Tirthankara

Height 164 cm., Breadth 105 cm. Tuticorin, Tamilnadu. Circa 9th Century AD.

This huge sculpture with a Tirthankara figure carved in seated Padmasana Dhyana pose was brought to Chennai Museum in 1878 AD. It is the biggest Jain sculpture in the collection of the Chennai Museum. In its scale and grandeur, this sculpture is comparable to the Buddha sculpture in Thyaganur, a suburb of Arasalur in Salem District. This colossal Tirthankara sculpture from South Tamilnadu displays the vigour of the imperial Pandya style exhibition in Kazhugumalai and therefore can be dated to Circa 9th Century AD. The ear lobes are very long in this sculpture also. In the temple at Jina Kanchi i.e. Tiruparithikundram, the two deities which are also sculptures of Mahavira are of similar huge size.