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________________ DIGAMBARA JAINA TIRTHANKARAS FROM MAHESHWAR AND NEVASA Dr. H. D. SANKALIA, M.A., Ph.D. (LONDON) Maheshwar is a well-known town situated on the northern bank of the Narmada in the present State of Madhya Bharat. It is about 50 miles south of Indore. Here, just overlooking the river, and adjoining the temple of Vitthala, is a place called the "Gufa (Cave of Bhartshari)". There is no rock in the vicinity, and I wondered how a cave could exist in the area. On examining the so-called "Gufa", it was noticed that it was a submerged temple, situated on an old mound, going back to the 3rd century B.C. and even earlier. Further study showed that the temple might have been built during the Paramara period, about 1100 A.D. This is particularly suggested by the prabhavali, (Fig. 1) which is carved in the form of a torana. Similar torana is seen in the toranas at Sidhpur, Vadnagar and Kapadvanj in Gujarat which were erected in the time of Siddharaja Jayasimha and his successor.1 In one of the niches of this temple there is a huge, large, nude, standing male figure (Fig. 2), with arms thrown on its sides, now partly broken. The head and the face were broken anciently and are now replaced by a different one. The figure is worshipped as Raja Bhartihari, but in fact it is a Jaina Tirthankara standing in Kayotsarga pose. Since the lanchana and the vahana as well as the attendant Jaina Yaksas and Yaksis are no longer present, it is not possible to identify the image as of a particular Tirthankara. But its presence indicates that once a large Jaina temple stood on the bank of the Narmada, probably in the 12th century. Nevasa is also a holy town, and equally old as Maheshwar, though its recorded antiquity does not go beyond the time of Sri Jnanesvara, that is A.D. 1290. It lies on both the banks of the Pravara river; the older town on the northern side is called Nevasa Budruk, and that on the southern side is known as Nevasa Khurd. It is also a taluka town, and situated at a distance of about 36 miles north of Ahmadnagar. Pillars, capitals, door-frames, and images of the mediaeval period are found scattered about, completely uncared for, on both the sides of the town. Among these we found, lying right on the river bank, on the 1. See Sankalia, H. D., The Archaeology of Gujarat, Figs. 55-57.
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________________ 120 ACARYA VIJAYAVALLABHASURI COMMEMORATION VOLUME northern side, that is Nevasa Budruk, two stone images of Jaina Tirthankaras (Fig. 3). The lower parts of both the images are broken, but since the upper part of one, with a canopy of seven cobra hoods survives, it is possible to identify it as the figure of the 23rd Tirthankara Parsvanatha. Both stood in Kayotsarga pose. It is interesting to note that the Maheshwar as well as the Nevasa images are Digambara. It is well known that Digambara Jainism was patronized by the Western Chalukyas, Rastrakutas, the Hoysalas and the Yadavas. Since no structural monuments of the first two dynasties are hitherto known from the Deccan, it is likely that the images in question belong to the mediaeval period, that is after 1,000 A. D. From the existence of the Jaina caves belonging to the Digambara School at Tringalvadia and at Chandora in the Nasik district of the early (?) Yadava period, it is possible to say that Digambara Jainism was in a flourishing state at this period in the Deccan. And the Nevasa figures should belong to this period. 2. Cousens, Henry, Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan, ASI., Imperial Series, Vol. XLVIII, (Calcutta, 1931), pp. 48-50, pl. LXV.