Jain Journal 1975 01

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/520037/1

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A QUARTERLY
ON JAINOLOGY
VOL. IX
JANUARY 1975
No. 3
Jain Journal
1 U HOT
JAIN BHAWAN PUBLICATION

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Contents:
Beginnings of Jaina Iconography 69 U. P. Shah
Jaina Temples in East Bengal in the Seventeenth Century 82 D. C. Sirkar
Mahavira's Theory of Samatva Yoga -a Psycho-Analytical Approach- 86 Sagarmal Jain
Some Unpublished Jaina Sculptures of Ganesa from the Western India 90 Maruti Nandan Prasad Tiwart

Jainism of the Lake Poets 93 K. B. Jindal
Books Received 99
Plates:
2500th Nirvana Mahotsav of Mahavira in Calcutta 69
Ganesa at Osia, Kumbharia and Narlai 92

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Books Received
BANDYOPADHYAY, KAMAL, Bhagavān Mahāvīr O Jaina Dharma (in Beng.), B. L. Bothra, Khagra, 1974. Pages 27.
A short account of Bhagavan Mahavira's life and Jaina religion.
DHUPIA, KESHRI CHAND, Sraman Bhagavān Mahāvīr-kā Atma
vijñān (in Hindi), author, Calcutta, 1974. Pages gha +60.
A short treatise on Mahavira's teachings.
DOSHI, BECHARDAS JIVRAJ, Viyāhapannattisuttam, Vol. I (in
Prakrit), Shri Mahavir Jain Vidyalaya, Bombay, 1974. Pages 56+484+3. Price Rs. 40.00.
A critical edition of the Agamic text.
JAIN, BAL CHANDRA, Pratimā Vijñān, Vol I (in Hindi), Madan
mahal General Stores, Jubbalpur, 1974. Pages 8+215. Price Rs. 15.00.
A book on Jaina iconography. With line drawings.
JAIN, RATANLAL, Jain Dharm (in Hindi), Akhil Bharatvarsiya Dig
ambar Jain Parishad Publishing House, Delhi, 1974. Pages 250. Price Rs. 5.00.
A treatise on Jaina religion, philosophy, history and art.
LALWANI, K. C., Sramaņa Bhagavān Mahāvīra, Murshidabad Sangha,
Calcutta, 1974. Pages ix+66. Price Rs. 3.00.
A critical life sketch of Bhagavan Mahavira.
MUNI SILCANDRA VIJAY, Sāsan Samrāt (in Gujarati), Tapagacchiya
Sethsri Jindas Dharmdas Dharmik Trust, Ahmedabad, 1973. Pages 32+328 +32+4. Price Rs. 10.00.
Life of Acarya Sri Vijay Nemi Surisvarji Maharaj. With plates.
NAHATA, BHANWARLAL (Ed), Sahajānand Sudhā (Gujarati-Hindi),
Srimad Rajchandra Ashram, Hampi, 1974. Pages 246. Price Rs. 4.00.
A collection of verses of Sri Sahajanandaghanaji Maharaj.

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PARSON, SOHANLAL (Pub.), 2500 Varșiya Bhagavān Mahāvīr Nir
van Mahotsay Smārikā, Sri Jain Svetambar Bhandar Tirth, Pavapuri, 1974. Pages 74. Price Rs. 5.00.
Published on the occasion of 25th centennial. Contains articles in Hindi and English.
PATNI, SOHANLAL (Trs.), Parameșthi Namaskār (in Hindi), Sri Jindatt Suri Mandal, Ajmer, 1974. Pages 126. Price Rs. 4.00.
Translated from Gujrati Parameșthi Namaskār by Sri Bhadrankar Vijayji Ganivar.
REGISTRAR, GURU NANAK UNIVERSITY (Pub.), Journal of
Sikh Studies, Guru Nanak University, Amritsar, 1974. Bi-yearly. Annual Subscription Rs. 8.00.
Being issued by the Dept. of Guru Nanak Studies.
SHASTRI, PADMA CHANDRA, Tirthankar Vardhamān Mahāvīr
(in Hindi), Sri Vir Nirvan Granth Prakashan Samiti, Indore, 1974. Pages 115. Price Rs. 8.00.
A short life sketch of Bhagavan Mahavira.
SINGHI, MAHENDRA KUMAR, Sri Pāvāpuri (in Hindi), Sri Jain
Sanskriti Kala Mandir, Calcutta, 1974. Pages gha+20. Price Rs. 11.00.
A short history of Pavapuri with description of temples and prašastis. With coloured plates.
SINGHI, MAHENDRA KUMAR, Sri Sammetsikharji (Pareshnath
Hills) (in Hindi), Sri Jain Sanskriti Kala Mandir, Calcutta, 1974. Pages gha +40. Price Rs. 12.00.
A short history of Sammet Sikharji with description of temples, inscriptions and farmāns. With plates.
SRIMAD RAJCANDRA, Sri Atma Siddhi Sāstra and Apūrv Avasar
(Gujarati in Devnagri type with Hindi translation), Vardhaman Bharati, Bangalore, 1974, Pages 11.
For the purchaser of 3 records issued by Vardhaman Bharati.
SRIMAD RAJCANDRA, Srimad Rājcandra Adhyātma Jñānkoşa
(in Gujarati), compiled by Bhogilal G. Seth, K.K. Sanghvi, Bombay, 1974. Pages 20+338.
Encyclopedia of spiritual science based on the sayings of Srimad Rajcandra.

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Beginnings of Jaina Iconography
U. P. SHAH
Prehistoric sites in India have not yielded as yet any definite clue to the existence of Jainism. A few seals from Mohenjo-Daro showing human figures standing in a posture closely analogous to the free standing meditative pose (kayotsarga mudra) of the Tirthankara or the seal representing Siva as Yogi (in the meditative attitude) cannot in the present state of uncertainty of the meaning of the script and or symbols on Indus-Valley seals, be definitely used to attest to the antiquity of Jaina art or ritual.
Jaina traditions ascribe the first twenty-two Tirthankaras of this age to a period covering millions of years before Christ, but modern criticism accepts only the last two Parsvanatha and Varddhamana (Mahavira)-as real historical personages.
The mutilated red-stone statuette from Harappa though surprisingly analogous in style to the Mauryan polished stone torso of a Jina-obtained from Lohanipur, near Patna, in Bihar has, in addition, two circular depressions on shoulder-fronts, unlike any other Jina-icon known hitherto and should better be regarded as representing an ancient Yaksa. Being a surface find, it is difficult to assign it with confidence to the age of Harappan culture.
The origin of image-worship in Jainism, may on the basis of available archaeological evidence be assigned at least to the Mauryan age, c. 3rd century B. C., the age of Samprati, the grandson of Asoka, who is reputed in Jaina tradition to have been converted to Jainism and who is said to have given much royal support to the monks of this faith. The evidence of Lohanipur statue does lend support to this tradition.
So far as literary evidence is concerned, we have to weigh it with great caution since the available texts of the Jaina canonical works are said to have been following the text of the second Council (vācanā) at Valabhi which met in the latter half of the fifth century A. D. There are a few references to worship of images and relics and shrines of the Arhats (Tirthankaras) by gods and men, and these may be at least as old as the Mathura Council (which met in the beginning of the fourth century A.D.) and even older.

