Working Thesis Title: Manifestations of merit: tracing the history, creation, and meaning of Jain sacred-site images (tirtha pata), expected completion 2023

Supervisors: Dr Chaitanya Sambrani, Dr Charlotte Galloway, Associate Professor Dr McComas Taylor

Members of the Svetambara Murtipujak sect of India's Jain religion have a long tradition of revering sacred sites, building temples, and participating in devotional pilgrimage. Since the fifteenth century or earlier, artists have been creating fascinating two-dimensional images (pata) of sacred sites (tirtha) for religious use by this community. Known as tirtha pata, these works may be schematic, pictorial, or cartographic. Surviving examples range from the small to the monumental and include paintings on cloth, wood and paper, and low-relief carvings in stone and wood. Today, large map-like tirtha pata are displayed to allow Svetambara Murtipujak Jains to experience a mental or emotional pilgrimage of the site depicted, making sacred places accessible to all, regardless of age, ability, or physical proximity. This practice strengthens social unity, connection to place, and cultural identity.

Taking an object-based and comparative approach, my thesis aims to present the first comprehensive empirical survey of the tirtha pata art form. The study examines multiple works of art and recovers new information about their imagery, artists, patrons, contexts, and religious uses. In addition, I draw on the testimony of contemporary tirtha-pata artists and observation of current practices to better understand the creation and reception of the images. My research seeks to highlight the ways in which tirtha pata have influenced, and been influenced by, historical events and figures, as well as social, political, and cultural ideas and practices.