A Vital Matters Artwork: Guatama's Pilgrimage to Ashtapada

Guatama's Pilgrimage to Ashtapada

DESCRIPTION

Created to mark the completion of a fast, this choḍ pața illustrates the pilgrimage site (tirtha) Ashtāpada, a sacred mountain on which the first Jain Tirthankara, Rishabhdeva, attained nirvana. A tirtha (lit. "crossing") overlaps a space of worldly engagement with a transcendent one of liberation (moksha). Rishabhadeva's son, Bharata, built the first temples in our time atop the mountain, prophetically consecrating images of the twenty-four Jinas of our age. Perceiving a degeneration of morality over time, he hewed eight massive "steps" into the mountain, making it impassable to all but the most accomplished ascetics. In some Jain sources, Mt. Kailasa is considered the site of Ashtāpada but its exact location remains unknown.

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Headshot of Lynna Dhanani

Lynna

Dhanani

Assistant Professor

Religious Studies, University of California, Davis

Headshot of Syona Puliady

Syona

Puliady

Curator of Textiles of the Eastern Hemisphere

Fowler Museum at UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles

headshot of Steven Vose

Steven

Vose

Assistant Professor of Jain Studies, Religious Studies, and History

University of Colorado, Denver

Headshot of Lynna Dhanani

Lynna

Dhanani

Assistant Professor

Religious Studies, University of California, Davis

Headshot of Syona Puliady

Syona

Puliady

Curator of Textiles of the Eastern Hemisphere

Fowler Museum at UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles

headshot of Steven Vose

Steven

Vose

Assistant Professor of Jain Studies, Religious Studies, and History

University of Colorado, Denver

Headshot of Lynna Dhanani

Lynna

Dhanani

Assistant Professor

Religious Studies, University of California, Davis

Headshot of Syona Puliady

Syona

Puliady

Curator of Textiles of the Eastern Hemisphere

Fowler Museum at UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles

headshot of Steven Vose

Steven

Vose

Assistant Professor of Jain Studies, Religious Studies, and History

University of Colorado, Denver

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Copyright © 2025 Fowler Museum.

All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2025 Fowler Museum.

All Rights Reserved.