Book Title: Jaina Art and Architecture Vol 01
Author(s): A Ghosh
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/011012/1

JAIN EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL FOR PRIVATE AND PERSONAL USE ONLY
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We shall work with you immediately. - The TFIC Team. Page #2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ अवनितलगतानां कृत्तिमा कृत्तिमाणां वनभवनगतानां दिव्यवैमानिकानाम् । इह मनुज कृतानां देवराजाचितानां जिनवरनिलयानां भावतोहं स्मरामि ॥ "With devotion do I recall the abodes of the great Jinas, natural or artificial, which are found all over the earth, which are in sylvan resorts, which belong to heavenly beings who reside in aerial chariots, which are erected here by men and which are worshipped by the lords of gods.' Page #3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ JAINA ART AND ARCHITECTURE Volume I Page #4 --------------------------------------------------------------------------  Page #5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ JAINA ART AND ARCHITECTURE Published on the Occasion of the 2500th Nirvana Anniversary of Tirthankara Mahavira EDITED BY A. GHOSH Former Director General, Archaeological Survey of India IN THREE VOLUMES VOLUME 1 BHARATIYAJMAIशात NEW DELHI Page #6 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ PRICE OF THE COMPLETE SET Rs. 550.00 © 1974 BHARATIYA JNANPITH Published by Shri L.C. Jain, Secretary, Bharatiya Juanpith, B/45-47 Connaught Place, New Delhi 110001 (India) Printed by Shri Om Prakash, Director, Caxton Press Private Limited, 2B Rani Jhansi Road, New Delhi 110055 (India) Page #7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ PRIPACE JAINOLOGY HAS COME TO BE RECOGNIZED AS AN IMPORTANT INTEGRAL PART of Indology. This is rightly so, because the term at once enlivens up the image of a distinct stream of culture which has contributed immensely to the enrichment of Indian philosophy, literature, art and the pattern of living sustained through a tradition of social responsibilities and pursuit of spiritual advancement through stages of well-laid norms for the gravakas (householders) and the sådhus (recluses). Scholars of Indology have long since relieved themselves of such misconceptions as regarded Jainism as an offshoot of Buddhism, or Mahavira being the founder of Jainism. Positively, they now believe, on the basis of the study of history, that Pārsvanātha, the twenty-third Tirthankara, preceded Mahavira, the last twenty-four Tirthankaras by about two hundred and fifty years and that the history of the period of Neminātha, the twenty-second Tirthankara, co-relates itself with Krsna of the Mahabharata and the Gită fame, who were first usins to each other. Rşabhanātha or Vrsabha, the first Tirthankara, whose name occurs several times in the Rgveda, has been referred to by scholars in several articles included in this Volume. So also in the field of Indian philosophy. Jainism cannot be regarded as a Nästika of atheistic religion, simply because it does not believe in a Creator-God. It believes in the eternal existence of soul (jiva) and of five other substances (dravyas)-Matter, including energy (pudgala), medium of Motion (dharma), mcdium of Rest (adharma), Space (akaśa) and Time (kāla). It believes in the potentiality of each soul to achieve Nirvana or the state of Godhood. Anekänta or the theory of non-absolutism has been a great landmark of Indian philosophy with all its potential power to solve the problems of philosophical disputation and of social maladjustments when Anekånta is supported by Ahirsā (non-injury in thought, word and deed), another cardinal principle of Jainism. The inspiration generated by Jainism has been a factor of inestimable value in the development of Indian literature, both religious and secular, in Sanskrit and in various modes of Prakrits and Apabhranías. The development of modern literary forms in languages like Kannada and Tamil is traced by (vii) Page #8 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ Preface competent persons to the works of Jaina scholars of yore. There is no style of literary form-poetry, drama, story and expository prose-that has not been embellished by the writers adhering to Jaina faith, whatever the religion of the family they might have been born in. A new dimension to Jainology has been added by scholars, historians and archaeologists, who are struck by the wealth of Jaina art not as a desultory piece of artistic creation but as belonging to a category that has a history of evolution through the ages, with a lot of give to and take from the Indian art of the respective period. What of this can be seen in concrete shape throughout India through long and arduous journeys is difficult to comprehend unless all this information is made available in a form that will encourage other scholars to take note of for pursuance of further studies and general readers to understand and visualize what this artistic and architectural wealth is. The publication of Jaina Art and Architecture in three volumes, hopefully magnificent, has been planned to achieve the aforesaid objective. It may be added that in order to facilitate the study of Jaina art and architecture, Bharatiya Jnanpith has undertaken to build up archives of photographs relating to the subject. Over ten thousand photographs have been collected so far from different sources in India and abroad and more are being added. We are indebted to Shri M.N. Deshpande, Director General, Archaeological Survey of India, for helping and guiding our activity in this and other similar matters. The main inspiration of this project has been that of Shri Shanti Prasad Jain, a pioneer industrialist and founder of Bharatiya Jnanpith, a literary and cultural organization that is widely known among the scholars of Indology in India and abroad for its research publications. It is regarded as the main spring of giving fillip to the contemporary Indian writing through its publication of works by promising young writers and through its annual literary Award, highest so far in India, given to the best literary creative writing in Indian languages. The finalization of the outlines of this publication had a little chequered career in the beginning. The original scheme was drawn up with the help of Shri M.A. Dhaky, who, it was expected, would lend active support and would contribute handsomely to the making up of the book. It was also envisaged that it would be possible to form an Editorial Board with one or the other of the established scholars in the field of Jaina art, undertaking the main responsibility for editing. The names of such persons are so few that they would hardly cover five fingers. When confronted with this paucity and its resulting pulls, we (viii) Page #9 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ Preface decided to hang around a sturdy old oak that Shri A. Ghosh, the former Director General of Archacological Survey of India, is. Our request and our persuasion worked. Ho gave a good look at the original scheme and decidod that the work being first of its kind, we should be well-advised not to make the scheme too discursive. The scheme was, therefore, modified to make it more practical and attainable in time. It is, however, one thing to make a plan and to provide for ample time for each author and quite another for the authors to decide when the time is ripe to put pen to paper. They are all so busy and so very much pressed for time. Then again, the material for the text and the illustrations had to be obtained or re-shuffled with difficulty and written out or re-shaped painstakingly. Their difficulties added to ours manifold. What do the readers think was the number of letters, reminders, telegrams and cables that have been issued to obtain the contributions in time! Th number till now is four thousand, eight hundred and ninety-one. This is only to suggest how oppressive must have appeared our reminders. We offer our sincere apologies. Another reason of mentioning this fact at some length is to evoke readers' sympathics to the inadequacies that are bound to be there in a work of this nature. Those who would like to venture upon such a project in future (for, after all, ours is only a path-making effort) would do well to be patient and to take cognizance of the hazards of binding themselves to a time-schedule. Such a schedule could not be helped in our case, because it is in centuries that an auspicious occasion like the present one comes. It is appropriate that the project should have found its fulfilment on the occasion of 2500th year of the Nirvana of Bhagawan Mahavira, being celebrated in India and abroad. It is with real gratification and pleasure that Bharatiya Jnanpith offers its sincere thanks to Shri A. Ghosh for his accepting the Editorship of these Volumes and also for re-accepting the same under trying circumstances on his return from Indonesia after a lapse of one year. His return has been worth waiting for in the best interest of the project. It has been my privilege to work with him and to observe how careful and unsparing to himself has been his devotion to the assignment. In the world of art and architecture, he is considered the model of an editor. Shri Ghosh has spared no pains to make it possible to have the first volume finalized in time for the occasion of the Nirvana Mahotsava Celebrations, when in a public function on November 17, 1974, this Volume is scheduled to be released by Shrimati Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister (ix) Page #10 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ Preface of India. Not only his knowledge and erudition, combined with a rare feel for the beauty of Sanskrit literature and language, it is Shri Ghosh's practical experience of producing faultless art-publications that has contributed greatly to the standard we have been able to achieve, much though he feels remains wanting. Shrimati Rama Jain, President, Bharatiya Jnanpith, rendered continuous help and guidance in the execution of this Project. Her readiness to handle problems and practical difficulties as well as her zeal for perfection are our great assets. Dr A.N. Upadhye, General Editor of the Oriental Series (Moorti Devi Granthamala) since the inception of the series, has always been ready to help us in textual difficulties. His guidance is always so reassuring. I am thankful to him. We have benefited much from the comments made by Dr Jyoti Prasad Jain, Retired Professor of History, University of Lucknow, on several chapters which were sent to him. We are beholden to him and look forward to his continued co-operation. Our warm thanks