Rishabhanatha (Adinatha), the First Jain Tirthankara

Artist School of Khajuraho (Indian)

Date10th-11th century

MediumSandstone

DimensionsOverall: 16 1/2 inches (41.91 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number60-69

On View

On view

Collections

South and Southeast Asian Art

Terms

Exhibition History

The Arts of Man, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Texas, October 6-December 31, 1962, hors cat.

Art of India and Southeast Asia: An Exhibition at the Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Champaign, May 17-June 14, 1964, no. 50 as Bust of Rsabha Deva (Adinatha), The First Jain Tirthankara.

Gallery Label

The adherents of the Jain faith in India believe in a series of twenty-four great spiritual adepts and teachers, known as Tirthankaras (or Jinas) who have appeared in the world since ancient times to teach their faith. Rishabhanatha (also known as Adinatha) was the first Tirthankara, identifiable by the long curls that fall over his shoulders. Tirthankara images resemble Buddhas except they are usually nude and may display an auspicious diamond-shaped symbol on their chests.

Provenance

With Louis Pappas Oriental Arts, San Francisco, by 1960;

Purchased from Louis Pappas Oriental Arts, by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1960.

Published References

Krannert Art Musuem, Art of India and Southeast Asia: An Exhibition at the Krannert Art Museum, exh. cat. (Champaign: College of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Illinois, 1964), 51, (repro.).

Ross E. Taggart and George L. McKenna, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. 2, Art of the Orient, 5th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), 130, (repro.).

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 380, (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 265, (repro.).

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