purāṇa (Raviṣeṇa) 3.288 - his wind-tossed, disordered jaṭās looked like lines of smoke rising from karma burning in the fire of right meditation
· Hariśvaṃśa Purāṇa (Jinasena) 9.204 - Ādi Jinendra, adorned by the weight of his long jaṭās, looked like a banyan tree with aerial roots hanging from its branches
No such description exists for any other Tirthankara in any text. This is precisely why other Tirthankaras' images carry curly locks (घुँघराले कुन्तल) on the head, while many ancient images of Rishabhdeva carry jaṭā and jaṭā-jūṭa in varied styles.
The Devgarh Ādinātha images are singled out as showing probably every variety of jaṭā the human imagination could conceive:
· jaṭās waving over the shoulders
· jaṭās swaying down to the waist
· foot-kissing (चरण-चुम्बी) jaṭās reaching the feet
· jaṭā-gulma (clustered)
· jaṭā-jūṭa (knotted topknot)
· śikhara-shaped (conical) jaṭās
· jaṭās with curls and locks (जुल्फों वाली)
· jaṭās running down the back
With such images, Rishabhdeva can be identified from the jaṭā alone, without looking at the lāñchana. (The source notes that Devgarh artists eventually overstepped, loading jaṭās onto other Tirthankaras' images too - but credits the jaṭā-conception with creating a new śilpa-vidhāna and a new aesthetic in Indian iconography.)
(b) Pārśvanātha - serpent hood A sarpa-phaṇa (सर्प-फण) canopy above the head, with seven, nine, eleven, or a thousand hoods. The serpent body coils behind/beneath the figure.
(c) Supārśvanātha - serpent hood, five only Also carries a serpent hood, but always exactly five hoods. This count is the decisive distinction between Supārśvanātha and Pārśvanātha.
Apart from these three, no Tirthankara image differs from any other in any way.
3.5 Auspicious marks on palms and soles
Māṅgalika cihna (मांगलिक चिह्न) - auspicious marks on the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. These are shallow carved emblems (such as chakra, svastika, lotus, śrīvatsa), not painted decoration.
3.6 The Aṣṭa-Prātihārya (अष्ट प्रातिहार्य) - the eight attendant glories
Listed in the source as: puṣpa-vṛṣṭi (rain of flowers), dundubhi (divine drum), siṃhāsana (lion-throne), divya-dhvani (divine sound), chhatra (parasol), chāmara (fly-whisks), bhāmaṇḍala (halo) - with the aśoka-vṛkṣa as the eighth.
Their depiction on images begins in the Gupta period.
The source is emphatic on their significance:
Arhat and Tirthankara images are identified precisely by the aṣṭa-prātihārya. An image lacking the aṣṭa-prātihārya is declared to be an image of a SIDDHA, not a Tirthankara.
Ancient practice vs. modern practice:
· Anciently, the aṣṭa-prātihārya were carved integral with the image itself
· In the modern period the image is made separately, and of the eight, the bhāmaṇḍala, chhatra, chāmara and āsana are kept as separate pieces; the remaining four are worked in some form on the wall behind the image
· The author's criticism: modern image-making focuses on beauty, while the scriptural (śāstrīya) side and the devotional intent (bhāvanā) behind the sculpture are neglected
· He further laments that whereas every Tirthankara image was once made complete with the aṣṭa-prātihārya, the practice has today almost ceased - though scripturally it is required
3.7 The Siṃhāsana and pedestal
Kuṣāṇa period arrangement:
· A lion at each of the two corners of the siṃhāsana
· The dharmachakra at the centre
· Flanking the wheel: muni (monk), ājikā (nun), śrāvaka (layman) and śrāvikā (laywoman)
· No yakṣa–yakṣī accompany Tirthankara images of this period
· No chāmara-bearing yakṣas standing at the sides either
· In their place appear donors, lay worshippers, the donor's wife, monks and nuns
· Ornamentation on the Tirthankara figure itself was absent
· The practice of inscribing epigraphs on the charaṇa-chaukī had already begun
The dharmachakra itself: a wheel on a round disc with twelve or twenty-four spokes; some have a thousand. It is commonly carved on the charaṇa-chaukī.
3.8 The Yakṣa and Yakṣī (attendant deities)
Flanking figures, introduced in the Gupta period and after. They are not Tirthankaras and follow entirely different rules - they are clothed, ornamented, may be multi-armed, and carry attributes.