are due to the contributors whose writings have made this book worthy of presentation on the occasion of the Nirvana Mahotsava. Shri Om Prakash, Director, Caxton Press, has taken personal interest and has been at our bid and call to help us keep to the schedule, though the time given to him for printing has been rather meagre. Lastly, I thank all those, including the staff of Jnanpith, and our friends in the Archaeological Survey of India, who have helped in the production of this work. Bharatiya Jnanpith will feel its labours and resources repaid if this publication is able to give a glimpse, in some adequate measure, of the glory and magnificence that Jaina art is. NEW DELHI November 13, 1974 2500th Nirvana-mahotsava Day (x) LAKSHMI CHANDRA JAIN Secretary Bharatiya Jnanpith Page #11 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE LXT OF ILLUSTRATION LUSTRATION ... ... .. .. ... PART 1 INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 EDITORIAL ORBRVATIONS By Shri A. Gbosh CHAPTER 2 THE BACKOROUND AND TRADITION By Shri M. N. Deshpande, Director General, Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi CHAPTER 3 me of Proto-Indien hoey, Deccan College. EXPANSION OF JAINISM By Dr S. B Deo, Professor of Proto-Indian and Ancient Indian History and Head of the Department of Archaeology, Deccan College, Poona CHAPTER 4 35 GBNRSLS AND SPIRIT OF JAINA ART By Dr Jyoti Prasad Jain, former Professor of History, University of Lucknow CHAPTER 5 THE ETHICAL BACKGROUND By Dr A. N. Upadhye, Professor and Head of the Department of Post-graduate Studies and Research in Jainology and Prakrits, University of Mysore PART II MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 CHAPTER 6 MATHURA By Shrimati Debala Mitra, Director, Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi CHAPTER 1 EAST INDIA By Shrimati Debala Mitra * *- By Shrimati Debala Mitra ... 69 CHAPTER 8 Wet INDIA By Dr U. P. Shah, Deputy Director, Oriental Institute, Baroda Page #12 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 9 SOUTH INDIA By Dr R. Champakalakshmi, Associate Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi PART III MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 CHAPTER 10 MATHURA CHAPTER 11 EAST INDIA By Dr N. P. Joshi, Director, State Museum, Lucknow CHAPTER 12 CENTRAL INDIA By Dr U. P. Shah CHAPTER 13 WEST INDIA By Dr R. N. Misra, Visiting Fellow, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Simla By Dr U. P. Shah CHAPTER 14 NORTH INDIA ... CHAPTER 15 EAST INDIA PART IV MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 *** By Shri Krishna Deva, former Director, Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi, and Shri M. C. Joshi, Superintending Archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi CHAPTER 17 WEST INDIA CONTENTS *** CHAPTER 16 CENTRAL INDIA By Shri Krishna Deva CHAPTER 18 THE DECCAN ... By Dr P. Banerjee, Assistant Director, National Museum, New Delhi .. ... By Shri Krishna Deva ... ... ... By Shri K. R. Srinivasan, former, Superintending Archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India, Madras (xii) PAGE 92 107 117 127 133 143 152 168 180 184 Page #13 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS The source, which also holds the copyright, of each illustration (photograph or Ipo drawing) is indicated against it within brackets. Some photographs of objects in museums were received from the Archacological Survey of India. Ia such cases both the Survey and the respoctive museum are the copyright holders. drawing) is indicated against it within brackets some photographs of objects in mecuma The following abbreviations have becs used in this list: AMM(-Archaeological Museum, Mathurd); ASI (** Archacological Survey of India); PWM (Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay); SML (State Museum, Lucknow). PLATES Chapter 6 | Mathura: dydga-pata (AMM, Q. 2) (ASI, courtesy AMM) 2 A. Mathură: architrave of the gateway of a stúpa, A, obverse, and B, reverse (SML, J. 535) (AMM) B. Mathura: fragment of an dydga-pafa (SML, J. 255) (ASI, courtesy AMM) 3 Mathura: sculptured slab (SML, J. 250) (ASI, courtesy SML) 4 Mathura: railing-posts (A, SML, J. 283; B, SML, J. 288; C. SML, J. 282) (ASI, courtesy SML) 5 Mathura: corner-post of a railing (SML, J. 356). view of four sides (ASI, courtesy SML) 6 Mathura: cross-bars of railings (A, SML, J. 427; B, SML. J. 422; C, SML J. 403; D, SML, J. 365) (ASI, courtesy SML) 7 Mathura: copings of railings (ASI, courtesy SML) 8 Mathura: uprights of railings (A, SML, J. 277; Baad C, National Musum) D, back view (ASI, courtesy SML and National Museum) 9 A. Mathura: railing-post of a staircase (AMM, 14.369) (AMM) B. Mathura: fragments of architraves (A, SML, J. 544; B. SML, J. 547) (ASI, courtesy SML) 10 A. Mathura: bracket (obverse and reverse) of a gateway (SML, J. 593A) (ASI, courtesy SML) B. Mathura: bracket (obverse and reverse) of a gateway (SML, J. 593B) (ASI, courtesy SML) 11 A. Mathura: bracket of an architrave (SML, J. 594) (SML) B. Mathura: pillar (obverse and reverse) of a gateway (SML, J. 532) (ASI, courtesy SML) 12 Mathura: fragment of a tympanum (obverse) (National Museum) (ASI, courtory NM) (ii) Page #14 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 13 Matburd: fragment of a tympanum (reverse) (National Museum) (ASI, courtesy National Museum) 14 Mathari: dydga-pafa (SML, J. 250) (ASI, courtesy SML) 15 Mathura; dydga-pata (AMM, 47.49) (ASL, courtesy AMM) 16 Mathura: dydga pata (SML, J. 248) (ASI, courtesy SML) 17 Matbură: a Tirtha kara (SML, J. 15) (ASI, courtesy SML) 18 Mathura: pratimd sarvatobhadrikd, view of two sides (ASI, courtesy SML) 19 Mathura: Yaksi Aryavat (SML, J. I) (ASI, courtesy SML) 20 Mathura: Sarasvati (SML, J. 24) (ASI, courtesy SML) Chapter 7 21 A. Lohanipur: torso of a Tirthankara (ASI, courtesy Patna Museum) B. Lohanipur: torso of a Tirthařkara (ASI, courtesy Patna Museum) 22 A. Chausa: a bronze Tirtha kara (ASI, courtesy Patna Museum) B Chausa: bronze Rşabhapatha (ASI, courtesy Patna Museum) C. Chausa: asoka-tree and dharma-cakra (ASI, courtesy Patna Museum) 23 Udayagiri: Cave 9, exterior (ASI) 24 Udayagiri: Cave 9, lower storey, worship of a cult-object (ASI) 25 Udayagiri: Cave I, exterior (ASI) 26 Kbandagiri: Cave 3, exterior (ASI) 27 Kbandagiri: Cave 3, worship of tree on tympanum (ASI) 28 Khandagiri: Cave 3, Gaja-Lakşmi on tympanum (ASI) 29 Udayagiri; Cave 1, lower storey, main wing, relief of a double-storeyod structure (ASI) 30 Udayagiri: Cave 1, lower storey, right wing, a danseuse amidst musicians on back wall of verandah (ASI) 31 Udayagiri; Cave 1, lower storey, right wing, frieze on back wall of verandah (ASI) 32 A. Udayagiri: Cave 1, upper storey, main wing, frieze on back wall of verandah (ASI) B. Udayagiri: Cave 1, upper storey, main wing, frieze on back wall of verandah (ASI) 33 A. Udayagiri: Cave 1, upper storey, main wing, frieze on back wall of verandah (ASI) B. Udayagiri: Cave 10, frieze on back wall of verandah (ASI) 34 Udayagıri: apsidal shrine on hill-top (ASI) 35 Udayagırı: ramp supported by retaining-wall (ASI) 36 A. Udayagiri: Yakşi (ASI) B. Udayagıri: Yaku, back view (ASI) ayagiri: apsidalnemeze on back wahing, frieze op bert Chapter 8 37 Prince of Wales Museum: bronze Parsvanatha (PWM) 38 Junagadh: Bawd-Pyard's cave (ASI) (xiv) Page #15 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Chapter 9 39 A. Mankulam: part of an inscription (ASI) B. Sittannavasal: cavern inhabited by Jaina monks (ASI) 40 Sittannavasal: inscribed near rock-cut bed (ASI) 41 Tenimalai: cavern inhabited by Jaina monks, later Jaina reliefs on isolated boulder (ASI) 42 Pagalur: cavern inhabited by Jaina monks (ASI) Chapter 10 43 Mathura: a Tirthankara (SML, J. 104) (SML) 44 Mathura: a Tirthankara (SML, J. 118) (SML) 45 Mathura: a Tirthankara (SML, O. 181) (SML) 46 Mathura: Tirthankara Raabhanatha (AMM, B. 7) (AMM) 47 A. Mathura: Tirthankara Neminatha (SML, J. 121) (SML) B. Mathura: Tirthankara Rṣabhanatha (AMM, 12.268) (AMM) 48 Mathura: head of a Tirthankara (AMM, B. 44) (AMM) 49 Mathură: head of a Tirthankara (AMM, 33,2348) (AMM) # 50 Mathura: head of a Tirthankara (SML, J. 164) (SML) Chapter 11 51 A. Rajgir: Sonbhandar, western cave, exterior (ASI) B. Rajgir: Sonbhandar, eastern cave, relief of Tirthankaras on southern wall (ASI) 52 Rajgir: Sonbhandar, western cave, interior, with a later caumukhi on floor (ASI) 53 Rajgir: Tirthankara Neminatha in a shrine on Vaibhara hill (ASI) 54 A. Chausa: bronze Tirthankara Candraprabha (Patna Museum) (Patna Museum) B. Chausa: bronze Tirthankara Candraprabha (Patna Museum) (Patna Museum) 55 A. Chausa: bronze Tirthankara Rṣabhanatha (Patna Museum) (Patna Museum) B. Chausa: bronze Tirthankara Pärivanatha (Patna Museum) (Patna Museum) 56 Chausa: bronze Tirthankara Rsabhanatha (Patna Museum) (Patna Museum) Chapter 12 57 A. Durjanpur: a Tirthankara (Vidisha Museum) (ASI, courtesy Vidisha Museum) B. Durjanpur; inscription on pedestal of above (ASI, courtesy Vidisha Museum) 58 Durjanpur: a Tirthankara (Vidisha Museum) (ASI, courtesy Vidisha Museum) 59 Durjanpur: a Tirthankara (Vidisha Museum) (ASI, courtesy Vidisha Museum) 60 A. Udaigiri: Tirthankara relief on cave-walls and a loose (later) Tirthankara Parsvanatha (U.P. Shah, photo Raj Kamal Studio, Vidisha) B. Gwalior: rock-out Tirthankaras (Department of Archaeology, Madhya Pradesh) (XV) Page #16 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 61 Vidis: a Tirthankara (Gwalior Museum) (Department of Archaeology, Madhya Pradesh) 62 Sira Pahari: Tirthankara Mahavira (ASI) 63 Sira Pahari: Tirthankara Rṣabhanatha (ASI) 64 Sira Pahari: Tirthankara Pärivanatha (ASI) Chapter 13 65 A. Akota: bronze Tirthankara Rşabhanatha (Baroda Museum) (U.P. Shah) B. Akota: bronze Jivantasvamin (Baroda Museum) (U.P. Shah) 66 A. Akota: head of Rsabhanatha, see plate 65A (Baroda Museum) (U.P, Shah) B. Akota: bronze head of a Tirthankara (Baroda Museum) (U.P. Shah) 67 A. Valabhi: group of bronze Tirthankaras (Prince of Wales Museum) (ASI, courtesy PWM) B. Akota: bronze Tirthankara Rşabhanatha with Yakşa and Yaksi (Baroda Museum) (U.P. Shah) 68 A. Akota; bronze Jivantasvamin (Baroda Museum) (U.P. Shah) B. Akota: bronze Yakş! Ambika (Baroda Museum) (U.P. Shah) Chapter 14 69 Ghanerao: Mahavira temple (ASI) 70 Ghanerao; Mahavira temple, elevation (ASI) 71 Ghanerao: Mahavira temple, a balcony (ASI) 72 Ghanerao: Mahavira temple, part of ceiling (ASI) 73 Ghanerao: Mahavira temple, sanctum-doorway (ASI) 74 Osia: Mahavira temple (ASI) 75 Osia: Mahavira temple, a balcony (ASI) 76 Nilakantha: a Tirthankara (ASI) 77 A. Nilakantha; a Tirthankara (ASI) B. Nilakantha: a Tirthankara (ASI) 78 Mathură Museum: Yakşi Cakreśvari (AMM) 79 Mathura Museum: Yakşi Ambika (AMM) 80 A. Lucknow Museum: Tirthankara Suvidhinatha (SML) B. Lucknow Museum: part of a torana-architrave (?) (SML) Chapter 15 81 A. Surohor: Tirthankara Rşabhanatha (National Museum) B. Naigoda: bronze Yakşi Ambika (National Museum) 82 A. Sat-Deuliya: astapada-tirtha (State Archacological Gallery, West Bengal) B. Sat-Deuliya: temple (S.N. Samanta) (xvi) Page #17 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 83 A. Ambikanagar; Tirthakkara Rşabbanatha (ASI) B. Ambikansgat: temple (AST) 84 A. Pakbira: Tirthadkara Santinátha, lower part (Stato Archaeological Gallery, West Bengal) B. Pakbira: Tirthadkaru Pardvanátha, lower part (State Archaeological Gallery, West Bengal) 85 A. Podasingidi: Tirtha kara Rsabbanatha (State Department of Archacology, Orissa) B, Charampa: Tirtha kara Santipatha (State Museum, Bhubaneswar) (AŞI, courtesy State Museum, Bhubneswar) 86 Khandagiri: Cave 1, Tirtha karas Parsvanatha and Neminátha with their Yaksts below (ASI) 87 Khandagiri: Cave 8, Tirthankaras Abhinandananätba and Sambhavanatha (ASI) 88 Mayurbhanj: Tirthankara Roabbanättia (National Museum) A. Deoli: pancayatana temple (ASI) B. Rajgir: temple op Vaibbāra hill (ASI) 90 A. Rajgir: Tirthankara Rşabbanātha on Vaibhara hill (ASI) B. Rajgir: Tirtha kara Munisuvrata with Yaksi Bahurupini (ASI A. Bihar: Yaksi Ambikā (Nabar Collection) (P.C. Nahar) * B. Bibar: bronze Yakşi (National Museum) (National Museum) A. Bibar: Tirthankara Candraprabha (Indian Museum) (lodian Museum) B. Surajpahar: rock-cut Tirthankaras (ASI) Chapter 16 93 A. Kundalpur: temple (ASI) B. Kundalpur: iwo Tinbankaras (Niraj Jein) 94 A. Kundalpur: Tirthadkara Abhinandananåtba (Niraj Jain) B. Kundalpur: Tirthankara Pärsvapätha (Niraj Jain) 95 A. Pithaora: Pataini-dei temple (Niraj Jain) B. Pithaora : Pataini-dei temple, lintel (Niraj Jain) 96 Pithaora: Pataini-dei temple, dvara-pålas (Niraj Jain) 97 A. Jabalpur: Tirthankara Dharmanātha (Nagpur Museum) (ASI, courtesy Nagpur Museum) B. Tewar: a Tirtha kara (Niraj Jain) 98 A. Tewar: inscribed group of Yaksis (Niraj Jain) B. Gandbarwal: Tirthadkaras (ASI) 99 Raipur Museum: sahasra-kūta (ASI, courtesy Raipur Muscum) 100 A. Gyaraspur: Tietbankarss and Yakşls (ASI) B. Gyaraspar: Maladevi temple, decorative motif (ASI) 101 Gyaraspor: MAJädevi temple (ASI) 102 Gyaraspur: Maládovi temple, mukha-mandapa (ASI) Muo (xvii) Page #18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 103 Gyaraspur: Maladevi temple, slkhara (ASI) 104 Gyarupur: Maladevi temple, janghd (ASI) 105 Deogarh: Temple 18 (ASI) 106 Doogarh: Temple 21, interior sculpture (ASI) 107 Deogarh: Temple 12 (right) within compound-wall with sculptures 108 Deogarh: Temple 12, Hichara and a later chatrt (ASI) Chapter 17 109 Akota: bronze Yakşi Ambika (Baroda Museum) 110 Akota: bronze Tirthankara Pärsvanātha (Baroda Museum) (Baroda Museum) 111 Akota: bronze caturvimsati-paffa (Baroda Museum) (Baroda Museum) 112 Akota: bronze camara-dharini (Baroda Museum) (Baroda Museum) Chapter 18 113 A. Badamı: Jaina cave-temple exterior (ASI) B. Badami: Jaina cave-temple, interior (ASI) 114 A. Badami: Jaina cave-temple, Gommatesvara (ASI) B. Badami: Jaina cave-temple, Tirtha kara Rşabhanātha (ASI) 115 Badami: Jaina cave-temple, Tirthankara Pärsvanätba (ASI) 116 A. Aibolo: Menåbasti cave-temple, exterior (ASI) B. Aibole: Jaipa cave-temple, exterior (ASI) 117 Ellora: Indra-sabha (Cave 32), exterior (ASI) 118 A. Ellora: Indra-sabha (Cave 32), Tirthankara Pārsvanātha (ASI) B. Ellora: Cave 32, Gommatesvara (ASI) 119 Ellora: Cave 32, pillars (ASI) 120 A. Ellora: Cave 33, exterior (ASI) B. Aihole: Meguti templo (ASI) 121 Ellora: Cave 33, Kubera (ASI) 122 Ellora: Cave 33, Yakşi Ambika (ASI) 123 Ellora; Cava 33, Tirtharkaras (ASI) 124 Ellora: Cave 33, interior (ASI) 125 Ellora: Cave 33, vimand-shrine (ASI) 126 Patadkal: Jaina temple (ASI) (xvili) Page #19 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ TEXT-ILLUSTRATIONS Chapter 2 Fig. 1. Mohonjo-daro: stestite soal (ASI). See page 21 Chapter 6 Fig. 1. Kankali-tila: plan of a brick stlpa. (After Smith) (ASI). See page 54 Chapter 7 Fix. DI. Udayagiri and Khandagiri: layout of the caves (ASI). Soc page 75 Fig. IV. Udayagin: apsidal structure on the top of the hill (ASI). See page 79 Chapter 8 Fig. V. Junagadh: Bāwā-Pyara's cave, entrance to Cave K. (Aster Burgess) (ASI). See page 90 Chapter 10 Fig. VI. Váránasl: head of Ajitanatha (SML, 49.199) (SML). See page 110 Fig. VII. Mathura: lions on pedestal. 1-4, Kushan (SML, J. 20, J. 30, J. 34, J. 26; and 5-6, Gupta (SML, J. 118, J. 121) (SML). See page 112 Fig. VIII. Mathură: $rivatsa-marks 1-3, Kushan (SML, J. 16, J. 36, J. 17); and 4-6, Gupta (SML, J. 188; AMM B. 6, B. 7)(SML). See page 116 Chapter 16 Fig. IX. Deogarh: layout of temples (ASI). See page 176 FRONTISPIECE Panna: Tirthankara Mahavira, sixth century A.D. (Niraj Jain) Page #20 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ Part I INTRODUCTION - Page #21 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 1 EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS EARLY IN 1971 I WAS REQUESTED BY THE SECRETARY OF THE BHARATIYA Jnanpith, a cultural institution for the promotion of oriental research and literary publications, to edit a work on Jaina Art and Architecture, to be published on the occasion of the Twenty-fifth Centennial of the Nirvåņa of Mahavira. I readily consented to accept the assignment, as this work was going to be the first of its kind ever published, and any person would be delighted to be associated with it. While Jaina monuments and sculpture figure prominently in all books of Indian art-history and there are isolated monographs and articles on individual monuments and images or groups of them, there is hardly any comprehensive work devoted exclusively to the art and architecture produced under the aegis of Jainism for the edification of the faith. Such brief surveys as exist are, besides being inadequate and sometimes inaccurate, oriented towards a particular point of view. While, therefore, the justification for such a work cannot be doubted, it would be unwise, at the same time, to stress the exclusive nature of its contents. It is difficult to conceive of any Jaina artistic or architectonic creation that does not pertain to, and can be isolated from, the mainstream of Indian art and architecture. No doubt, the special religious and mythological concepts of Jainism produced sculptural forms not found in the creations of other denominations, but even these conformed to the style of the region and period to which they belonged. Thus, while representations of the samavasarana, Nandiśvara-dvipa, Astăpada, etc., typical of Jaina mythology, are peculiarly Jaina, in the style of execution even they followed the contemporary style of the region in which they were produced. Leaving the standing figures on a Mohenjo-daro seal out of consideration, the Lohanipur Tirthankara images of Mauryan age (below, chapter 7) show that in all probability Jainism had the lead in the carving of images for veneration over Buddhism and Brāhmanism; no images of Buddha or any Brāhmaṇical deity of that antiquity have been found, though there are contemporary or near-contemporary Yakşa-statues, after the stylistic model of which the Page #22 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ INTRODUCTION (PART 1 Lohanipur images are carved That the practice was prevalent at the time of Mahavira himself is not established: the legend of the queen of Uddāyana of Vitabhayapattana (unknown from any other source), a contemporary of Mahavira himself, having worshipped a sandalwood statue of the Tirtharkara (chapter 8) has its counterpart in the legend of Buddha's contemporary Udayana of Kaušámbi having installed an image of Buddha prepared out of the same material. (Even the similarity of the names of the two rulers may not be an accidental coincidence.) The later images of Tirthankaras and Yakşis, found at Mathurā, are typical products of the flourishing Mathură school, and except their iconographic features where they exist, there is nothing to distinguish them stylistically from the contemporary images of other denominations. The same story continues throughout all other regions and all subsequent centuries. It is to be noted that in the images of Yaksis we find rudimentary iconographic details even at Mathură, and they go on gaining ground in later ages. In the Tirthankara images such details are mostly confined to the addition of lakchanas (cognizances for identification, a variable factor even in Gupta times) and of attaching Yakşas and Yaksis to them. The austere conception of the Tirtharkaras would not allow much embellishments to be introduced in their sculptural representation, but the same is generally true of Buddha images as well. The desire for embellishment was, however, fulfilled by a new conception of the Jlvantasvāmin-form of Mahāvira, which has its plastic correspondence in the Crowned Buddha of east India in medieval times. Iconographic concepts had mutual influences in other directions as well. While the dharma-cakra may have been a concept common both to Jainism and Buddhism,' the practice of flanking it by the deer was significant to the Buddhists only, recalling the scene of the First Sermon at Mrgadāva; but we find the combination in medieval Tirthankara images as well. The scene of seven Yaksis preceded by Ganesa in Cave 8 of Khandagiri, recalling the Samuel Beal, Buddhist Records of the Western World, London, 1884, I, p. 235; Life of Hiuen-Tsang by Hwul-Li, London, 1882, p. 91. According to some, it was primarily a Jaina symbol, as Rsabbanátha is said to have turned the wheel at Takşašila, Muni Kantisagar, Khandaharon ka Valbhava (in Hindi), secopd cdition, Banaras 1959, p. 59. But the legend, including that of Rabbanatha's visit to the Yavana country (lonia, a Greek country of West Asia), is contradicted by facts of archaeology and history, for archaeologically Taxila did not come into existence before the sixth-fifth century A.C. and the Ionian kingdom was not established before the eighth-seventh century, whereas Rsabhanatha is believed to have lived in a hoary antiquity. Page #23 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ EDITORIAL ORSERVATIONS Brahmapical Sapta-tåtrk, group, and the presence of a larga on the podestal of a Turthaskara at Pakbira, District Purulia (below, chaptor 15), tell their own tale of religious and iconographic syncretism. Nor may the association of the data and the ball with Rrabhanátha and Siva be purely accidental. The Mauryan Tirthankaras of Lohanipur were perhaps installed in a brick shrine, the nature of which we do not