Pala Period Jain Bronze, Bihar

Bronze Pala Jain Group

This fine, well-cast and highly-detailed small bronze group dates to around the tenth century or even a little earlier. Stylistically, it belongs to the Bihar school of sculpture (Pal, 1995, p. 175).

The two central parent figures are gracefully cast in keeping with Pala-period bronzes. Each sits in the royal ease posture (

maharajalilisana) and carries a small seated child figure, or possibly a Jina figure. Each of the smaller figures is seated in a meditative posture with the right hand held to the chest. Four other similar figures (and possibly the remnants of one other) adorn the front of the platform on which the parent figures sit. Another such figure sits atop the leafy tree that rises from between the nimbuses the back the parent figures. A monkey-like figure appears to be beneath the top figure. As such, this might identify the top figure as Abhinandannath, the fourth Jain Tirthankar. This being so, then the tree on which the money climbs is likely to be either a priyangu or veshali tree, both of which are associated with Abhinandannath.

Pal (2003, p. 171) says that this particular iconographic type, which began to appear in Jain art during the Gupta period, most likely represents A Jain version of the Buddhist family group that centres on Panchika and Hariti, and the Hindu family group based around Shiva and Parvati.

A related but slightly larger, though arguably less finely cast example, is in the Simon Norton Museum in California (see Pal, 1995, p. 175, and Pal 2003, p. 171 for illustrations.) Pal also mentions a related relief in the National Museum in Dhaka and a similar eleventh century bronze from Bangladesh in the Linden Museum, Stuttgart.