Jaïn bronze

Northwestern India,
15th century
14 cm

Small Jain shrine whose main character is one of the twenty-four Tirthankara (or Jina) of the Jain religion in India. The Jina are humans who, like Siddartha Gautama in the Buddhist religion, have attained enlightenment, omniscience, and have broken the cycle of reincarnations. They are the central figures of the representations of Jain art. The tirthankara are thus Jain masters whose role is to transmit their knowledge towards the path of spirituality of this religion, preaching among other fundamental values the respect of all life, non-violence, universal compassion.