THE COSMIC MAN (LOKAPURUSHA)


RAJASTHAN, 18TH CENTURY Pigments on cloth, mounted on canvas and stretched. 110 x 80 in. (279 x 203 cm)
|Lokapurushas represent man as a microcosm of the universe. Here, the giant figure is trisected, with adholoka (lower world) below his waist, madhyaloka (middle world) in the form of a jambudvipa at the waist, and urdhvaloka (upper world) populated by deities and pilgrimage sites. As noted by Pal, 'According to the Jain tradition the shape of the cosmos is comparable with a man standing akimbo: broadest at the bottom, narrowest in the middle, broader around the chest, and narrow once again at the top' (The Peaceful Liberators, Los Angeles, 1994, pp.82 & 231, no.103a.) Provenance L.A. Louver, Los Angeles, March 1990 Private Californian Collection