know. The early bistorical Jaina shrines at Mathură are known only through their surviving components (chapter 6). From the time when regular temples are available, we find them indistinguishable on plan and in elevation from those of the other creeds, and the Silpa-texts do not tell us which should be the exclusive features in Jaina temples, evidently because it was uncalled for. While the differences between the Jaina, Brahmapical and Buddhist temples would naturally lie in the deity installed in the main shrine, subsidiary deities, sculptures inspired by respective mythologies and such other things, there is no essential difference among them necessitated by any particular religious belief and practice. The plan of the Parsvanátha temple of Khajuraho, for example, may be different from that of the Brāhmaṇical temples there, but those latter temples themselves differ inter se. There is nothing to show, as has been suggested, that the differences in the plans are due to their forms of worship. The Khajuraho stamp is apparent on all the temples at that place. There is no religion-wise difference in the sculptural embellishments of the religious edifices. The same joie de vivre is apparent in the sculpture of all religions, except where it is strictly religious in character. Call them Yakşis, attendants, ndyikas, apsarases, sura-sundaris or alasa-kanyds, they appear everywhere, singly or in mithunas, and nothing in the austere tenets and practices of any religion could prevent their appearance in places of worship. From the very early times, as evidenced at Sanchi in the Buddhist stūpas or at Mathura in the remains and miniature representations of the Jaina stūpas, they are present ubiquitously. Nude Yaksis attend on a sculptured stūpa at Mathura and are seen in lascivious poses on railing-posts. While it is true that Jaina iconography does not permit the cosmic sexualism of some Tantric Brāhmapical and Buddhist deities, erotic couples appear covertly in the medieval Jaina temples at Khajuraho and elsewhere and very freely on the Sikhara of the one at Arang in Chhattisgarh. All this shows the futility involved 1 Eliky Zannas and Jeannine Auboyer, Khajuraho, 's-Gravenhage, 1960, pp. 147-48. The Authors themselves admit that there are differences between the Jaina temples at Khajuraho toter se Zannas and Auboyer, op. cit., p. 151; L.K, Tripathi in Bhdrarl, Research Bulletin of the College of Indology, Banaras Hindu University, 3, 1959-60, p. 48: Muni Kentingar, op. cit., p. 123. Page #24 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ INTRODUCTION [PART 1 in the exercise of finding the influence of Tantricism, Kaula-Pasupatism, etc., in such depictions. Untrammelled by the austere tenets of the creed at the service of which he was working, the artist followed the practices of an age which fully sanctioned, even relished, them. In the same way, while the texts forbade the Jaina monks to live in painted houses,' the monks did put up with delightful paintings in their cave-temples. Such was the urge of artistic embellishment. Mana-stambhas, pillars, often ornamental and carrying the images of the same Jina on the top on all the four sides, are often found in front of Jaina temples, particularly in the south. In them one sees the counterpart of the dhvaja-stambhas facing the Brahmanical temples and surmounted by the symbol of the enshrined deity, an early example of which is the renowned Garuda-pillar at Besnagar (Vidiśā) of the second century B.C. In fact, it has been suspected that the pillars of Ašoka invariably stood in front of the religious edifices erected by the emperor." A typical Jaina sculpture is the sarvatobhadrika pratimă, commonly called caumukhi, the earliest examples coming from Mathura; it is generally a square shaft with a Jina figure on each face. Yet, a sort of caumukhi conception is not unknown to Buddhism; the miniature Buddhist stupas sometimes bear representations of Buddha and Buddhist deities in niches on its four sides, though they may as well occur one side only. Even the Great Stupa of Sanchi was given something of a caumukhi appearance by the installation of a Buddha image on each side in the Gupta age. Jaina literature abounds in references to stupas but the only extant remains are of one or more stupas in Kankali-tila at Mathura of the centuries immediately before and after Christ. The components and representations 1 Muni Kantisagar, op. cit., pp. 24-25. Recent excavation has brought to light the remains of a temple in the vicinity and the foundations of other pillars in a row, Indian Archaeology 1964-65-a Review, New Delhi, 1965, p. 19: ibid., 1965-66, 1966, p. 23. A. Ghosh, 'The pillars of Asoka-their purpose', East and West, New Series,17, Rome, 1967, pp. 273-75. On the basis of the existence of four spacious shrines, in which originally must have been installed deities, on the second terrace of the Paharpur temple, the temple has been analo. gized to a Jaina caumukhi, S.K. Saraswati in Struggle for Empire, ed. R.C. Majumdar and A.D. Pusalker, Bombay, 1957, pp. 637-38. But this ignores the main shrine on the top of the terraced structure, the existence of which can easily be conjectured from the square brick shell of substantially thick walls enclosing a brick pavement, K.N. Dikabit, Excavations at Paharpur, Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India, 55, Delhi, 1936, p. 15. 6 Page #25 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 11 EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS of stupas in sculpture found there reveal hardly any characteristic that is not known in contemporary Buddhist stūpas. Also, the origin of the Jaina stūpas could not have been different in nature or date from the Buddhist ones. The references to earlier stūpas, such as the one at Vaitall dedicated to Munisuvrata, the twentieth Tirthankara, believed to be a contemporary of Rama, are paralleled by similar references in Buddhist literature. And the stupa of Kanakamuni, a Past Buddha, at Nigliva in the Nepalese tarai, is authenticated by an inscription of Asoka. The appellation deva-nirmita applied to a Jaina Mathura stupa (chapter 6) may not lead us very far into antiquity; it may only show that the stupa was held in great veneration by the devotees. Enough has been said above in a stray way to show (if any showing was required at all) that Jaina sculpture and monuments cannot and should not be viewed apart from the main fund of India's cultural heritage, of which it forms an important and integral element. In fulfilment of their spiritual needs in a visual form, the Jainas followed the same lines of development through the ages as the followers of other Indian creeds did, together, of course, with the concrete representations of whatever was special in their mythological and religious beliefs; in these cases, again, they did not go out of the main track of artistic and architectural evolution in India. In their west-Indian temples of the medieval age they outshone other Indian temples by supremely baroque exuberance of ornamentation but within the framework of the contemporary Indian norm. If the following pages demonstrate how rich is the concrete (apart from the spiritual) donation of Jainism to Indian culture, the present work will have amply fulfilled its purpose. There is no vestige of Jaina antiquities outside India. The Ceylonese Buddhist chronicle Mahavamsa refers to the construction of a Nirgrantha monastery by king Pandukābhaya at his capital. The appearance of the Jainas in Ceylon in the fourth century B.C. is not surprising, as Jainism was by then already known in Orissa and probably in south India. But no relics of the monastery have been identified. Nor is there any reliable evidence of the spread of Jainism in south-east Asia, though it was no doubt visited by the merchants (some of them must have been Jainas) from west India. But unlike Buddhism and Brahmanism, the creed does not seem to have found a strong 1 Mahdvarkso, ed. N.K. Bhagat, Devanagar! Pali Text Serks, 12, second edition, Bombay, 1959, p. 74; Hiralal Jain, Bharatiya Samskrti men Jaina-Dharma kd Yoga-dana, Bhopal, 1962, p. 35. 7 Page #26 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ INTRODUCTION (PART 1 foothold there. The same is the case with the north-west--the Gandhăra region and beyond. To turn now to the present work. The discussions that I had with Shri C. Sivaramamurti, Director of the National Museum, and Shri M.N. Deshpande, Joint Director General (now Director General) of the Archaeological Survey of India, a few other officers of the Survey and, of course, with the Secretary of the Bharatiya Jnanpith, resulted in the preparation of a scheme of the work. Competent scholars were invited to contribute chapters to cover the scheme and a time-schedule was laid down. As usual with a co-operative endeavour of this kind, some scholars indicated their inability to write anything, a large number sent their contributions in time and a few did so at the last minute. In some cases the chapters that were received very late were found to be sketchy and incomplete, and when this was pointed out to the respective authors they wanted more time to fill in the lacunae, as if the publication could wait indefinitely and the editor would remain tied down to the work for any length of time. The same is the story of the illustrative material. In this case the rich photographic resources of the Archaeological Survey of India and the large collection of photographs of Jaina antiquities being built up by the Bharatiya Jnanpith filled in the gaps, which, however, still remain. All this will explain the strong and weak points of the work, which the reader will see for himself. Nobody can be more acutely conscious of the vulnerable parts of the book than myself, who had to go through each chapter many a time at all stages and arrange the illustrations. When the work of the collection of material had advanced to a degree, I had to leave for Indonesia in February 1973 on a one-year assignment. To be fair to the Bharatiya Jnanpith, I unconditionally resigned my editorial appointment, so that my absence did not affect the progress of the work, and 1 In the Siva temple at Prambanan in Indonesia some see Jaina influence, cf. Jain op. cit., p. 341, following Fergusson. This is without any strong justification: what we see in the temple is the main deity Siva (supposed by some to be a deified dead ruler) in the front shrine and subsidiary deities in the shrines on the three sides--the pdrtva-devata concept. • While the Jainas must have been prosent in the Gandbära region (Hiuen Trang saw them there in the seventh