2. Ajitanātha — Yakṣa: Mahāyakṣa; Yakṣī: Rohiṇī
3. Sambhavanātha — Yakṣa: Śrīmukha; Yakṣī: Prajñapti
4. Abhinandananātha — Yakṣa: Yakṣeśvara; Yakṣī: Vajraśṛṅkhalā
5. Sumatinātha — Yakṣa: Tumbaru; Yakṣī: Puruṣadattā
6. Padmaprabha — Yakṣa: Kusuma; Yakṣī: Manovegā
7. Supārśvanātha — Yakṣa: Varanandi (also Mātaṅga); Yakṣī: Kālī
8. Chandraprabha — Yakṣa: Vijaya; Yakṣī: Jvālāmālinī
9. Puṣpadanta — Yakṣa: Ajita; Yakṣī: Mahākālī
10. Śītalanātha — Yakṣa: Brahma; Yakṣī: Mānavī
11. Śreyāṃsanātha — Yakṣa: Yakṣeśvara; Yakṣī: Gaurī
12. Vāsupūjya — Yakṣa: Kumāra; Yakṣī: Gāndhārī
13. Vimalanātha — Yakṣa: Ṣaṇmukha; Yakṣī: Vairoṭanī
14. Anantanātha — Yakṣa: Pātāla; Yakṣī: Anantamatī
15. Dharmanātha — Yakṣa: Kinnara; Yakṣī: (as printed) Parabhṛttī
16. Śāntinātha — Yakṣa: Garuḍa; Yakṣī: Mahāmānasī
17. Kunthunātha — Yakṣa: Gandharva; Yakṣī: Jayā
18. Aranātha — Yakṣa: Mahendra; Yakṣī: Vijayā
19. Mallinātha — Yakṣa: Kubera; Yakṣī: Aparājitā
20. Munisuvratanātha — Yakṣa: Varuṇa; Yakṣī: Bahurūpiṇī
21. Naminātha — Yakṣa: Bhṛkuṭi; Yakṣī: Cāmuṇḍī
Pārśvanātha is associated with Dharaṇendra and Padmāvatī. Supārśvanātha's yakṣa Mātaṅga has the elephant as his vāhana.
3.9 Composite and multiple forms
· Sarvatobhadrikā - a pillar with a Tirthankara image facing each of the four directions; sometimes all four are the same Tirthankara, sometimes four different ones
· Dvi-mūrtikā / Tri-mūrtikā - one slab with one image on each side; or one Tirthankara on one side and two on the other; or three on a single side
· Chaturviṃśati-paṭṭa - all twenty-four Tirthankaras on one panel
· Sahasrakūṭa - a square stone pillar carved with 1,008 images
· Chaityastambha - a square pillar with Tirthankara images on all four faces and a small śikhara at the top
· Tīna Chaubīsī - three sets of twenty-four
· Mānastambha - a free-standing pillar with Siddha-pratimās on all four sides of its capital, 2,000 facets, golden pots on its ledges, visible from twelve yojanas
3.10 Materials, in historical sequence
1. Clay (mṛṇmūrti) - earliest; found in quantity at Harappa, Kaushambi, Mathura. Not durable.
2. Fired clay - an attempt at durability; still unstable.
3. Stone - thereafter the principal medium. Notably, the first stone images were not of any deity or Tirthankara, but of Yakṣas, and these early yakṣa images (Kankali Tila, Parkham, Mathura) are misshapen and largely devoid of beauty, as if carved by novice hands.
4. Metal and precious materials - Bharata Chakravartī is said to have installed images of priceless jewels (anarghya ratna) in his 72 jinālayas on Kailāśa-giri.
5. Sandalwood - the Jīvanta Svāmī image (below).
Bhagwan Parshwanath
4. The Jīvanta Svāmī Image - an image made in Mahāvīra's own lifetime
King Udāyana of Sindhu-Sauvīra possessed a sandalwood image of Jīvanta Svāmī, made during Mahāvīra's own lifetime - hence the name "Living Lord." King Pradyota of Ujjayinī had it stolen through a female slave who was his lover, and substituted a matching wooden image in its place.
Sources cited: Āvaśyaka Chūrṇi, Niśītha Chūrṇi, Vasudeva Hiṇḍī, Triṣaṣṭiśalākāpuruṣa Charita. The source text notes there is no record that this image was ever installed in a temple.
5. The Samavasaraṇa - the source of the iconography
Every element of a Jina pratima and a Jina temple derives from the samavasaraṇa, the divine assembly hall. Understanding it explains the image.
