About Book
Varanasi/Kashi has been a confluence of several religious and philosophical thoughts including Jainism. Four pontiffs (Tirthankara) viz. Suparsvanatha, Sreyamsanatha, Chandraprabha and Parsvanatha are supposed to have been born in the Varanasi region. It was thus natural that the town grew into a pilgrim place for the followers of Jaina faith. The book highlights multiple aspects of cultural contribution of Jainism to Varanasi such as religion, philosophy, literature, art, iconography, architecture and educational institutions.
About Author
Prof. R.C. Sharma headed important Museums of the country like Government Museum, Mathura; State Museum, Lucknow; Indian Museum, Kolkata and finally, the National Museum, New Delhi as the Director General, and Vice-Chancellor, National Museum Institute. He also served the Banaras Hindu University as the Director, Bharat Kala Bhavan and Professor of Indian Art and Museology. Presently, he is the Honorary Director/Acarya of Jnana-Pravaha - Centre for Cultural Studies and Research, Varanasi. Besides authoring several books and editing journals and bulletins in the field of early Indian art, he has contributed a large number of papers published in India and abroad. Dr. Pranati Ghosal is a promising scholar in the field of Sanskrit and Vedic studies and engaged in the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Varanasi Branch. She has contributed brilliant papers in different seminars and co-edited five issues of the Annual Research Bulletin and twelve proceedings of Jnana-Pravaha. Her important publications are Prasnavali and Lifestyle of the Vedic People. Besides the present volume, the two authors have co-edited impressive books on Buddhism and Gandhara Art, Interaction Between Brahmanical and Buddhist Art, Vaisnava Contribution to Varanasi and Sakta Contribution to Varanasi.