century), there is no justification for Marshall's doubtful supposition that some stupas in Sirkap, the second city of Tuila, were Jaisa in affikation, John Marshall, Guldk to Taxila, Cambridge, 1960, pp. 69, 72-74. See below, chapter 8. The tradition of the Tirthatkaras having visited the north-west is apocryphal, just as that of Buddha having visited it, Beal, op. cit, 1884, 1. PP. XXX (Fa Hien) and 67, etc (Hiuen Tsang). Page #27 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 11 EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS strongly advised the Secretary of the Inanpith to entrust the work to some other person who could do better justice to it. When, however, I returned to India, in February this year, I found to my surprise that the work had been kept waiting for me. I deeply appreciated the confidence shown in me by the authorities of the Jnanpith and readily resumed the thread. Not that no progress had been made in my absence. Some more chapters had been received; it had also been decided to add sections on Jaina art-objects in museums in India and, as far as possible, abroad and competent persons had already been approached to write on the collections in their charge. The material that had been received has been incorporated, but here also it remains inexhaustive for reasons comparable with what have been stated above. Some museums, such as the Archaeological Museum at Mathura and the State Museum at Lucknow, have been deliberately omitted, as their contents have been largely covered in the chapters on Monuments and Sculpture. It may be added that the Bharatiya Jnanpith is organizing an exhibition of Jaina art-objects on the occasion of the Nirvana-mahotsava and will publish a catalogue thereof. Something may be said to explain the scheme of the work. After a few introductory chapters comes the main theme of the work, viz. Monuments and Sculpture, which has been divided into the following periods: (1) 300 B.C. to A.D. 300; (2) A.D. 300 to 600; (3) A.D. 600 to 1000; (4) A.D. 1000 to 1300; and (5) A.D. 1300 to 1800. This periodization is more or less conventional, corresponding respectively to what have been called the early historical, the classical (at least so far as north India is concerned), the early medieval, the medieval and the late medieval. This division has not always been easy to follow. For example, when a sculpture has to be dated on the basis of its style, more than one author would be likely to include it in his respective chapter, for slight difference of opinion is bound to exist in such cases. Editorial discretion has been exercised in retaining it in one chapter and deleting it from the other. The same difficulty has been experienced in the case of monuments; nay, here the difficulty is enhanced by the fact that additions and alterations to temples make the division of a complex into more than one period difficult without a breaking up of the complex. Here also I had to take an arbitrary decision: in a few cases a complex has been dealt with under a particular period even though some of its components belong to a different one. Most of the periods enumerated above have been divided into regions: (1) north India; (2) east India; (3) central India; (4) west India; (5) the Deccan; and (6) south India. Here also the division has not proved altogether satisfactory. As a working-basis, however, north India has been defined as comprising 9 Page #28 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ INTRODUCTION PARTI what is really north India with the exception of south-east Rajasthan (which has been included under west India) and the Bundelkhand part of Uttar Pradesh (which has gone to central India), ancient cultural and political affiliations being a general consideration. East India has been taken to consist of Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Orissa. (Bangladesh has been included in this region in one or two chapters; this has been loose, I admit, and will not, I also hope, be regarded as a political motivation. But the scanty Jaina remains there did not seem to justify a separate regionalization.) Central India means Madhya Pradesh and Bundelkhand. West India, as stated above, comprises Gujarat and southeast Rajasthan. While the Deccan is self-explanatory, south India includes the southern Districts of Karnataka and, of course, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. The bounds have sometimes been infringed, but such cases are excusable. It should also be noticed that under the periods 300 B.C. to A.D, 300 and A.D. 300 to 600, 'north India' has given place to 'Mathura'. This is justified, as almost the entire north-Indian Jaina material of the periods comes from Mathurā. Central India does not figure in the period200 B.C. to A.D. 300, for the simple reason that there are no Jaina relics in this region-period group, though there is a plethora of legends on the Vikramaditya-Kalakācārya-GardabhillaSātavābana cycle. A Jaina association of some of the paintings in the Jogimära-Sitábenga caves on the Ramgarh hill in District Surguja has been suggested, but the paintings require further study. 1 A possible omission, which may be made good here, under the period 300 B.C. to A.D. 300 is the artificial cave at Pabhos& near Kaulambi, District Allahabad. As described by A. Führer, Monumental Anslquities and Inscriptions in the Norsk-western Province and Oudh, Arcbacological Survey of India, New Series II (-New Imperial Series XII), Allababad, 1891, pp. 143-44, the cave, high up on the face of a hill, measures 27 by 14 m, and is 1 m, in height. It has a door, 66 by :53 m., and two windows, 48 by .43 m. Inside, on the southern side, is a stone bed with pillow. Apart from some inscriptions in Gupte characters, there are two inscrip tions, saying that the excavation of the cave was done by on Aşadhasena, who, besides other genealogical relations, was the materoal uncle of king Babasatimitru. This Bahasatimitra (Broaspatimitra) is usually identified with the king of Magadha of the same name, defeated by Kharavela of Orisia in the first or, less probably, second century a.c. The excavation was done for the Kasyaplya Arhats. As Mahavira belonged to Kaśyapa-gotra, it has been thought that the Achats for whom the cave was excavaled were Jaidas, Hiralal Jain, op. cit., p. 309. .U.P. Shab has drawn my attention to his article "Suvarda-bhumi mpen Kalakackrya' (details not available), in which he shown that Kalakacărys was a historical figure. Rai Krishnadasa, Bhdrata kl Citra-kold, Allahabad, 1962, p. 2. Soe T. Bloch in Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report, 1903-04, Calcutta, 1906, pp. 12 ff. A thorough and 10 Page #29 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 11 EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS Again, no Jaina relics in the Deccan in the periods 300 B.C. to A.D. 300 and A.D. 300 to 600 and in south India in the latter have come to notice. There are therefore no chapters on them for these periods. The whole work is divided into Parts. Some of them may not be large enough to qualify for that term, but it has been found to be a convenient mode of grouping the chapters. The work will be bound in three handy volumes. In the first volume have been included the introductory chapters (forming Part I) and those on Monuments and Sculpture belonging to 300 B.C. to A.D. 300 (Part II), A.D. 300 to 600 (Part III) and A.D. 600 to 1000 (Part IV).' The subsequent volumes will consist of: the remaining two chapters on Monuments and Sculpture, respectively of A.D. 1000 to 1300 (Part V) and 1300 to 1800 (Part VI); Paintings-Mural and Miniature; chapters on Jaina Antiquities in Museums; miscellaneous chapters; a glossary of technical terms (if considered necessary); and a complete index to all the volumes. In transliterating ancient Indian words the international system, recommended by the International Congress of Orientalists in 1894, has been generally followed. Modern personal names and place-names (except those where ancient names persist or have been revived, e.g. Mathura, Vārānasi) have been left without diacritical marks. Some ad hoc system, not very strict, has been followed in the names of books in modern Indian languages. 1 must define here the extent to which my editorial responsibility goes. I have in some cases made verbal alterations and even re-arranged the matter, adding cross-references to draw attention to comparable and divergent views. I have also expressed my own views on a particular question where there are differences of opinion, but such cases are very rare. I have in a few cases deleted, if arbitrarily, some portions from a chapter if I felt that they should go to another; in a few cases again I have allowed certain portions to remain, even though they might have reasonably gone to another. I have, also rarely, omitted photographs submitted by the authors and included others not of their illustrated report on the caves prepared by M. Venkataramayya in 1961 is available in the archives of the Archaeological Survey of India. 1 Jain, op. cit., p. 311, following James Fergusson and James Burgess, Cave Temples of India, London, 1880, p. 491, says that the group of Dharasinva caves, not far from Osmanabad. are Jaina, as Tirthankara figures appear in them. But it is more likely that they were originally Buddhist and later on used by the Jainas. The excavation of the caves took place between A.D. 500 and 650. 