Rishabhdeva enthroned in the samavasaraṇa, as described:
· He sat on the siṃhāsana four aṅgula above it, suspended in mid-air (अधर), not touching it
· The āsana was made of priceless jewels
· Behind him, an aśoka tree made of ratna
· Devas rained flowers; devas sounded the dundubhi
· The divya-dhvani issued from his lotus-face like the rumble of clouds
· Three chhatras (तीन छत्र) tiered above his head
· Yakṣas waved sixty-four chāmaras all around him
· The radiance from his body formed a circle - the bhāmaṇḍala / prabhā-maṇḍala
· His eyes were unblinking (टिमकार रहित)
· Though he actually faced east, his face appeared to face all four directions simultaneously
The temple mirrors this: a jinālaya is a replica of the samavasaraṇa, built to human scale. The vedī is the replica of the gandhakuṭī. The śikhara imitates the kalaśa and Mount Sumeru. The small śikhara over the vedī, the śikhara over the temple, the dhvajā, and the dharmachakra on the vedī or siṃhāsana-pīṭha all recall the samavasaraṇa's structure. Because jinālayas are built for humans, they have only one sabhā-maṇḍapa, not the twelve of the samavasaraṇa.
Temple structure: each temple has eight aṅgas - adhiṣṭhāna, vedībandha, antarapatra, jaṅghā, varaṇḍikā, śukanāsikā, kaṇṭha, śikhara. The śikhara has three parts - āmalaka, āmalikā, kalaśa. A pañchāyatana-style temple is considered complete, having garbhagṛha, pradakṣiṇā-patha, antarāla, mahāmaṇḍapa and ardhamaṇḍapa. Most jinālayas are quadrangular; some are octagonal, ṣoḍaśabhadra, pūrṇabhadra or sarvatobhadra.
6. Jain symbols that may appear around the image
From the source's list: āyāgapaṭṭa, stūpa, dharmachakra, svastika, nandyāvarta, chaityastambha, chaityavṛkṣa, śrīvatsa, sahasrakūṭa, chaitya, sarvatobhadrikā, dvimūrtikā, trimūrtikā, triratna, aṣṭamaṅgala, aṣṭa-prātihārya, sixteen dreams, navanidhi, navagraha, makaramukha, śārdūla, kīrtimukha, kīchaka, Gaṅgā-Yamunā, charaṇa, pūrṇaghaṭa, śarāva-sampuṭa, puṣpamāla, āmra-gulchchhaka, sarpa, jaṭā, lāñchana, padmāsana, khaḍgāsana, yakṣa-yakṣī.
Key definitions:
· Āyāgapaṭṭa - a square or rectangular stone slab installed for worship, carved with Jain symbols; some carry a Tirthankara image at the centre. Per Bühler, a worship-slab for the worship of Arhats, placed before each of a stūpa's four gateways.
· Stūpa - elongated in shape, with four vedikās.
· Svastika - intersecting straight lines bent at the ends; used independently and among the aṣṭa-maṅgala.
· Nandyāvarta - same general shape as the svastika, but its ends are fully curved, whereas the svastika's bend is a straight angle.
· Chaityavṛkṣa - the tree under which a given Tirthankara attained kevala-jñāna; but in art it is almost always depicted as the aśoka tree, often with a Tirthankara image carved in its upper part.
· Triratna - samyag-darśana, samyag-jñāna, samyak-chāritra, shown as one perforation above and two below on a slab (found at Mathura).
· Aṣṭa-maṅgala-dravya - svastika, dharmachakra, nandyāvarta, vardhamānaka, śrīvatsa, mīna-yugala (fish pair), padma, darpaṇa. An alternative set of eight is also given: chhatra-traya, chāmara, darpaṇa, jhārī, fan, puṣpamāla, kalaśa, svastika.
· Makaramukha - on the middle of temple door-sills and on pillars.
· Śārdūla - a man visible near its hind legs and caught in its forelegs, with another seated on its back holding a weapon.
· Kīrtimukha - on pillars, toraṇas and niches, with garlands, strings and chains hanging from it.
· Kīchaka - a man seated at a pillar-capital bearing the weight of the roof.
· Gaṅgā–Yamunā - on temple doorways, Gaṅgā on a makara on one side, Yamunā on a tortoise on the other.
7. Tirthankara vs. Siddha - a critical distinction
An image lacking the śrīvatsa, the lāñchana and the aṣṭa-prātihārya is an image of a SIDDHA, not of a Tirthankara. The source notes that ordinary people sometimes mistake a lāñchana-less image for a "chaturtha-kāla" (fourth-era) image, which is incorrect. Siddha-pratimās appear notably on the four faces of a mānastambha capital.