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But there are reasons to believe that attempts were made to worship an image (verily a portrait statue) of Mahavira, even during his life-time. This portrait statue of sandalwood was supposed to have been prepared, when Mahavira was standing in meditation in his own palace, about a year prior to the final renunciation. So this statue showed a crown, some ornaments and a lower garment on the person of Mahavira. Being a lifetime portrait statue, it was known as Jivantasvami-pratimā, that is, the ‘image fashioned during the life-time of the Lord'. All later images of this iconographic type then came to be known as Jivantasvami-pratimā.
The original portrait statue was worshipped by the queen of Uddayana, king of Moruka, (in Sindhu-Sauvira land) and later by Pradyota of Ujjain. The image used to be taken out on a chariot (ratha-yātrā) on a certain day at Vidisa, and during this ratha-yātrā, Samprati, the grandson of Asoka, was converted to Jaina faith by Arya Suhasti. References to this image and the ratha-yatrā are found in texts like the Vasudevahindi, the Avasyaka-cūrni, etc. Two old bronzes of Jivantasvami, one inscribed and datable to c. 550 A. D., were discovered in the Akota hoard. The tradition of Jivantasvami images is therefore, fairly old and it is not impossible that one or more portraits of Mahavira were made during his life-time. But regular worship of images and shrines of Tirthankaras may be somewhat later, though not later than the age of the Lohanipur torso:
Nowhere is it said that Mahavira visited a Jaina shrine or worshipped images of (earlier) Tirthankaras, like Parsvanatha or Rsabhanatha. Mahavira is always reported to have stayed in Yaksa-āyatanas, Yaksacaityas like the Purnabhadra Caitya and so on.
The Jaina image, has for its model or prototype, the ancient Yaksa statues. It was also suggested that the mode of worship of the ancient Yaksa-Naga cult has largely influenced the worship in Jainism. The close similarity of the Jina (Tirthankara) and the Buddha image, and the fact .that both Jainism and Buddhism are heterodox cults, which protested against the Vedic Brahmanical priestly cult, shows that Buddhism could easily have been influenced by the worship of the Yaksa and the Tirthankara images.
That the earliest known Buddha-image hails from Gandhara is a mere accident as suggested by Stella Kramrisch and does not preclude the possibility of another earlier image being discovered in the land of Buddha's birth, as a product of the native Indian School of Art. Jayaswal's dicovery of a Mauryan torso of a standing Jina figure from Lohanipur proves, on the one hand, the authenticity of Jaina traditions

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of image worship, and, on the other hand, the existence in Magadha of an earlier model for Jina and Buddha images of early Christian centuries. The Jina image is a cult-object.
Lohanipur is a continuation of the Mauryan sites at Kumarahar and Bulandibag near Patna. There, highly polished torsos were revealed, from the foundations of a square temple (8 ft. 10 in. x 8 ft. 10 in.), quantity of Mauryan bricks, a worn silver punch-marked coin and another but unpolished later torso of a Jina in the kāyotsarga pose.
Lives of the twenty-four Tirthankaras of this age (according to Jaina conception of time) are the subject matter of the Kalpa-sūtra. The Samavāyānga-sūtra, a Jaina canonical Arga-text gives list of Tirthankaras of the Bharata and Airavata-ksetras of the Jambudvipa.
The Airavata-ksetra list of the Samavāyānga is not clear. The Pravacana-sāroddhāra, v. 296-303, gives a slightly different list.
The Kalpa-Sutra tradition of twenty-four Jinas is certainly older than c. 330 A. D. when Agastyasimha Suri commented on it in his Dasa-cürni. The Caturvimšati-stava or the Logassa-sutta, attributed to Bhadrabahu, (160 years after Mahavira) pays homage to twenty-four Jinas. The Nāyādhamma-kahāo refers to the life of Mallinatha, the nineteenth Jina. The Sthānārga-sūtra refers to various Jinas and in sūtra 108 notes their complexions.
The Āvašyaka-niryukti (vv. 949-51) refers to a Jaina stūpa of Munisuvrata at a place called Visala. Even though the extant text of the Avaśyaka-nir yukti does not seem to be earlier than the second century, stūpa referred to must be placed in a period, about one or two centuries A. D., the earlier, at least in the beginning of the Christian era.
Belief in the twenty-four Tirthankaras is also known to the Bhagavatisütra (Sataka 16, uddešaka 5). This sütra further refers to Munisuvrata, in other contexts while the Sthānārga refers to Malli, Parsva and Aristanemi (in sutras 229, 381). It may therefore be concluded that belief in twentyfour Tirthankaras existed in the beginnings of the Christian era and probably dates from a century or two earlier.
Jina Worship (at Mathura) in Kushana Period
Evidence of Jaina sculptures from the Kankali Tila (Mathura) and adjoining sites, show the prevalence of the stūpa-worship in Jainism,

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from at least the second century B.C. The Jaina stūpa, which once existed on the site of Kankali Tila, is regarded as a stūpa of Suparsvanatha, the seventh Tirthankara, but it was very probably the stupa of Parsvanatha who flourished 250 years before Mahavira's nirvāna, in 527 B. C. according to Jaina traditions. The antiquities from the site, discovered so far, mainly dating from about second or first century B. C. and upto about the end of the Kushana period, suggest that the stūpa was enlarged, repaired and adorned with sculptures in the beginning of the Christian era.
These antiquities from Mathura attest to the existence, amongst the Jainas, of the worship of the stūpa, the caitya-tree, the dharmacakra, the āyāgapațas (tablets of homage), the eight auspicious symbols (aştamangala) like svastika, the wheel of law (dharma-cakra), the nandyāvarta (diagram), the powder-box (varddhamānaka), the śrivatsa-mark, pair of fishes (mīna-yugala), the full-blown lotus (padma) the mirror (darpaņa) and so on. Images of Tirthankaras represented both in the standing and the sitting attitude, show no trace of drapery which clearly establishes that even though the Digambara and Svetambara schism had come into being in the first or second century A. D., the final crisis, in the differentiation of Tirthankara icons, had not yet taken place. Hence the evidence of art from Mathura refers to Jaina worship prevalent in both the sects in the first three centuries of the Christian era) and not the Digambara or Svetambara sect alone.
From Mathura are found a special type of sculptures, called pratimā sarvatobhadrikā with inscriptions on pedestals, which show a Tirthankara image on each of its four sides, facing each different direction. These fourfold images, later on known as caumukhapratimā on account of their facing four directions, have remained popular in Jaina worship of both the sects. The sarvatobhadrikā (pratimā) images from Kankali Tila, Mathura, date from the Kushana period.
An image of Sarasvati, of this period, is also found from Mathura. Incidents from lives of Tirthankaras and reliefs depicting scenes from Jaina mythology seem to have been existing in Jaina art at Mathura, as is evident from a figure (assignable to c. second or early first century B. C.) depicting the dance of Nilanjana (wife of Rsbhanatha) or another figure illustrating Harinegamesin, (commander of Indra's infantry) associated with child-birth and transfer of embryo, etc.

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The full parikara obtained on Tirthankara images of early mediaeval age is not yet evolved, and only the halo, and the caityatree and flying Vidyadharas or garland bearers, heavenly musicians, etc. are depicted in relief. There is no cognizance, nor the Yaksa pair associated with any Jina image from Mathura of the Kushana period. Instead of the attendant standing Camaradhara Yaksa on each side of the Jina, we obtain in the early stages of Tirthankara iconography, a donor and his wife or more generally a monk on each side, or a monk and a nun on the two sides of the Jina. The Jina sits on a simhāsana, with lions on two ends and the dharma-cakra in the centre flanked by sādhus, sādhvis, śrāvakas and frāvikās.
The Twenty-Four Tirthankaras
During this period, the twenty-four Tirthankaras had no recognizing symbols (cognizances-lāñchanas), seen on later sculptures. Jina was identified only with the help of his name given in the motive inscription on the pedestal of his image. During the Kushana period at Mathura, we find evidence of the worship of only a few Tirthankaras, namely, Rsabhanatha, Neminatha, Parsvanatha and Mahavira. The famous pedestal of an image of Arhat Nandyavarta dated in the years 299 (year 199 according to Dr. Lohouzen-de-Leeuw) according to an inscription on it. This inscription, recently correctly read by K. D. Bajpai refers to the worship of Munisuvrata (the twentieth Jina). Smith has published an image which, according to the inscription on it, is of Sambhavanatha, the third Jina, installed in the year 190. Thus the list of 24 Tirthankaras was already evolved or was in the process of being enlarged, in the age of these sculptures, in the second or third century A. D.
It is interesting to note that, in the Jaina Kalpa-sūtra, lives of only four Jinas-Rsabhanatha, Neminatha, Parsvanatha and Mahavira are described in detail and probably formed the theme of the original text. A glance at the stylised summary treatment of the remaining Tirthankaras lends doubt to their antiquity and would suggest later additions, especially because the view seems to obtain support from the absence of images of twenty (out of twenty-four) Tirthankaras at the Kankali Tila, Mathura, at least in the early Kushana period. It would seem that details regarding the other Tirthankaras were added towards the close of the Kushana period, before the Mathuri-vācanā (Council at Mathura to re-edit and preserve the Jaina canons) took place under the chairmanship of Arya Skandila (c. 300-320 A. D.).

