Sambandar and Vijnaptipatras
Context
- The National Gallery of Australia announced Thursday it will return 14 works of art from its Asian art collection to the Indian government.
Some significant works to be returned
- Chola dynasty (9th-13th centuries), The child-saint Sambandar, 12th century, purchased 1989
- Seated Jina, 1163 - Mount Abu region, Rajasthan
- Goddess Durga slaying the buffalo demon [Durga Mahisasuramardini], 12th-13th century, - Gujarat
- Letter of invitation to Jain monks; picture scroll [vijnaptipatra], c. 1835- Rajasthan
About Sambandar
- Sambandar, also referred to as Thirugnana Sambandar was a Saiva poet-saint of Tamil Nadu who lived sometime in the 7th century CE. He was a contemporary of Appar, another Saiva poet-saint.
- According to the Tamil Shaiva tradition, he composed an oeuvre of 16,000 hymns in complex meters, of which 383 (384) hymns with 4,181 stanzas have survived.
- These narrate an intense loving devotion (bhakti) to the Hindu god Shiva.
- The surviving compositions of Sambandar are preserved in the first three volumes of the Tirumurai, and provide a part of the philosophical foundation of Shaiva Siddhanta.
Vijñaptipatras (Letters)
- The custom of sending vijñaptipatras originated in Gujarāt-Kaṭhiāwād and was the practice followed by the Śvetāṃbara Jaina community.
- The vijñaptipatras were written in Sanskrit and some parts in local dialect like Māiwādi and Gujarāti.
- The vijñaptipatras were chiefly meant to invite a Jaina āchārya or preceptor to stay with a Jaina saṅgha or community of a particular locality during the next chaumāsā, i.e., the period of the four months of the rainy season when touring is not allowed to a Jaina monk.
- While conveying the invitation, these letters were meant to atone for the acts of commission and omission of the members of a saṅgha and to convey their good wishes for the whole of humanity.
- The vijñaptipatras also contain references to various topics and often gave historical information of considerable interest.
- They usually convey in pictorial form a description of the locality from which the invitation was issued, and these exciting pictures are valuable for various studies.
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