Table of Contents

Note on Language, Transliteration and Names
Illustrations
Introduction: Lives, Frames, Terms
Chapter 1: The Archaeology of Jina Images
Chapter 2: Icons and Cosmology: A Cosmos Filled with Eternal Icons and Temples
Chapter 3: The Spread of Icons in Our World
Chapter 4: The Lifetime "Living Lord" Icon of Mahavira: Anxiety about the Authenticity of Icons
Chapter 5: Idols and a History of Corruption
Chapter 6: The Inevitability of Tangible Form: A Natural Theology of Icons
Conclusion: Framing the Jina
Appendix: Titles of Jain Texts
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Associate Professor of Religion, Denison University

Reviews

"This is an invaluable addition to our knowledge of the origins and reception of image worship in India and the debates that it sparked. Too often Jain speculation on major issues is ignored and this meticulously researched book fills an important gap in scholarship."

--Phyllis Granoff, Lex Hixon Professor of World Religions, Yale University
"Framing the Jina is a tour de force which I read with mounting excitement and admiration. Cort's study is firmly grounded on a description of the historical interplay between the highly articulate iconic and aniconic traditions in Ívetåmbara Jainism, but its argument carries much further into the broader area of theoretical discourse about the function of scriptural texts and mimetic representation. Its range of reference and clarity of
exposition make this book obligatory reading for anybody with an interest in image worship and its opponents, whether in South Asian traditions or the West Asian monotheisms."

--Paul Dundas, Reader in Sanskrit, University of Edinburgh.