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The Kalpa-sutra mentions no cognizance for any of the Tirthankaras. The Avasyaka-niryukti at one place refers to mark of the bull (which is the cognizance of Rsabhanatha) on the body of the first Tirthankara (Rsabhanatha), in a context which explains the names of the twentyfour Tirthankaras.
JAIN JOURNAL
Cognizances are not mentioned in the ancient lists of atisayas or supernatural attributes of a Jina. Of the thirty-four atisayas, eight are regarded as the maha-pratihāryas (chief attendant attributes) which are figured on a sculpture or a painting of a Tirthankara. These eight are: the Asoka tree, scattering of flowers by gods, heavenly music, fly-whisks, lion-seat, prabhāmaṇḍala (halo), heavenly drum-beating, and divine umbrella. A critical study of all the texts giving lists of atisayas and a comparison with all available early sculptures suggest that the list of the eight mahā-pratihāryas took its final shape probably towards the close of the Gupta period. Later sculptures or paintings of the Tirthankaras show further elaboration in the details of the parikara or paraphernelia attendant upon a Jina, which seems to date from the early mediaeval period.
The lanchanas or cognizances of Jinas are not found in known Digambara or Svetambara texts upto c. 7th-8th centuries A.D. But in art, their first appearance is known from a sculpture of Neminatha, on the Vaibharagiri, Rajgir, having an inscription in Gupta characters referring to Candragupta (Candragupta II according to R. P. Chanda). Here a conch is placed on each side of the Cakra-purusa in the centre of the pedestal. The recently discovered images installed by Maharajadhiraja Ramagupta, identified as elder brother of Candragupta, show no cognizance.
But the lists were not finalised in the Gupta age as is evident from a post-Gupta sculpture, from the same site, representing Parsvanatha or Suparsvanatha (with snake-hoods overhead) showing an elephant on each side of the dharma-cakra in the centre of the pedestal. Elephant is the cognizance of Ajitanatha but never of Parsva or Suparṣva in either the Svetambara or the Digambara tradition. A comparison of the Svetambara and Digambara lists of the lañchanas shows a few differences and the origin of the lañchanas may therefore be placed in the age of the final crisis between the two sects (Digambara and Svetambara) which seems to have occurred at the time of the last Valabhi-vācana in 473 A.D.
Tirthankaras are said to be of different complexions, namely, white, golden, red, black or dark-blue. The complexions and the lanchanas

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help us to identify the various Jinas in images or paintings. Rsabhanatha (Adinatha the first Tirthankara) is further identified on account of the hair-locks falling on his shoulders, for while the other Jinas plucked out all the hair, the first Jina, at the special request of Indra, allowed the back-hair (falling on shoulders) to remain, as they looked very beautiful.
Iconography of Rsabhanatha is especially noteworthy. He is called Adinatha and Rsabhanatha, having, as his cognizance, the bull or the Nandi, and also the bull-faced Gomukha as his attendant Yaksa, resembling the conception of Nandikesavara or the Vrsabha (bull, vāhana of Siva). Like Siva, Rsabhanatha is sometimes represented with a big jatā overhead.
Tirthankaras obtained kevala-jñāna (supreme knowledge) while meditating under a tree. Such a tree, called caitya-vrkșa, associated with the kevala-jñāna of each Tirthankara, is mentioned in texts of both the Jaina sects, and in representations, each Tirthankara is shown sitting under a caitya-vşkşa. In iconography, one would, therefore, expect each Tirthankara sitting under the particular tree associated with his kevala-jñāna. But it seems that when the aşta-mahā-pratihāryas common to Tirthankaras were fixed it was the Asoka-tree which came to represent as a cait ya-vrksa over the head of all the Jinas.
Tree-worship, popular in ancient times, noticed in the Vedas, formed an important part of the religious beliefs and practices of the masses with whom Buddha or Mahavira was mainly concerned in his opposition to the Vedic, priestly class and its rituals. The spirits dwelling in the trees were Nagas, Yaksas, Gandharvas, etc., easily approachable without the help of complex sacrificial details. It is the caityas, with udyānas (parks) having caitva-trees in them, that Mahavira is generally reported to have stayed in during his wanderings. People used to sit in worship under such trees and in such moments Buddha and Mahavira obtained elightenment.
Since the Buddha was not represented in human form in early Buddhist worship, the bodhi-tree attained greater importance in Buddhist art, while the Jainas were more or less satisfied with recording of the caitya-trees of different Jinas and giving them only a secondary importance in art. Possibility on account of its age-long existence as an object of worship (not only in India but even amongst other people-cf. for example the tradition of the Christmas-tree), the caitya-tree had to be introduced as a relief sculpture of a Jina, by showing its foliage over

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his head. The Jainas as well as the Buddhists gave a new meaning to tree-worship. Trees were worshipped, not only because they were haunted by spirits, but also especially because the patriarchs of these faiths obtained enlightenment while meditating under their shades.
JAIN JOURNAL
That the caitya-tree was given importance due to the ancient and primitive tree-cult of the masses is best illustrated by a type of Tirthankara images from the South where the Jina is shown sitting under a big tree, his figures seated on a platform (pitha) with all other pratiharyas (attendant extraordinary and supernatural objects) either eliminated or very much subdued (cf. figure from Surat and figure from Kalugumalai, Tinnevelley district).
With the evolution of the lañchanas of the different Jinas, the caitya-trees have lost much of their value in identifying images of the Tirthankaras.
Pañca-parameṣṭhins and Salākāpuruşas
The Tirthankaras (makers or founders of the tirtha) are the supreme objects of veneration, classified as the Devadhidevas by Acarya Hemacandra in his Abhidhāna-cintamani. Enjoying the same high reverence are the Pañca-parameṣṭhins or the Five Supreme Ones, namely, the Arhat, the Siddha, the Acarya, the Upadhyaya and the Sadhu. The first two are liberated souls, but the Arhats are placed first as they are embodied souls, some of whom even found the tirtha (ford) constituted of the sadhu, sadhvi, trävaka and śrāvikā. The Siddhas are liberated souls who, in a disembodied state, reside on the Siddha-sila on top of the whole universe. Representations in paintings of Jinas after attainment of nirvana show them as seated on the Siddha-sila of crescent shape. Worship of the Pañca-parameṣṭhins is very old and a later elaboration of the concept is obtained in the popular worship of the Siddha-cakra or the Nava-devata in the Svetambara and Digambara rituals respectively. Earlier texts refer to Pañca-parameşthins only and the inclusion of the four more padas or dignitaries probably does not antedate c. 9th century A.D. The earliest reference to Siddha-cakra diagram, so far known, is from Hemacandra's own commentary (called Bṛhat-nyasa) on his grammar Sabdanusāsana.
The four more padas (dignitaries, worthy of respect) added by the Svetambaras were jñāna (samyak-jñāna or right knowledge), darsana (samyak-darśana or right faith), caritra (samyak-cāritra or right-conduct) and tapa (penance). The Digambaras added,

