Exposition at the occasion of the Jain anointing ceremony in Shravanabelagola, South India, at Südasien-Institut of University of Heidelberg.
Opening of the exposition will be on June 20th from 4:00 p.m. onwards with lectures, photos and texts. Location: Südasien-Institut der Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 330. Everybody is cordially invited.
The Emmy Noether Research Group of German Research Community (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft am Südasien-Institut der Universität Heidelberg) is documenting one of the most important - and for spectators surely most spectacular - rituals of the Jains in an exhibition with photos and texts.
The Mahamastakabhisheka called ceremony, which takes place only every twelve or thirteen years, was attracting many thousands of pilgrims and spectators in February 2006 to Shravanabelgola, south Indian state of Karnataka. During ten days, the about 20 meters high monolith of holy Gommata [Bahubali] was anointed with several precious and as purifying regarded substances. Thousands of litres water, milk, sugar cane juice and different herbal substances were bathing the impressing statue in different colours, after which a true flow of flowers was poured on the colossus. The ceremony of Mahamastakabhisheka reminds the religious inauguration of the statue, more than thousand years ago, and conserves the sacral character of the image. Like the Jains, Hindus and Buddhists also regard the anointing ritual an important part of their religious practice, as images get sanctified by the practice of Abhisheka only. As a part of devotion, statues in temples and in many private houses aredaily anointed with water and other substances.
Since spring 2005, the Emmy Noether Research group at the South-Asia-Institute of the University of Heidelberg is engaged in exploring Jainism in the south Indian state of Karnataka. The Jains actually are a tiny, nevertheless socially relevant Indian religious community. During their 2500 years of history, the Jains developed an own philosophy and religious practice, whereas Hindus and Jains often refer to the same sources of Indian tradition. In the interdisciplinarily oriented Heidelberg research project cooperate three scientists, under the guidance of one historian of arts and construction, focussed on South Asia, an Indian PhD historian and one religious scientist working on her graduation. The documentation of the Mahamastakabhisheka ritual is the result of their first field studies together in India.The photographs taken by the group cover a period of one week in Shravanabelgola and aim to give an overview on thepreparations of the event and the solemn atmosphere, beyond the documentation of the anointing ritual. The opening of the exhibition will take place on 20th June 2006 at 5:30 pm, foyer of the Südasien-Institut, Im Neuenheimer Feld 330, 69120 Heidelberg.
Before this, Dr. Julia A.B. Hegewald and Sabine Scholz will give an introductive lecture at 4:00 pm in SAI (Südasien-Institut), room Z 10. Professor Axel Michaels, director of the department of classical Indology and speaker of one special field of investigation, dealing with the dynamics of ritualism, will open the exhibition. All interested are cordially invited to participate in the event. Besides photographies and explanatory texts a movie documenting the previous Mahamastakabhisheka in 1993 will be shown.
The exhibition is open till 3rd July, Monday to Friday from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm.Further locations where the exhibition is planned to be shown are in Delhi and London, probably at the end of the year and in spring 2007.
Further information:
Dr. Julia A. B. Hegewald
Emmy-Noether-Nachwuchsgruppenleiterin
Südasien-Institut der Universität Heidelberg
Tel. 06221 548962
[email protected]