1 At the last minute, owing to exigencies of printing, it was decided to omit the chapter on South India, A.D. 600 to 1000, from volume I and include it in volume II. 11 Page #30 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ INTRODUCTION [PART 1 choice. For all these discretions I do take the responsibility, as also for such printing-errors as might have crept in. But I must make it clear that I do not take the responsibility for the accuracy of everything that has been said by the different authors, who must remain responsible for their statements and views. Nor am I concerned with the Hindi translation of the work, which the Bharatiya Jnanpith proposes to publish. In editing this work and seeing it through the press, I have received ungrudging help from different quarters. I must start the list with Shri L.C. Jain, Secretary of the Bharatiya Jnanpith, for entrusting the work to me (thoughit has involved many problems and much strenuous worry, particularly at the later stages), but much more for his unfailing courtesy and understanding. It has uniformly been a pleasure to deal with him, and I thank him immensely. Shri Gopilal Amar and Shri Virendra Kumar Jain, both of the Research Department of the Jnanpith, have greatly assisted me, by sharing the pondence, promptly sorting out the required illustrations and running about to different places whenever required. Shri Amar," being a scholar of Sanskrit, the Prakrits and Jainology, has also rendered some technical assistance. I thank them, as also the assistants and typists of the Jnanpith, who have always been helpful. It is needless to say that without the co-operation of the authors who responded to our request for their contributions, the publication of the work would not have been possible. I am grateful to them for their co-operation. During my absence in Indonesia, a few chapters had been sent to Dr Jyoti Prasad Jain, former Professor of History in the University of Lucknow, for his comments. Many of the comments that he kindly made have been utilized with duc acknowledgement, I am thankful to him for his valuable observations. My long association with Shri C. Sivaramamurti, Director of the National Museum, and with the officers of the Archaeological Survey of India have stood me in good stead in my task. Shri Sivaramamurti and Shri M.N. Deshpande, the Director General of the Survey, have from the very start taken a deep interest in the work. Two young officers of the Survey, Shri M.C. Joshi, Superintending Archaeologist, and Shri B.M. Pande, Deputy Superintending A finally-typed copy of a chaptor was, at the earlice stage, sent to the respective author for approval, but later on the procedure could not be continued due to shortnes of time. 12 Page #31 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ Chama 1) EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS Archacologist, have been of great assistance throughout. Shri Joshi helpod me in many technical matters, and Shri Pande checked up the references and filled in many missing details, besides ensuring a uniformity as far as possible. It has not been possible for him to check all the references, due to the non-availability of the relevant journals and books, particularly some Jaina texts, in the Central Archacological Library. Shri Pande's help did not end there : at the slightest hint from me he readily undertook to go through the proofs and has done the task, particularly arduous in a work like this. The photographers and draughtsmen of the Survey were always willing to help and promptly did whatever was required of them. All of them have earned my thanks. I must make a special mention of Dr R. Champakalakshmi, Associate Professor in the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, who became associated with this work at a late stage. While her specialized knowledge of Jainism in south India enabled her to produce the chapters that appear in her name in a remarkably short time, she readily consented to, and did, help me in editing the other chapters on the Deccan and south India and in sorting out the photographs to illustrate them. I am beholden of her. Dr B.D. Chattopadhyaya, Associate Professor in the same Centre, volunteered to partake in the task of proof-correction. To him also my thanks are due. I have reserved till the last the mention of Shri Shanti Prasad Jain, Founder of the Bharatiya Jnanpith, and his wife Shrimati Rama Jain, the President of its Board of Trustees. While my personal contact with them has not been very frequent, I could throughout feel their guiding force and drive which have made possible the preparation and presentation of this work, November 1, 1974 A. GHOSH OLAH 1207 DISTAN KEMIKINNVOVIAMOS ANOS VAVAVAVAVAVOVSLAVONSKOM 12 Page #32 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 2 THE BACKGROUND AND TRADITION JAINISM IS ONE OF THE OLDEST RELIGIONS IN INDIA. ACCORDING TO JAINA tradition, the religion is eternal, having been revealed repeatedly by as many twenty-four Tirthankaras.' The first Tirthankara was Ṛsabha and the twentyfourth and last one was Vardhamana Mahavira. Their names, colours, cognizances (läñchana), attendant Yaksas and Yaksis and places of birth and nirvāṇa are given below: 1. Rṣabhanatha or Adinatha; golden; bull; Gomukha; Cakreśvari; Vinitanagara; (Digambara) Kailasa or (Svetambara) Aştăpada. 2. Ajitanatha; golden; elephant; Mahāyakṣa: (Dig.) Rohini or (Śve.) Ajitabala; Ayodhya; Sametasikhara. 3. Sambhavanatha; golden; horse; Trimukha; (Dig.) Prajñapti or (Śve.) Duritări; Śrāvasti; Sametasikhara. 4. Abhinandananatha; golden; ape; (Dig.) Yakşeśvara or (Śve.) Yakşa Nayaka; (Dig.) Vajraśṛnkhalā or (Śve.) Kalika. Ayodhyā; Sametaśikhara. 5. Sumatinatha; golden; heron; Tumburu; (Dig.) Puruşadatta or (Śve.) Mahakali; Ayodhya; Sametaśikhara. 1 The interval of time that elapsed between each Tirthankara, according to the Jaina tradition, is almost unbelievable, especially as one goes backwards, being measured in palyopamas and sågaropamas. All this is intended to suggest the hoary antiquity of the religion. The various symbols, as will be seen from the list, are drawn mostly from animal and vegetation life. Svastika, śrivatsa and nandydvarta, which traditionally have auspicious qualities, also possess great antiquity. Thunderbolt is the only object which, with its close association with Indra, is an astra used in warfare. These symbols appear to suggest animistic worship and sublimation of the qualities possessed by chosen animals and vegetal forms. Some of the symbols are also represented on Harappan seals, but no deduction is possible from such a similarity. Of the places of birth, so far as they can be identified, the westernmost is Mathura and the easternmost Campa, there being no place which can definitely be located in central India, the Deccan or south India. The spot of nirvana is mostly Sammetasikhara (Parasnath hill in Hazaribagh District); Neminatha's nirvand took place in Girinagara in Kathiawad, due to his belonging to the Yadava dynasty, which shifted itself from Mathur to west India. 14 Page #33 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 21 THE BACKGROUND AND TRADITION 6. Padmaprabha; red; lotus-flower; Kusuma; (Dig.) Manovega or Manogupta or (Śve.) Śyāmā Acyntā; Kausambi; Sametaśikhara. 7. Supärsvanatha; golden; (Dig.) nandyavarta or (Śve.) svastika; (Dig.) Varanandin or (Sve.) Mätanga; (Dig.) Käll or (Sve.) Santa; Varanasi; Sameta sikhara. 1 8. Candraprabha; white; (Dig.) half moon; (Dig.) Vijaya or Syama or (Sve.) Vijaya; (Dig.) Jvälämälini or ($ve.) Bhrkutt; Candrapurt; Sameta sikhara. 9. Suvidhinatha or Puspadanta; white; alligator; Ajita; (Dig.) Mahākālī or (Šve.) Sutarakā; Kakandinagara; Sametasikhara. 10. Šitalanatha; golden; (Dig.) svastika or (Šve.) śrīvatsa; Brahma or Brahmeśvara; (Dig.) Manavi or (Śve.) Aśokā; Bhadrapura; Sametasikhara. 11. Sreyamsanatha; golden; rhinoceros; (Dig.) Isvara or (Śve.) Yakset; (Dig.) Gauri or (Sve.) Manavi; Simhapura; Sametasikhara. 12. Vasupūjya; red; buffallo; Kumāra; (Dig.) Gāndhari or (Śve.) Canda; Campapuri; Campapuri. 13. Vimalanatha; golden; boar; Şanmukha; (Dig.) Vairoți or (Śve.) Vidita; Kampilyapura; Sametasikhara. 14. Anantanatha; golden; falcon; Pätāla; (Dig.) Anantamati or (Śve.) Ankuśā; Ayodhya; Sametašikhara. 15. Dharmanatha; golden; vajra; Kinnara; (Dig.) Mänasi or (Śve.) Kandarpă; Ratnapuri; Sametaśikhara. 16. Sāntinātha; golden; deer; (Dig.) Kimpuruşa or (Sve.) Garuda; (Dig.) Mahāmānas] or (Śve.) Nirvāņi; (Dig.) Hastinapura or (Šve.) Gajapura; Sametasikhara. 17. Kunthunatha; golden; goat; Gandharva; (Dig.) Vijayā or (Śve.) Bala; (Dig.) Hastinapura or (Sve.) Gajapura; Sametaśikhara. 18. Aranatha; yellow or golden; (Dig.) tagara-flower or fish or (Śve.) nandyavarta: (Dig.) Kendra or (Sve.) Yakşendra; (Dig.) Ajita or (Sve.) Dhana; (Dig.) Hastinapura or (Sve.) Gajapura; Sametašikhara. 19. (Dig.) Mallinatha or (Śve.) Malli, a woman; blue; pitcher; Kubera; (Dig.) Aparajita or (Sve.) Dharanapriya; Mithila; Sametaśikhara. * Malli was a female Tirthankara according to Svetämbara tradition. The Digambaras 15 Page #34 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ INTRODUCTION [PART 1 20. Munisuvrata; black; tortoise; Varuna; (Dig.) Bahurüpini or (Sve.) Naradatta; Räjargha; Sametasikhara. 21. Naminatha; golden; blue lotus; Bhṛkuti; (Dig.) Camundi or (Śve.) Gāndhari; Mithila; Sametasikhara. 22. Ariştanemi; black; conch-shell; (Dig.) Sarvähņa or (Sve.) Gomedha; (Dig.) Kuşmanḍini or (Śve.) Ambikā; Sauriyapura; Girinagara. 23. Pārsvanatha; blue; snake; Dharanendra; Padmavati; Vārāpasi; Sametaśikhara. 24. Vardhamana Mahāvira; golden; lion; Matanga; Siddhāyikā, Kundagrāma; Pāvāpuri. Vardhamana Mahavira, the last of the twenty-four Tirthankaras, also called as Nataputta, (Năti-putta), was preceded by Parsva, who is said to have died at the ripe age of one hundred years, and two hundred and fifty years before the nirvana of Mahavira, which is placed in 527 B.C. In fact, Mahāvira's parents followed Pārsva (Mahāvīrassa ammāpiyaro Pasavacchijja-Acarangasutra). Further, the Kalpa-sütra refers to Mahavira as one following the straight road which the Jinas had taught. The famous dialogue between Kesin, the disciple of Pārsva, with Gotama, the disciple of Mahavira, occurring in chapter XXIII of the Uttarādhyayana-sūtra, one of the earliest texts of the Jaina canon, almost conclusively helps to bestow historicity on Parśva. The essential unity of the four-fold religion (căujjama-dhamma) and the five-fold religion (pañca-sikkhiyo) of Mahavira is also emphasized. Thus, we are on sure grounds in placing Parśva, the twenty-third Tirthankara having lived between 877-777 B.C. Parsva is said to have been born at Väräpasi and, like all the Tirthankaras, in a royal Ksatriya family. From the biographical details of Pārsva, we gather that the cities he visited comprised Ahicchatta (Ahicchatra in Bareilly District), Amalakappa (near Vaiśāli in Vaishali District), Hatthinäura (Hastinapura in Meerut District), Kampillapura (Kampil in Farrukhabad District), Kosambi (Kauśambi near Allahabad), Rayagiha (Rajgir in District Bihar Sharif), Sageya and Savatthi (Saheth-Maheth, Districts Gonda-Bahraich). The nirvana of Parsva took place on the Sammetasikhara (Parasnath hill situated in Hazaribagh District). Some of the cities where systematic archaeological excavation has taken place, like Varanasi (Rajghat), Ahicchatra, Hastinapura and Kausambi, do go back to a period a few centuries before the sixth century B.C. on the basis of pottery, including the Painted Grey Ware found at these places. deny this, as according to them no female was entitled to liberation. They name the Tirthankara as Mallinatha. 