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instead of the above four, the following-caitya (or Jina image) caityālaya (or Jaina shrine), dharma-cakra, and śruta (speech of the Tirthankaras—scriptures).
The worship of the Five Supreme Ones is impersonal. It is the
te of qualities of these souls that is remembered and venerated rather than the embodied individuals. By adoring the Parameşthins, a worshipper suggests to his mind the qualities of the Arhat, Siddha, Acarya, Upadhyaya or Sadhu which the mind gradually begins to follow and ultimately achieves the stage attained by the Siddhas.
But the Devadhidevas are not creators of the Universe and the other Parameșthins are not their associates in the act of creation or dissolution. The Jaina Divinity, the Perfect Being, the Siddha or *he Arhat, as a type is an ideal to all the aspirants on the spiritual path. A pious Jaina does not worship his supreme deity in the hope of obtaining some worldly gains as gifts from the Devadhideva. For, the Arhat is freed from all attachments and consequent bondages of karma, whether good or bad. The worshipper simply meditates on the virtues of the Divinity so that they may mainifest in the worshipper himself. The perfect souls and souls striving towards perfection, are great souls, the salākāpuruşas as the Jainas call them.
This in essence is hero-worship or apostle-worship and as such, great souls, both ascetic and non-ascetic, came to be especially revered. Lives of great souls became favourite themes of Jaina Purānas. List of such salākāpuruṣas or mahāpuruşas include the 24 Tirthankaras +12 Cakravartins +9 Baladevas +9 Vasudevas=54 mahāpuruşas. Later texts speak of 63 salākāpuruşas by adding nine Prati-Vasudevas (enemies of Vasudevas) amongst the great souls.
Representations of these great men, except the 24 Tirthankaras, are very rare. Only in a few cases, representating incidents from the lives of Tirthankaras, we find some of these figures. Separate images of Bharata are likely to be discovered and the present writer remembers to have seen one such at Satrunjaya more than two decades ago. However two painted wooden covers of some palm-leaf manuscript at Jaisalmer are specially devoted to coloured representations of these great men in a serial order.
The Sthānanga-sūtra and other Jaina canons classify gods into four main groups, namely, the Bhavanavasis, the Vyantaras or the Vanamantaras, the Jyotiskas and the Vimanavasis. These are again

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sub-divided into several groups with Indras, Lokapalas, Queens of these and so on.
The classification, acknowledged by both the sects is a very old tradition, but these are after all deities of a secondary nature in the Jaina pantheon.
But there were other great souls. The Jainas also evolved a conception of Kulakaras like the Manus of Hindu mythology. They were 14 according to the Digambaras and 7 according to the Svetambaras.
Every sect draws its pantheon from the ancient deities worshipped by the masses and adopts them in a manner suitable to the new environment and doctrines. Such for example was the worship of the deities whose shrines existed in the days of Mahavira and whose images and festivals are referred to in the Agama literature. They include Indra, Rudra, Skanda, Mukunda, Vasudeva, Vaisramana (or Kuvera), Yaksa, Bhuta, Naga, Pisaca, etc., Lokapalas and so on.
Indra, the great Vedic deity was assigned the role of a principal attendant of the Jina or the Buddha by the Jainas and the Buddhists. The other deities of the list were mostly deities worshipped by the populace and did not belong to the pantheon of the Vedic priests.
Skanda, the commander of gods in Hindu mythology, is the commander of the infantry of the Jaina Indra. But the goat-faced Naigamesin, who was associated with procreation of children as Nejamesa in ancient times, was also worshipped by the adhyayana of Antagadadasão.
Amongst other ancient Jaina deities may be mentioned Srutadevata or Sarasvati, the Goddess of Learning and Sri-Laksmi, the Goddes of Wealth. An early image of the former is obtained from the Kankali Tila, Mathura and shows her seated with upright legs and carrying the lotus and the book. The peculiar posture of the gooddess is not without any significance. For, according to the Acārānga-sūtra, Mahavira himself obtained knowledge while he was sitting with knees held up in the godohika-āsana, i.e., the posture adopted while milching a cow. Sarasvati is, therefore, seated in an āsana associated with the attainment of kevala-jñāna by Mahavira.
Later images of Sarasvati show her as having two, four and eight, even twenty-four arms. The four-armed variety is the most common and the goddess generally carries the vinã and the book in two hands

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and showing the amrta ghata and the lotus or the varada mudrā in two others. The swan is generally shown as her vāhana.
Yakşas and Yaksinis
The Yaksa cult is very ancient in India. References to ceiyas (caityas) like the Gunasila-Ce; Purnabhadra-Ce; Bahuputrika-Ce, etc. in the Jaina canonical texts are significant. The commentators rightly interpret them as shrines of Yaksas (Yak şa-āyatana) and the word Jakkhāyana is not unknown to the canons. Purnabhadra and Manibhadra are well-known as ancient Yaksas.
Mahavira stayed in such shrines. The Aupapātika-sütra gives a detailed description of the Purnabhadra-caitya, calling it ancient (porāna) and visited by many persons. Mahavira obviously selected for his stay shrines of cults which were not following the Vedic rituals and were, therefore, non-Vedic or heterodox and possibly not Aryan in origin. The description of the Purnabhadra-caitya refers to a prthivi-silä-patta, soft to touch and shining like mirror which the author regards as referring to a highly polished N.B.P. terracotta plaque. Excavations at Kosam and Vaisali have demonstrated the existence of the N.B.P. in the sixth century B.C. Thus the description of the Purnabhadra shrine visited by Mahavira is authentic and preserves genuine old tradition.
We should, therefore, have no hesitation in regarding these prthvžšila-pattas (of the Purnabhadra-caitya description) as precursors of the Jaina Ayāgapațas from Mathura dating from C. 1st Cent. B.C. to 1st Cent. A.D.
It is but natural that when the pantheon began growing the Jainas thought of introducing a Yaksa and a Yaksi, as attendants of a Jina, as Sasana-devatās, who protect the samgha of a particular Jina. The attendants obtained a place on the pedestal of a Jina image itself.
Firstly a pair common to all the twenty four Tirthankaras was introduced. The Yaksa carried a citron and a money-bag and resembled Kuvera or Jambhala. The Yaksi, two-armed, carrying a mango bunch and a child, and having the lion as her vāhana, resembled Nana (of the Kushana coins), Durga and Hariti.
The earliest reference to Ambika is obtained in the unpublished commentary of Jinabhadragani Ksamasramana on his own Viseşāvašyaka-bhāşya (c. 500-600 A.D.). Archaeological evidence also supports

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the above view as the earliest known sculptures of Ambika do not date prior to c. 550 A.D. The earliest known images of this pair are available on a bronze sculpture of Rsabhanatha set up by Jinabhadra himself and obtained in the Akota hoard. An early image of the goddess Ambika, preserved in the Meguti temple at Aihole, dates from c. 634 A.D.
JAIN JOURNAL
Worship of this pair, which resembled Jambhala and Hariti of the Buddhists, became very widespread all over India and the Jaina caves of Ellora, contain some beautiful specimens. About the beginning of the 11th century, four-armed figures of Ambika came into vogue, the amralumbi being repeated in her two extra hands. At a later stage in the mediaeval period of Indian history, symbols like the noose, the goad, the varada, etc. replaced the extra mango-bunches.
The evolution of the iconography of Padmavati is equally interesting. Firstly, in all early representations of Parsvanatha, before c.900 A.D., she hardly figures as the Yaksi of this Jina. Alongwith Dharanendra, she is known as a snake-deity standing and adoring Parsvanatha or holding an umbrella over the head of Parsvanatha. Scenes of attack (upasarga) of Kamatha on Parsvanatha during his meditation, are very popular in the Deccan in the Jaina caves at Ellora, Dharasiva, etc., and even further south at Chitharal, Vallimalai, Kalugumalai and so on. In all these representations, Dharanendra is shown as protecting Parsvanatha with his snake-hoods and adoring him, along with his queen Padmavati. It is indeed surprising to find that in the canonical lists of chief queens of Dharanendra Padmavati is not mentioned at all. It is, therefore, difficult to label this attendant queen of Dharanendra as Padmavati in the representations at Ellora, etc. (She may be Vairotya).
Vairotya, the thirteenth Jaina Mahavidya is an earlier Jaina snake goddess. Lists of Mahavidyas are definitely earlier than the hitherto known list of the 24 Jaina Yaksas and Yaksinis and Arya Nandila is associated with the worship of Vairotya in Jaina traditions. Very probably, the snake-goddess in the Ellora relief was known as Vairotya.
Padmavati gradually replaced Vairotya in popular worship during the mediaeval period form c. 1000 A.D. Next to Ambika, she is the most popular Yaksi and a snake-diety, but her role in the Jaina tantra is greater than that of the Ambika. Works like the Bhairava-Padmavatikalpa, Adbhūta-Padmavati-kalpa, etc. were composed. Four-armed, she usually carries, the lotus, the goad, the noose, etc. and rides on the composite mythical Kukkuta-Sarpa.

