Giving up and Living it Large: a Jain Tale and its Early Modern Painted Iterations
April 17, 2025 | 12 PM CST
206 Ingraham Hall
Presentation Description
Pic: Sangama reborn as Shalibhadra, folio from Shalibhadra Chaupai, ink and color on paper, 1637 CE, 30 x 11 cms, Jinabhadrasuri Gyan Bhandara, Jaisalmer
The Shalibhadra Chaupai, a 17th century Shvetambara Jain narrative tale in old Gujarati, extolls the benefits of almsgiving to the monastic community and is directed primarily at merchants. While the end goal remains realization of the futility of worldly ties and renunciation, Shalibhadra’s story, which is meant to be performed with music, promises an individual success in worldly as well as religious affairs. Sumptuously painted manuscripts of the Shalibhadra Chaupai from early modern Rajasthan and Gujarat concretely visualize this ultimate reward through bright and colorful imagery celebrating luxurious Jain merchant culture. Having been overshadowed by the illustrious narrative of courtly art, this genre of paintings has remained understudied. How do we define the visual characteristics of this genre? Where might they stand with regard to courtly genres? Can we consider them non-courtly/local? Through the lens of the Shalibhadra Chaupai painted manuscripts, this paper will address the latter issues and highlight the contribution of Jain art, artists and patrons to the visual culture of early modern western India.
About the Speaker
Nandita Punj is the Gurudev Kanjiswami Postdoctoral Scholar in Jain Studies in the School of Historical, 
Philosophical and Religious Studies at Arizona State University. Nandita obtained her doctorate in Art History from Rutgers University. Her research on early modern Jain manuscript paintings from Gujarat and Rajasthan explores Jain artistic practices and highlights their contribution to the construction of eighteenth-century visual culture. Focusing on under-represented workshops and artistic traditions, her study questions opposing binaries of courtly and elite versus non-courtly and local. Nandita also holds a PhD in History from the University of Delhi and has worked on various aspects of Jain monastic orders in early medieval western India. Her current research interests include studying the cultural and ritual practices of the Jain diaspora, especially the process of replication of pilgrimage sites and the sanctification of these recreated sacred spaces. She has contributed to public art history platforms such as Smarthistory and has recently coedited a forthcoming Marg volume on Jain paintings.