16 Page #35 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 2] THE BACKGROUND AND TRADITION It will, therefore, be within the scope of possibility that these places were associated with the activities of Pārsva. However, when we go beyond Pärsva, we get into a realm of legend, both in regard to unbelievable differences of time that elapsed between each of the preceding Tirtbankaras and the description of their personage. According to the established tradition, Aristanemi or Nemi, the twentysecond Tirthankara was born in the Yadava family of Sauriyapura (near Bateshwar in District Agra, locally known as Sauripur) of Samudravijaya, the eldest son of Andhaka-vyspi. He is mentioned as the cousin of Krsna, the Mahabharata hero. This Tirthankara, as a young prince, was to be married to a princess called Rajulamati, the daughter of Ugrasena, king of Girinagara (modern Junagadh). However, the prince, while proceeding to Girinagara, saw herds of cattle kept in enclosures to be slaughtered for the marriage-feast. This revelation caused remorse in his heart and he renounced worldly life. It is said that he performed penance on the Girnar mountain, became a Kevalin and passed away on the mountain after many years. It appears that this Tirthankara was responsible for emphasizing ahimsa, the first cardinal principle of Jainism. Although he is traditionally connected with Krşna' of the Muhabharata tradition, being his cousin, it is difficult to stretch this legendary association in definite terms and to bestow historicity to this Tirthankara. Suffice to say that if the tradition has any basis the period when Nemi lived was anterior to Pārsva. Going back we find that the twenty-first Tirthankara was Nami, the king of Mithilä, and belonged to the family of Janaka, the philosopher-king of the Upanisadic times. Hiralal Jain' has tried to suggest that this legendary association may have some vague historical basis. His contention stems out of the following: The ninth chapter of the Uttarddhyayana-sutra describes the story of the renunciation of Nami, and it is here that occurs a celebrated verse (9) quoted below, which has parallels in the Buddhist Mahajanaka-Jataka and the Santi-parvan of the Mahabharata: (1) suham vasdmo jivāmo jesim me natthi kiñcana. Mihilae daithamande na me dajhahi kincana. susukharh vata jivamo vesam no natthi kincana. Mithilaye dahamánaye na me kiñci adahvate. (3) Mithilayam pradiptaydrh na me k ticana dahyate. 1 It may, however, be mentioned that Kripa is included in the list of sixty-three Saldkapurusas as one of the nine Vayudovas. "Hiralal Jain, Bhdrarfya Sanskrti men Jalna-Dharma ka Yoga-dona, Bhopal 1962, p. 19. 17 Page #36 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ (PART 1 INTRODUCTION This parallelism of thought and expression cannot, however, be stretched too far, and all that can be reasonably concluded is that all the three tats draw upon a common source and extol a king who was the embodiment of exemplary renunciation (vairágya). When we consider the tradition in respect of the first Tirthaskara Rşabha, Hiralal: points out both Vedic and Purånic references. The Vedic tradition is embodied in the tenth mandala of the Rgveda-sanhita (2-3), where vataratana-munis are described as putting on dirty (piśanga) garments (or as if they appear to be of pisarga complexion on account of their dirt-covered bodies). The munis are further described as living in an extatic mood (unmädita) and practising the vow of speechlessness (mauna). In the preceding verse the munis are called kesin (those with matted locks of hair). This description of the våtarafana-mants, also described as kesin, may, according to Hiralal, refer to monks of an order of which Rşabha was perhaps the most prominent. The Vedic description of these munis and that appearing in the Bhāgavata-Purdna have some significance in understanding the distinctive nature and antiquity of Jaina asceticism. While tracing the development of Indian mysticism, R.D. Ranades quotes on the basis of Bhagavata-Puräna (V, 5-6) an interesting account of a mystic of a different kind, whose utter carelessness of the body was the supreme mark of his God-realization. To quote: 'We read how, having entrusted to his son Bharata the kingdom of the earth, he determined to lead a life of holy isolation from the world; how he began to live like a blind or a deaf or a dumb man; how he inhabited alike towns and villages, mines and gardens, mountains and forests; how he never minded however much he might be insulted by people, who threw stones and dung at him or micturited on his body or subjected him to all sorts of humiliation; how in spite of all these things, his shining face and his strong built body, his powerful hands and smile on his lips attracted the women in the royal harems; how careless of his body as he was, he discharged his excreta at the very place at which he took his food, how, nevertheless, his excreta smelt so fragrant that the air within ten miles around became fragrant by it smell; how he was in sure possession of all the grades of happiness mentioned in the Upanişads, how he ultimately decided to throw over his body; how, when he bad first let his subtle body go out of his physical body he was travelling through the Karnataka and other provinces, and where, while * Op. cit., pp. 13-17. * R. D. Ranade, Indian Mysticism : Mysticiam in Maharashtra, Peginn, 1933, p. 9. 18 Page #37 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 2} THE BACKGROUND AND TRADITION he was wandering like a lunatic naked and lone, he was caught in the midst of a great fire kindled by the friction of bamboo trees, and how he finally offered his body in that fire as a holocaust to God.' This description tallies substantially with the Jaina tradition which supplies other details of his early life. It is said that he had two wives Sumangala and Sunanda; the former gave birth to Bharata and Brahml and the later to Bahubali and Sundari. Sumangalā also gave birth to ninty-eight children. The tradition also tells us that the family in which he was born was known as Ikṣvāku. It is said that when Rşabhadeva was a young boy, he was sitting on the lap of his father, when Indra came there with iksu (sugarcane) in his hand. Seeing the sugarcane Rşabhadeva put forward his hand endowed with auspicious signs to grasp it. Indra, realizing the young child's taste for sugarcane, named the family as Ikşvāku. The tradition goes on that Rsabhadeva was the first person to start the institution of marriage. He is said to have also initiated use of asi and masi. He is also known to have been the originator of agriculture. The Brahmi-lipi and the art of writing (with ink, masi) is also attributed to him. It is not possible to uncover the mist of legend and to bring to light the personality of this traditional originator of the Jaina doctrine. One thing is quite certain, that asceticism in India has a great antiquity and Jaina ascetic practices as exemplified by Rşabhadeva were strikingly different from the Brahmanical tradition. This difference becomes more pronouced in the Upanisadic period, although it would not be easy to trace a very logical development of the different branches of asceticism. Ranade points out: "There is evidence to suppose that the philosophical speculations of the Upanisadic period were very largely influenced by a set of wandering ascetics and teachers following their own quaint and mystic practices... As already explained the Upanisadic impulse to give up all worldly ties and take to a life of homeless wanderings can be satisfactorily explained only by postulating an extraneous influence of this nature. Asceticism on so liberal a scale could not have been, as Rhys Davids has imagined, constituted out of the ranks of such of the Brahmacarins or Vedic students as preferred not to enter upon the life of the householder, but to lead a sort of a wandering mendicant life; still less can it have come, as Deussen thought, merely as the result of an attempt to give an external or practical clothing to the metaphysical doctrine of the knowledge of the atman, which was designed to lead to (1) the removal of all desire and hence the possibility of all immoral conduct for which sunnydsa or renunciation was the readiest means available, and (2) the removal of the conciousness of plurality by cultivating yogic concentration AR. D. Ranade and S. K. Belvalkar, History of Indian Philosophy: The Creative Period, Poona, p.400. 19 Page #38 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ INTRODUCTION (PATI through the prescribed discipline of pranayama and the cost. A sweeping change in the habits and ideals of a people as implied by the institution of pravrajyd (bomeless wandering) and asceticism as a regular aśrama of a recognized mode of life does not normally take place merely as the corollary or the inevitable logical consequence of the metaphysical teaching that may be in vogue for the time. At the same time, seeing the definite and frequent references to swarms of religious mendicants--sarhbahula ndnd-ciftklyd ... nanddithika nana-thantika nand-rucika nånd-dinthi-nissaya-nissità (in large crowds, acknowledging different teachers ... entertaining different views, following different practices, possessing different tastes, and firmly believing in different metaphysical beliefs) abound in the literature of the period, one would be justified in thinking that this phenomenon owes its sudden appearance to some assignable external causes, such as the contact of the eastward advancing Vanguard of the torch-bearers of the Aryan culture with some other races of peoples in a different stage of cultural evolution. The institution of itinerant asceticism borrowed from this other source may have been, as is quite natural, slightly modified with a view to its assimilation with the rest of the Aryan code of conduct and discipline; but the inherent tendency of the newer institution, even while leading a life of abstraction from society in the Tocesses of the forests or mountain-caves, come down once in a while to preach philosophy from door to door and no longer in learned hieretic conclaves involving as it of course did a corresponding change in the intellectual calibre of the various arguments and appeals, was bound in the long run to be subversive of the established order of things. The texts that we regard as our sources for the post-Upanisadic period, viz. the Jain and Buddhistic scriptures, and portions of the Mahabharata, are full of eloquent descriptions of the various Tesorts of hermits, recluses and ascetics engaged in intelloctual discussions and spiritual research on all sorts of subjects, each master-teacher or Ganacarya as he was called attracting a large following of Ganas or disciples, whose number was often regarded as an index to the worth of the teacher.' This