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Cakresvari, the Yaksini of the first Tirthankara Rsabhanatha is also a later goddess, for in all earlier representations, antedating c.900 A.D., it is Ambika who figures as the Yaksini of Rsabhanatha and all other Tirthankaras (cf. the image installed by Jinabhadra Vacanacarya, Akota hoard). Her iconography shows close similarity with that of the Hindu Vaisnavi. Cakresvari Yaksi invariably carries the cakra and shows in the other arms, the conch, the varada mudra, the disc, etc. Like Vaisnavi she rides on the eagle.
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It is often difficult to differentiate between images of Cakresvari, the Yaksi and the Vidyadevi, if the goddess is not accompanied by the figure of a Jina (either on her crown or above the pedestal). Apraticakra, the Vidyadevī, is earlier in origin than the Yaksi of the same type.
Siddhayika replaced Ambika as the Yaksi of Mahavira, during the process in which separate Yaksas and Yaksinis were evolved for each Jina. Though she is regarded as one or the four principal Yaksinis, she could not become so popular as the other three Yaksinis, namely Cakresvari, Padmavati and Ambika.

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Jaina Temples in East Bengal in the Seventeenth Century
D. C. SIRKAR
The late Jainologist Sri Puran Chand Nahar published the texts of as many as 2592 inscriptions collected from different parts of India in his well-known work entitled Jaina Inscriptions (Jaina Lekha Samgraha) in three volumes published from Calcutta respectively in 1918, 1927 and 1929. Even though the presentation of the transcripts of the epigraphic records in the volumes is not quite satisfactory in all respects, they are a valuable contribution to Jaina epigraphy and we are extremely thankful to the author for the great energy he exhibited in collecting the material especially in view of the fact that some of the records do not appear to be traceable at present.
The inscriptions generally record erection of temples and installation of the images of Tirthankaras, their foot-prints, etc., by members of the mercantile community. They are usually dated and often bear the names of the Digambara or Svetambara religious leaders who performed the ceremony of installation of an image or consecration of a temple. Occasionally the inscriptions mention the names of the places where the temples were built or images installed and sometimes the names of the rulers in whose territories the places were situated.
Even though they are mediaeval private records, some of these inscriptions have been found to be of considerable importance. This can be illustrated by an instance.. A place called Kakandi or Kakandinagari is famous in both Buddhist and Jaina traditions. The Buddhists regarded it as the home of an ancient sage named Kakanda while the Jainas considered the locality to have been the birth-place of the Tirthankara Suvidhinatha. The locality is also mentioned in the early inscriptions from Barhut. Unfortunately the place was not satisfactorily identified. B. C. Bhattacharya identified Kakandi with Kiskindhya of the Ramayana without noticing that Kiskindhya was in Karnataka far away from the activities of the early Jainas. B.C. Law, the well-known writer on early Indian geography, places Kakandi in Northern India and says that the place cannot be identified. The place was, however, actually in Eastern India and can be satisfactorily identified with the help of Inscription No. 173 at p. 41 of Vol. I of the Jaina Lekha Samgraha.

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This inscription is found in the Jaina temple in the village of Kakan which lies under the Sikandra Police Station in the Jamui Sub-division of the Monghyr District, Bihar. It is dated in Samvat 1822 Vaisakh sudi 6 falling in April 1765 A.D. and is engraved around two foot-marks. The inscription records installation of the said foot-marks and clearly states that they were installed at Kakandi or Kakandinagari which was the birth place of the Tirthankara Suvidhinatha. The foot-prints are stated to have been of the said Tirthankara. Thus the above inscription helps us in identifying ancient Kakandi with modern Kakan in the Monghyr District. (See also Sircar, Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Mediaeval India, 2nd edition, 1971.)
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An inscription, found in a temple at Patna, the headquarters of the present State of Bihar and transcribed in op.cit., Vol. I, p. 81, No. 326, attracted my attention because it refers to the existence of a flourishing Jaina religious establishment at Dacca, at present the capital of Bangladesh (comprising some of the eastern and northern Districts of Bengal), in the seventeenth century.
The date of the inscription is quoted as Samvat 1732, Margasirsa badi 5, Thursday. This date regularly corresponds to the 28th of October, 1675 A.D. That was the time when Shaista Khan was ruling over Bengal from Dacca during the first term of his governorship (1664-77 A.D.) in the name of the Mughul emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir (16991707 A.D.).
The language of the major part of the inscription is Sanskrit ; but there is a small passage in Hindi about the end of the record. At four places some letters have been left out in the transcript as unread. There are some errors of language and orthography in the record.
After the above, we have the expression dhākā-madhye, i.e., ‘at or within Dacca', after which some letters are lost. Thereafter mention is made of the Digambara religious teacher Bhattaraka Rupacandra who belonged to the Kastha-samgha, Mathura-gaccha, Puskala-gana and Lohacarya-nvaya. The expression rūpacandra-pratisthitam shows that the said Digambara religious teacher performed the installation ceremony of an object. Unfortunately, the word found in the sequel is pādukā in the feminine gender, which does not suit the word pratisthitam. It is therefore not impossible that a word like bimbam meaning 'an image' (of one of the Jaina Tirthankaras) occurred in the unread and lost passage of the epigraph between dhākā-madhye and kāṣṭha-samgha, etc.

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Then we have mention of the following persons of the Agravala Gamgalu-gotra. Savala Simghavi, Bhramara Simghavi and Kesara Simghavi who were the sons of Sa Gulaladasa and his Bha Mula-de. Here Sā stands for Sadhu often used in the mediaeval documents before the names of members of the mercantile community while bhā stands for Bhāryā (wife) and de (in Mula-de) for Devi. The well-known surname Simghavi is a modification of Samghapati which was the designation of one who led and bore the cost of a group of pilgrims visiting Jaina holy places. Thus the above parts of the records suggest that the three Simghavi brothers Savala, Bhramara and Kesara established a Tirthankara image at Dacca, which was installed by the Digambara religious teacher Rupacandra. It is not possible to say whether the brothers were residents of Dacca or visited the city in connection with their mercantile activities.
After the name of Kesara Simghavi, there is an unread passage which contained an unknown number of letters and is followed by the words pratişthā kārāpitāni serapurentike...dhākāyām pratisthā.. pādukānām śreyostu pādukā ādināth-ki/guru-pădukā. It will be seen that there are two lost passages in the above quoted concluding section of the inscription. There is some difficulty with the word kārāpitāni (in the plural), standing for Sanskrit kāritāni, in the section. Probably the intended reading was pratişthā kārāpitā, i.e., installation of certain objects was caused to be made at a place called Serapura and also in its antika or neighbourhood. It is also possible to think that kārāpitāni serapure refers to the making of certain objects at Serapura and their installation at a neighbouring locality or at Dacca.
The lost letters in the following passage may probably be restored as follows:
dhākāyām pratişthā (kārapitā) pādukānām, i.e., foot-prints were caused to be installed at Dacca (probably by the same Simghavi brothers.) Owing to the fragmentary condition of this part of the document, it is difficult to say whose foot-prints are referred to here.
The above is followed by the word śreyostu. Let there be good (out of the pious deed) which indicates the end of the original document. The words indicating the installation, at the same place of the footprints of the first Tirthankara Adinatha and of the Guru (probably a Dharmacarya) at a subsequent date may have been added sometime later.