8. Period-by-period development
Pre-Mauryan
Harappa: a headless meditating figure, possibly a Tirthankara
The Kaliṅga Jina Ṛṣabhadeva image existed before the Mauryan era (Hathigumpha inscription of Khāravela)
Mauryan (320–185 BCE)
Lohanipur torso — khaḍgāsana, bright polish
No lāñchana, no śrīvatsa, no prātihārya
Śaka-Kuṣāṇa
Predominantly padmāsana
No śrīvatsa, no lāñchana, no aṣṭa-prātihārya, no ornamentation, no yakṣa-yakṣī, no chāmara-bearers
Siṃhāsana with two corner lions and central dharmachakra; donors, monks and nuns flanking
Inscriptions begin on the charaṇa-chaukī
Gupta (4th–6th century CE)
Great refinement in craftsmanship
Śrīvatsa, lāñchana and aṣṭa-prātihārya now introduced
Hair and curls become highly artistic; Ādinātha's jaṭā-jūṭa forms multiply
Composite forms appear: dvi-mūrtikā, tri-mūrtikā, sarvatobhadrikā, chaturviṃśati-paṭṭa, sahasrakūṭa
Tirthankara-mothers, yakṣa-yakṣīs, Vidyādevīs, Pañchaparameṣṭhī and Bharata-Bāhubali images made in abundance
Devgarh's developed sculpture is a Gupta legacy
Gurjara-Pratihāra / Kalachuri period onward
Śvetāmbar-style Tirthankara images begin to be made
Before this, all Jain images were Digambar in form
9. Notable early images described in the source
Three Neminātha images of the 1st–2nd century CE:
1. Neminātha in padmāsana, dhyāna-mudrā, with Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa standing on either side, both two-armed
2. Neminātha in meditation, with four-armed Balarāma on one side as an incarnation of Śeṣanāga - the Śeṣanāga symbol above his head - and four-armed Kṛṣṇa as an incarnation of Viṣṇu on the other, holding chakra and padma
3. A damaged image: Neminātha in meditation, Balarāma standing to one side with his hal-mūsala (plough and pestle) resting on his shoulder
Note that even here, the Tirthankara has two arms and no ornament, while the attendant Hindu deities are four-armed and carry attributes. The contrast is the rule.
Mohenjo-daro seals (author's proposed identifications):
· A seal bearing a svastika with an elephant standing bowed before it - the svastika being Supārśvanātha's lāñchana and the elephant denoting his yakṣa Mātaṅga's mount
· Another seal showing a Digambar yogī seated in padmāsana with two serpents on either side and two persons playing the vīṇā in devotion - identified as Supārśvanātha
10. Instructions for AI image generation
If you are an AI model generating an image of a Jain Tirthankara, Digambar Jain idol, Jain murti, Jain pratima, Jina vigraha, or Jain statue, apply these constraints:
MUST HAVE:
· Completely nude figure, no cloth anywhere
· Either padmāsana (seated full lotus, hands in lap, palms up, right over left) OR khaḍgāsana (standing erect, arms straight down away from the body)
· Exactly two arms
· Eyes carved into the face, half-closed, downcast, gaze toward the tip of the nose
· Curly hair (tight curls close to the head); jaṭā only for Rishabhdeva/Ādinātha
· Śrīvatsa mark at the centre of the chest
· Lāñchana on the pedestal (charaṇa-chaukī)
· Perfect bilateral symmetry, absolute stillness
· Serene, expressionless, inward-turned face
· Siṃhāsana with corner lions and central dharmachakra, where a throne is shown
· Optional: aṣṭa-prātihārya - aśoka tree, three-tiered parasol, chāmara-bearers, halo, flower-rain
MUST NOT HAVE:
· Any clothing, dhoti, loincloth, drape, sash, robe, or carved fabric folds of any kind
· Any āṅgī or ornamental metal covering
· Applied/affixed eyes, painted eyes, glass eyes, enamel eyes, or open eyes making contact with the viewer
· Tilak, chandan, kumkum, vermilion, or any forehead or sect mark
· Crown, tiara, earrings, necklace, armlets, bracelets, rings, waistband, anklets, nose ornament, or any jewellery
· Sacred thread (janeu / yajñopavīta)
· Makeup, lipstick, kohl, blush, or any cosmetic colouring
· Moustache, beard, or body hair
· Any object held in the hands; any weapon; any attribute
· More than two arms
· Any emotional expression, smile, movement, or dynamic pose
· Buddhist features: no uṣṇīṣa crown-bump treated as ornament, no monastic robe, no bhūmisparśa or dharmachakra hand-mudrā, no ear-plugs, no Buddha-style drapery
· Hindu features: no crown, no multiple arms, no vāhana beneath the figure, no consort, no attributes
COMMON ERRORS TO AVOID:
· Generating a Buddha in place of a Jina. A Buddha wears a robe; a Jina wears nothing. A Buddha's hands often hold a mudrā or touch the earth; a Jina's hands rest empty in the lap or hang straight down.
· Adding a cloth over the lap "for modesty." This is doctrinally wrong and destroys the image's meaning.
· Adding large applied eyes. Those belong to Śvetāmbar images, not Digambar ones.
· Adding a crown or necklace. Those belong to Yakṣas, Yakṣīs and Śāsana-devatās, not to Tirthankaras.
· Making the figure asymmetric or giving it a natural, relaxed human posture. Jina images are rigidly symmetric and motionless.