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About Jaina activities at Dacca in the seventeenth century, we know that the Rajasthani merchant Hiranand of the Svetambara Jaina community founded a number of business centres in Eastern India with his headquarters at Patna. One such centre was established at Dacca, which later became the property of Manikchand, the youngest of the seven sons of Hiranand. Manikchand transferred his business headquarters to Muksudabad or Murshidabad. Manikchand's adopted son Fatechand (c. 1664-1745 A.D.) obtained the title 'Jagatseth' from the Mughal emperor early in the eighteenth century. It may be conjectured that the Jaina religious establishment at Dacca, referred to in the inscription under study, owed its existence to the local business centre run by Hiranand and Manikchand. But they belonged to the Svetambara community while the inscription speaks of Digambara association. Sri B. S. Nahar informs me that there was once a Svetambara Dadabadi at Dacca besides a Jaina temple and that certain Jaina poems were composed at Dacca, the most celebrated among them being the Vṛnda Satsai. He furthr says that little is known about the fate of the Jaina religious establishments at Dacca after the Jainas had left for Murshidabad, but that the inscribed stone slab now in the Patna temple must have been originally in a Jaina temple at Dacca and was later carried by some one to Patna.
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A second geographical name mentioned in the inscription is Serapura. There are two places called Sherpur in Bangladesh, one near Jamalpur in the Mymensingh District and the other near the chief town of the Bogra District. Both of them are Thana (Police Station) headquarters, but the first of the two places called Sherpur is not far from Dacca and may be the same as Serapura mentioned in our record. As already indicated above, the fragmentary nature of the transcript makes it difficult to determine whether there was a Jaina religious establishment at Sherpur or certain object were made there for their installation elsewhere.
I shall be grateful if anybody traces the inscribed stone slab in the Patna temple and let me have a few inked impressions, so that I can see if the unread passages can be deciphered and if they throw any further light on the Jaina religious establishments in Bangladesh flourishing during the seventeenth century.
It may be said in this connection that the Asutosh Museum of Indian Art attached to the University of Calcutta is said to have, in its collection, a few late mediaeval Jaina sculptures secured from areas now in Bangladesh.

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Mahavira's Theory of Samatva Yoga -a Psycho-Analytical Approach
SAGARMAL JAIN
Our age is the age of tremendous growth of knowledge and scientific discoveries. Yet, paradoxically, at the same time we can call it also the age of anxiety and mental tension. Our traditional values and beliefs have been thrown away by this growth of scientific knowledge. We know much about the atom but not about the values needed for a meaningful and peaceful life. We are living in a state of chaos. Our life is full of excitements, emotional disorders and value-conflicts. In this age of anxiety and tension American people are spending more than 10 billion dollars a year on liquors and tranquilizing drugs. Today, therefore, what is needed most is mental peace and capability of one's complete integration with his own personality and with his social environment. This can only be achieved by the practice of Samatva, i.e., mental equilibrium or balanced state of mind.
Concept of Samatva is at the root of Jainism. It is the pivot round which the ethics of Jainism move. In English, we can translate it as equality, equilibrium, harmony, integration and rightness. But none of these terms can convey the complete meaning of the word. It has different meanings in different contexts. Sometimes it means a balanced state of mind which is undisturbed by all kinds of sorrows and emotional excitements, pleasures and pains and achievements and disappointments. Sometimes it refers to the quality of a personality which is completely free from the vectors of aversion and attachement or a personality with a mental equilibrium (Vitarāgatā or Sthitaprajñata). Sometimes it means the feeling of oneness or equality with the fellow-beings (Atmīyatā). Loosely speaking, it also conveys the meaning of social equality and social integration. Ethically, the term Sam or Samyak means rightness. (Samyaktva). Though we are aware of the fact that in all its different shades (meanings) the term Samatva is associated with some or other kind of mental or psychological state, yet it has some impact on our social and individual adjustment.

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In a Jaina text known as Vyākhyā-prajñapti Sutra there is a dialogue between Lord Mahavira and Gautama. Gautama asked Mahavira about the nature of the soul, and Mahavira answered: āyāe samāiye: the nature of the soul is Samatva. Gautama again asked, What is the ulitmate end of the soul ? Mahavira replied, āyāe sāmaissa atthe : the ultimate end of the soul is also Samatva.
This view of Mahavira that the real nature of the soul is Samatva is further supported by Acaraya Kunda-kunda. Kunda-kunda in his famous work known as Samaya-sāra, deal with the nature of the soul. In the whole of Jaina literature he is the only person who used the word Samaya in the sense of Ātman or Jiva. So far as I know, no commentator of Samaya-sāra has given any answer to the question as to why Kunda-kunda has used the word “Samaya' for ‘Jiva' or soul. To my mind the answer is: the word Samaya is a prakrit version of Sanskritsamah yah, which means one who has the quality of Samatva. Samayasāra can also be defined in the same fashion. We can say, one who possesses Samatva as his essential nature is to be called Samaya-sära (samatvam yasya säram tat samaya-sāram). Acarya Kunda-kunda also equated the word 'Samaya' with 'Svabhāva' or essential nature. He used the words Sva-samaya and Para-samaya. Sva-samaya means inner characteristics. (Svabhāva-laksana) and Para-samaya means resultant characteristics (Fibhāva-lakṣaṇa). Further, Sva-samaya has been explained as an ultimate end. In this way, according to Kunda-kunda, also the nature and ultimate end of soul is Samatva. Not only this, but according to the Jaina ethics the way through which this ultimate end can be achieved is also Samatva which is known in Prakrit as samāiya or samähi. In this way the three basic presuppositions of Jaina ethics, the moral agent (Sādhaka), the ultimate end (Sadhya) and the path through which this ultimate end can be achieved (Sadhanā-märga), are equated by the term Samatva. In Jaina ethics ends and means do not exist as some thing external to the moral agent ; they are part and parcel of his own nature. They are potentially present in him. Then somebody may ask, what is the difference between a Siddha and a Sadhaka ? My answer to this question is that the difference between a Siddha and a Sadhaka is not a qualitative one but is only quantitative. It is the difference between the capability and actuality. By means of Sādhanã we only exhibit that what is potentially present in us. In other words, we can say that the whole process of Sadhanā is the changing of capability into actuality. According to Jainism if Samatva is not our real potential nature then we cannot achieve it by means of Sādhanā. And Sadhanā is nothing but the practice of Samatva. The three-fold path of Right knowledge, Right attitude or belief, and Right conduct, solely depends on the concept of

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Samatva for its rightness. The three-fold path is only an application of Samatva in the three aspects of our conscious activities, i.e., the knowing, the feeling and the willing. According to the Jaina ethics Samatva should be a directive principle of the activities of knowing, feeling and willing.
Organic Basis of Samatva
What is the justification in saying that our essential nature and our aim of life is 'Samatva' or that Samatva should be the directive principle of our life? And what is the ground for its justification? To answer these questions first of all we must have to understand the human nature. By human nature I mean his organic and psychological make-up What we mean by a living organism? What is the difference between a living and non-living organism? By living organism, we mean an organism that has the power to maintain its physiological equilibrium. In Biology, this process has been known as homeostasis, which is considered as an important quality of living organism. Second essential quality of a living organism is its capacity of adjustment with its environment. Whenever a living organism fails to maintain its physiological equilibrium and to adjust itself with its environment it tends towards death. Death is nothing but an utter failure of this process. In this way we can say that where there is life there are efforts to avoid unequilibrium and to maintain equilibrium.
JAIN JOURNAL
Psychological Basis of Samatva
Nobody wants to live in a state of mental tension. We like no tension but relaxation, not anxiety but satisfaction, this shows that our psychological nature is working in us for a mental peace or a mental equilibrium. Though Freud accepts that there is a conflict between our Id (Vāśanamaya-aham) and super Ego (Adarsa-ātmā) but at the same time he agrees that our Ego or conscious level is always working to maintain an equilibrium or for the adjustment between these two poles of our personality. It is a fact that there are mental states such as emotional excitements, passions, anxieties and frustrations but we cannot say that they form our essential nature; because, they do not exist for their own sake. They exist for staisfaction or expression. Secondly, they are resultant, i.e., created by some other external factors. An important process of our personality is the process of adjustment and adjustment is nothing but a process of restoring peace, harmony and integration. In this way we can say that the concept of Samatva has a sound ground for its justification in our organic and psychological nature.

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Samatva as a Directive Principle of Living
Some one may say that the Darwinian theory of evolution goes against the concept of Samatva. Darwin presented the theory of evolution of life, in which he suggested that "struggle for existence" is the basic principle of life. Apparently it is true that there is a struggle for existence in our world and nobody can deny this fact. But due to certain reasons, we cannot call this a directive principle of life. And it may be questioned: Why? My humble answer to it is that, first of all, this theory is self-contradictory, because, its basic slogan is 'live on others'; in other words, 'living by killing'. Secondly, it is opposite to the basic human nature and even animal nature to certain extent. Struggle is not our inner nature (Svabhava-lakṣaṇa) but it is only a resultant nature, it is imposed on us by some outer factors. When ever we have to struggle we struggle in compulsion, and whatsoever is done in compulsion cannot be a guiding principle of our life, because it does not follow from our inner nature. Thirdly, it goes against the judgments of our faculty of reasoning and the concept of natural law. If I think that nobody has any right to take my life, then on the ground of the same reasoning, I have no right to take another's life.
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The theory 'live on others' is against the simple rule that all living beings or human beings are potentially equal. The concept of equality and union of all living beings (atmavat sarva bhūteşu) can only give us a right directive principle of living with fellow beings. The directive principle of living is not 'live on others' but 'live with others' or 'live for others' (parasparopagraho jīvānām).

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Some Unpublished Jaina Sculptures of
Ganesa from the Western India
Maruti NANDAN PRASAD TIWARI
Ganesa or Ganapati, described as the remover of obstacles and bestower of siddhi, is invoked at the beginning of every auspicious ceremony among both the Hindus and the Jainas from the remote past. According to a Jaina work the Ācāra-dinakara (of Vardhamana Suri, 1412), Ganesa is propitiated even by the gods for obtaining desirable things. The rise of the Ganapatya sect of the Hindus is supposed to be in the Gupta preiod when the elephant-headed and pot-bellied divinity is depicted in art and his statues begin to be carved out.2 The Jainas with a number of other deities also incorporated Ganesa into their pantheon during the early mediaeval period and retained the iconographic features of Hindu Ganesa in regard to his appellation, mount and the distinguishing emblems. The worship of Ganesa among the Jainas began sometime in the eleventh century which is evidenced by the earliest-known sculptures of Ganesa, coming as they do from the eleventh century Jaina Devakulikās at Osia in Jodhpur district of Rajasthan. However, the earliest iconographic reference to Ganesa is found only in a mid-twelfth century work--the Abhidhāna-cintamani (of Hemacandra Suri) but the detailed iconographic features are enunciated in the Acāra-dinakara. It may be said here in passing that the worship of Ganesa was more popular with the Svetambaras, which is attested to by both the concrete representations and the textual references.
The Abhidhāna-cintāmani, referring to the several names of Ganesa, such as Heramba, Gana-vighnesa, Vinayaka, visualizes the elephant headed (with one tusk being broken) and pot-bellied Ganesa as bearing a parašu (axe) and riding a mouse. The Ācāra-dinakara conceives the elephant-headed (with only one tusk being surviving) and pot-bellied Ganesa as possessing 2, 4, 6, 18 or even 108 hands. However, the
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Acara-dinakara : Ganapati Pratistha : 3, Bombay, 1923, p. 210. Puri, B.N., 'Ganesa and Ganapati Cult in India', Jour. of Indian History, Vol. XLVIII, Pt. II, Aug. 1970, pp. 405-413. Abhidhana-cintamani : Devakanda Second, Verse : 207, Surat, 1946, p. 30.

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symbols of only four-armed variety have been described in the text.4 Ganesa riding a musika shows the varada-mudrā (the boon-conferring gesture), and a paratu in his right hands, while the corresponding left ones show the abhaya-mudrā (the safety-bestowing gesture) and the modaka (sweet-meat).
After making a brief introduction, now I give detail of some of the unpublished Jaina sculptures of Ganesa, hailing from the Jaina temples in Rajasthan (Osia and Narlai) and Gujarat (Kumbharia). These sculptures are attributable to the eleventh-twelfth century. Barring Osia figures, all others are datable to the twelfth century. It is to be noted here that the rendering of Ganesa was popular mainly on the door-ways and the adhiṣṭhāna of the Jaina temples.
I have noticed three sculptures of the elephant-headed and potbellied Ganesa at Osia. These figures are portrayed on the Jaina Devakulikās belonging to the eleventh century. All the figures, possessing four arms, are seated in lalitasana, with one leg hanging down and other being tucked up. Of the three figures, two are carved on the door-sills of the Devakulikäs of the western pair, while the third one is on the southern adhiṣṭhāna of the second of the eastern pair of Devakulikās. The identical figures of the door-sills render Ganesa as bearing a sula (spear), an ankuśa (goad), a padma (lotus) and the modaka-pātra (a cup containing sweet-meats).5 The fore-part of the trunk in both the instances is turned towards the modaka-patra in order to get the sweet-balls. In one instance Ganesa rides over an unconventional vehicle-elephant. The third figure of the adhiṣṭhāna depicts Ganesa with slightly different attributes (Fig. 1 a & b). He holds an elephant tusk (svadanta), an axe, and a flower in his surviving hands. It may be presumed that as usual the broken lower left hand must have been holding the modaka-patra. The lower part of the trunk is also mutilated. Ganesa wearing a nagayajñopavita is joined by two devotees with hands folded in supplication.
Kumbharia, situated in the Banas Kantha district of Gujarat, has yielded only one sculpture of Ganesa, carved on the western adhiṣṭhāna of the Neminatha temple (1148). The four-armed figure of the elephant-headed and pot-bellied Ganesa, seated as he is in the lalita-pose
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5
6
Acara-dinakara: Ganapati Pratistha: 1-2.
The attributes of the Ganesa sculptures are reckoned clockwise starting from the lower right hand.
Tiwari, Maruti Nandan Prasad, 'A Brief Survey of the Iconographic Data at Kumbharia, North Gujarat', Sambodhi (Ahmedabad), Vol. 2, No. 1, April 1973, p. 12.

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JAIN JOURNAL
on bhadrāsana, is sheltered in a rathikā (Fig. 2). The divinity rides over a mūșika and carries an elephant-tusk, an axe, a lotus bud and a pot containing sweet-meats. The trunk somewhat mutilated is applied to the modaka-pātra. Ganesa is embellished with the karanda-mukuta, udara-bandha, and nāga-yajñopavīta.
Narlai, located in the Pali district of Rajasthan, has yielded two figures of Ganesa, assignable to the twelfth century. Both the figures of elephant-headed Ganesa represent him as seated in lalitāsana. Of the two sculptures, one is incorporated in the entrance wall of the Neminatha temple, while the other is lying uncared in the compound of the Suparsvanatha temple. The first figure shows the four-armed deity as bearing the mudrā (?), a padma, a padma and the modaka-pātra. His mūșika mount is shown on the left. The second figure renders Ganesa as possessing two arms (Fig. 3). Surprisingly enough, Ganesa rides over a meșa (ram) and holds a mace and a noose respectively in his right and left hands. It is to be noted that the figure completely violates the iconographic prescriptions of the Jaina works in regard to both the conveyance and attributes.
On the basis of the study of the sculptures of Jaina Ganesa, it is apparent that except for the rendering of an axe and the pot of laddukas with mūșika vāhana, the artists have violated the iconographic prescriptions of the Jaina works. As against the injunctions of the Jaina texts, the representation of the padma, ankuśa and svadanta is guided by the prescriptions of the Hindu works, which all similarly envisage his own tooth, an axe, a lotus and the modaka (or modaka-pātra) for the four-armed Ganesa. Besides, a few later works also prescribe such symbols as the ankuša, nāga and triśāla with four-armed Ganesa. 8
Aparajitaprccha : 212.35-37; Matsya Purana : 260. 52-55; Agni Purana : 50.23-26; Rupamandana : 5.15. See, Awasthi, Ramashraya, Khajurahoki Deva Pratimayen (Hindi), Agra, 1967, p. 36: foot-notes. Banerjea, Jitendra Nath, The Development of Hindu Iconography, Calcutta, 1956, p. 358.

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Fig. 2 On the adhisthana of the Neminatha Temple, Kumbharia
Fig. 3 In the compound of the Suparsvanatha Temple, Narlai
EMA
Fig. 1-a & b On the southern adhisthana of the Devakulika at Osia
Photographs by the author

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Jainism of the Lake Poets
K. B. JINDAL
To profess a religion, it is not necessary to be born to it or to be converted into it. And one may practise a religion without even professing it. Mahatma Gandhi's whole outlook on life is moulded on the Jaina philosophy of Ahimsā ; he practised Ahimsā more perfectly than any Jaina has hitherto done. And yet he never called himself a Jaina. The English poets of the early nineteenth century had an outlook on life which seemed to be in every respect influenced by Jainism. And yet Jainism was not at all known to England in that century. Jainism is not a label given to any particular dogma, heresy or fanciful theory. It is the sumtotal of certain elemental truths which have appealed to the reason of man in all ages and in all times. Jainism has had no beginning ; it has no founder-in the sense in which Jesus founded Christianity or Mohammad founded Islam. Our Tirthankaras only re-discovered for the people, the truths which had been lost to them in their ignorance. The Tirthankaras preached what their experience told them to be the best and the simplest solution of the riddle of life. Independently of any example or precept, the 24 Tirthankaras arrived at the same truth. Small wonder, that the English poets in their study of life, also reached at the same conclusion.
The Humanitarian Leagues in England and other western countries are raising a voice against vivisection and all sorts of cruelties to animals. Wordsworth preached Ahimsā as early as 1798 :
"Our meddling intellect Misshapes the beauteous forms of things ; We murder to dissect."1
1
The Tables Turned.

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Shelley gave poetical expression to the Jaina creed of non-violence or non-injury in Alastor or the Spirit of Solitude :
"If no bright bird, insect, or gentle beast, I consciously have injured, but still loved And cherished these my kindred ; then forgive This boast, beloved brethren, and withdraw No portion of your wonted favour now !"
The shooting of tigers and the destroying of snakes is justified on
basis of “kill the killer". But these animals bear no ill-will towards man and would never attack just for the fun of it. They do so in selfdefence because they doubt man's motives. If they could somehow be assured that man had no sinister design against them, they would passby quietly. On seeing them, we instinctively recoil out of fear ; and our reactions are misunderstood by the animals as a menacing attitude on our part. If we could remain motionless and unperturbed on seeing a lion or a reptile, they, in their turn, will not bother us. Our Tirthankaras sat in deep meditation and were quite oblivious of the world around them. The forest beasts and birds gathered round them in meek ado
tion and never did them any harm. The atmoshphere of peace that prevailed round the forest-abodes of the Tirthankaras, has also been envisaged by Shelley in the above poem :
"He would linger long, In lonesome vales, making the wild his home, Until the doves and squirrels would partake From his innocuous hand his bloodless food, Lured by the gentle meaning of his looks ; And the wild antelope, that starts whene'er The dry leaf rustles in the brake suspend Her timid steps, to gaze upon a form More graceful than her own."
The Jaina creed of non-violence extends not only to animals but also to the vegetable kingdom. Long before Sir J. C. Bose, Wordsworth discovered that plants had life.
"And 'tis my faith that every flower Enjoys the air it breathes."2
?
Lines Written in Early Spring.

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JANUARY, 1975
Not only did Wordsworth believe that plants and animals have life; but he also shared the Jaina belief that they have a soul as much as man has :
"A motion and a spirit, that impels,
All thinking things, all objects of all thought And rolls through all things."3
Wordsworth also believed in the transmigration of the soul. The soul never dies-it enters into different forms, sometimes in the body of an animal and at other times in the body of man :
"Our birth is but a sleep and a foregetting:
The soul that rises with us, our life's star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting
And cometh from afar."4
95
Shelley also shared Wordsworth's belief in the transmigration of the soul :
"I change, but I cannot die."5
These poets also rightly understood the purpose of transmigration. The soul has to be born and born again in this world, till all Karmic bondage is shed off and it stands pure in resplendent glory to be one with God. The march of the soul from lower forms of life to higher is but a process of evolution. The soul in a frog or toad has no chance of final redemption or salvation; it has to rise up to the human form. Man is the highest stage in the evolution of the soul and from it the next step is Godhood. But that does not mean that once the soul has entered the human-form, there is no climbing-down. It is a constant game of "Snake-and-Ladder". We enter into inferior or superior forms of being according to our actions in the past life. Good actions in one life are rewarded by better birth in the next life and vice versa. Even among human beings, the differences between the rich and the poor, the diseased and the healthy, the lucky and the unfortunate is the immediate result of our past actions. So once the soul has entered the humanform, the summum bonum of existence, our constant effort should be to avoid any possibility of any "climbing-down". Our righteous conduct
3 Tintern Abbey.
4 Ode on the Intimations of Immortality.
5 The Cloud.

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will push us on and on, till all karmic bondage will be shed off and the soul will become one with God. Karmas are fine particles of matter that gather round the soul and keep it in bondage. The inflow of the karmic matter and the shedding-off of the same is occasioned by our thoughtactivity which causes vibrations in the soul. The child has very little thought-activity and bears no ill-will towards others. His soul has, therefore, little karmic bondage and is nearer Godhood.
"Heaven lies about us in our infancy;
Shades of the prison-house begin to close Upon the growing boy"
The saints and the ascetics are nearest to the child in that they develop a dispassionate and detached outlook on life. Their meditation is directed to one end to avoid all inflow of fresh Karmas, to have minimum of vibrations around the soul, to concentrate on only one thought of Godhood. Wordsworth has fully realised this deep mood of meditation in his Poet's Epitaph:
"A moralist perchance appears;
Himself his world, and his own God;
One to whose smooth-rubbed soul can cling
Nor form, nor feeling, great or small;
A reasoning, self-sufficing thing,
An intellectual all-in-all."
Once the karmic bondage is shed off, the soul stands pure in its resplendent glory; it is all-knowledge and all-knowing :
"The power...which nature thus
To bodily sense exhibits, is the express
JAIN JOURNAL
Resemblance of that glorious faculty
That higher minds bear with them as their own.
This is the very spirit in which they deal
With the whole compass of the universe.""
The purified soul is God Himself. To a Jaina, God is not the creator of this universe; nor the arbiter of our destiny:
"We fall by course of Nature's law, not force Of thunder, or of Jove."8
6 Wordsworth's Ode on the Intimations of Immortality. Wordsworth's Assent on Snowdon.
7
8 Oceanus' speech in Keats' Hyperion, Book II.

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JANUARY, 1975
The Tir
Man is his own redeemer. We are all potential Gods. thankaras used this world as a spring-board to
“...dart thy spirit's light Beyond all worlds, until its spacious might Satiate the void circumference."9
Once the soul is redeemed, there is no coming back :
“That benediction which the eclipsing curse Of birth can quench not...now beams on me Consuming the last clouds of cold mortality.”10
God is a synthesis of all redeemed souls ; It is Paramātmā, the super-soul. It differs from other souls in that it is all-knowledge and secondly, it is free from the misery of births and deaths,—the eternal cycle of transmigration :
"The One remains, the many change and pass ; Heaven's light for ever shines, earth's shadows fly."11
What is death in common parlance is but the shedding off of its mundane bondage by the soul and the realization of its true self :
“Thy dales and hills are folding from my view ; Swiftly I mount, upon wide-spreading pinions, Far from the narrow bounds of thy dominions Full joy I feel, while thus I cleave the air."12
Such in brief, is the Jaina outlook on life. A corollary follows. In that too, the same Poets agree with us. If we deny God as the creator of this universe, the natural question is: “How did this cosmos come into being ?” The answer is another question. "Did the hen come first, or the egg. ?”—Nay, there is no beginning, there is eternity at both ends :
“The types and symbols of Eternity, Of first, and last, and midst, and without end."'13
Shelley's Adonais. Ibid. Ibid. Keats' The Bard Speaks. Wordsworth's Defile of Gondo.

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Or as the geographers would put it, the nebula cooled and the earth came into being. No one knows since how long man has existed on it. The Jaina philosophers have only chosen to define the cycle of Time. Ages of increasing misery are followed by ages of increasing bliss and vice versa. Thus the eternal round goes, cycles of six ascending and six descending eras following each other in endless and beginningless succession.
"From low to high doth dissolution climb. And sink from high to low, along a scale
awful notes, whose concord shall not fail."14
Recognising this immutable law of nature, Shelley exhorts us to be always seeking, to be always hoping for the better :
"Be through my lips to unawakened earth The trumpet of a prophecy ! O wind, If winter comes, can spring be far behind.”16
16
Wordsworth's sonnet on Mutability. Shelley's Ode to the West Wind.

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