long extract helps, to a great extent, in satisfactorily understanding the distinctive nature and origin of Jaina asceticism which was distinct from Brahmapic asceticism. This path of the śramanas inculcates complete nivstti (turning away completely from worldly life) and pravrajya enjoining total anagaratva (the state of homelessness), together with the vow of non-killing, truthfulness, non-stealing and celibacy. The concept of tri-gupti or the total abstinence by mind (manas), body (kaya) and speech (vac) further tends to sharpen the ascetic ideal to a point that casting of one's body by prolonged fast (samhlekhand) is recommended in this and no other religious order. Among other distinctivo 20 Page #39 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 2] THE BACKGROUND AND TRADITION ascetic practices of the Jaina faith mention may be made of alocand or confession of sins and the daily ceremony of pratikramana or expiation of sins. Another distinctive practice of the Jaina ascetics is the performance of penance in the käyotsarga-posture, in which the monk stands erect with his hands or his sides completely giving up the care of the body. This posture, according to some scholars, is depicted on a Harappan seal (fig. I), where, in LAD 800 FIG. J. Mohenjo-daro: stoatite seal the upper register an ascetic standing in the kayotsarga-posture in a jungle is being worshipped by a lay-follower seated beside a bull, and in the lower register are seven figures standing in the so-called kayotsarga-posture. This identification is taken to suggest the existence of Jainism in the Harappan times. Other scholars have also suggested the identification of the famous seal bearing the so-called Pasupati with a Tirthankara (perhaps Ṛsabhanatha). Such 'identifications' cannot be taken as conclusive unless the script appearing on these seals is deciphered. To conclude, it may be stated that the tradition of asceticism as preached by Parsva and Mahavira has undoubtedly a great antiquity but the systematic codification of the Jaina faith as distinct from other creeds of various other wandering ascetics was the contribution of Parsva and Mahavira. The enumeration of twenty-four Tirthankaras in the Jaina canon is an attempt to commemorate and glorify earlier or contemporary exponents of this doctrine of renunciation so as to bestow a hoary antiquity to the religion. It would not, therefore, be cogent to accord an absolute and acceptable time-scale to the Tirthankaras prior to Pariva or accept their historicity in the present state of our knowledge. M. N. DESHPANDE 21 Page #40 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 3 THE EXPANSION OF JAINISM MAHAVIRA NO DETAILS ARE AVAILABLE REGARDING THE SPREAD OR OTHERWISE OF Jainism within the long period of two hundred and fifty years that elapsed between the nirvana of Pārsva and the rise of Mahāvira. It appears, however, from the Sūtrakrtängal that during this period as many as three hundred and sixty-three schools and sects arose. What relation they had with Jainism is not clear. It it quite likely that after the nirvana of Pārsvanatha there was no outstanding figure who could re-organize and spread the Jaina faith. The situation, however, changed with Mahavira, who, by dint of his character, foresight and dynamic force, spread and organized Jainism. Born at Kundagrāma, a suburb of Vaiśāll, now called Basukund, his mother hailed from the famous city of Vaiśáli (Basarh in Vaishali District in north Bihar). Mahavira's nirvana took place at Pāvå, which is equated with Pavāpuri in Patna District. Thus, he was associated very closely with Bihar. The details of his life are well-known. At the age of thirty he renounced the world. For the next twelve years he underwent penance, and after that, for thirty years, led the life of a wandering missionary. The date of his nirvana, as traditionally accepted, is 527 B.c. However, some scholars are in favour of 467 B.C. During the span of his thirty years' missionary activity he moved from place to place. The following places said to have been visited by him give an idea of the sphere of his influence: Alavi or Alambhika between Sråvasti and Rājagrha), Asthikagrama (on the road from Vaiśäli to Påvā), Bhadrika (modern Monghyr), Bhogapura (between Păvă and Vaisalı), Campā (Champanagar or Champapur near Bhagalpur), Coragasarniveśa (Choreya in Bengal), Dadhabhomi (Dalbhum in Singhbhum District). Jambusanda (near Pivapurl), Kajangala (Kankjor in Santhal Parganas), Kauśambi (Kosam near Allahabad), "Jaina Sütras, Sūtrakpianga Sürra, part II, trans. Hermann Jacobi, The Sacred Books of the East, XLV, Oxford, 1895, p. 315; Tikd, pp. 208 ff. Page #41 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 3] THE EXPANSION OF JAINISM Radha (west West Bengal), Lohaggala (Lohardaga in Ranchi District), Madh yama-Pava (Päväpuri), Malaya (Nirgaya, Bihar), Mithila (Janakpur, Nepalese Tarai), Nalanda (Nalanda District), Purimatala (Purulia, Bihar, variantly Prayaga, i.e. Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh), Rajagṛha (Rajgir in Nalanda District), Śravasti (Saheth-Maheth, in Gonda-Bahraich Districts), Seyaviya (near SahethMabeth), Siddharthapura (Siddhanagar in Birbhum District), Subbhabhūmi (Suhma, i.e. south-west Bengal), Sumзumarapura (near Chunar, Mirzapur District), Tosali (Dhauli, Puri District), Vārāṇasi and Vaisali (Basarh). According to some traditions Mahavira visited even more distant places. Besides these, the identification of which is possible, there are some other places associated with Mahavira; but these cannot be located. It is clear, however, that Mahavira tried to spread Jainism in parts of Bihar, western Districts of West Bengal and eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh. It appears, therefore, that the fields of influence of both Parsvanatha and Mahavira were more or less the same. It is possible that in the period intervening between Parsva and Mahavira, there was some sort of religious chaos, and therefore Mahavira had to devote his entire missionary career in re-organizing Jainism in the region where it had once been spread by Parsvanatha. The number of the followers of Mahavira appears to have been considerable: fourteen thousand monks, thirty-six thousand nuns and nearly half-amillion lay-followers. Several kings and queens, princes and princesses became his devotees, but the historicity of all of them cannot be proved. In this connexion, some scholars go to the extent of saying that almost all the sixteen Maha-janapadas of the period came under the influence of Mahāvira, whereas Ghatge remarks: 'Later Jain tradition, without much historical support, however, brings nearly all the kings of north India in those days in relation to Mahavira by describing their queens as daughters of Cetaka, the maternal uncle of Mahāvira." Mahavira seems to have had adversaries as well. A formidable adversary was Gosala Mankhaliputta who founded the sect of Ajivikas. He flourished at Śrävasti, though the precise field of his influence cannot be determined. It is well-known that the Ajlvikas survived down to Asokan and post-Aśokan periods. Mahavira had eleven chief disciples or ganadharas, who seem to have kept the organization of the church under proper discipline. All of them were 1 A.M. Ghatge in The Age of Imperial Unity, ed. R. C. Majumdar and A.D. Pusalker, Bombay, 1960, p. 415. According to a variant tradition Cetaka was the maternal grandfather of Mahavira. 23 Page #42 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ INTRODUCTION [PART 1 Brahmanas and seem to have come from small settlements in Bihar; only two hailed from citios, viz., Raja grba and Mithila. This again confirms that the spread of Jainism during Mahăvira's times was restricted to parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal The organizational tact of Mahāvira and the devotion of the ganadharas kept the Jaina church in good shape. However, two schisms, viz., Bahuraya and Jiva paesiya, took place even during the lifetime of Mahāvīra, but they do not seem to have evoked much response. It is only the last schism, i.e., the Digambara-Svetāmbara, that has left its impress on the pattern of development of Jainism, its regional spread, monastic practices and iconography.' THE FIRST MILLENNIUM AFTER MAHAVIRA An account of the Digambara-Svetambara rift would involve south India with the spread of Jainism some time in the fourth century B.C. But before this is brought in, we may take stock of the spread of Jainism in north India in the post-Mahavira and pre-Maurya times. Some predecessors of the Nandas of the fourth century B.C. seem to have had some relation with Mahāvira. According to tradition, king Sepiya Bambhasara (Bimbisāra) and his son Kūņiya or Ajātasatta (Ajātaśatru) were devotees of Mahāvira. The régime of the latter king witnessed the nirvana of Gautama Buddha and Mahāvira, though this would be difficult to explain if Mahavira died in 527 and Buddha in 487 or 483 B.C. The denunciation of this king in Buddhist texts might show that he had a leaning towards Jainism. Perhaps so had his successor Udayi, who is said to have built a Jaina temple at Pāšaliputra and to whose palace Jaina monks had free access. While there is no archaeological corroboration of the existence of the Pătaliputra temple, it is possible that the famous capital became a Jaina centre at the time of this king. The succeeding Nandas also seem to have patronized Jainism to some extent. According to a tradition Sagadala, a minister at the court of the ninth Nanda, was the father of Sthalabhadra, the famous Jaina dcérya. In the fictional drama Mudra-raksasa we find Jaina monks enjoying the trust of the Nanda king, and it was possibly because of this that Cănakya utilized the services of a monk for the overthrow of the Nandas. More trustworthy than the literary data, however, is the epigraphical evidence in the form of the inscription of Khåravela, king of the Ceti dynasty 1 For details, see S.B. Doo, History of Jalna Monachism, Poona, 1956, pp. 80 ff. 24 Page #43 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 3] THE EXPANSION OF JAINISM ruling in Kalinga in the first (according to some, scoond) century B.C. This record says that the king, in his twelfth regnal year, brought back to Kalinga the Kalinga Jina that had been taken away by the Nanda-raja to Magadha. This means that Jainism had spread to the Kalinga region by the time of the Nandas. The Vyavahara-Bhasya also refers to king Tosalika who was very keen on guarding a Jina image in the city of Tosali. Some of the Mauryas, who succeeded the Nandas, seem to have patronized Jainism; for instance, there has been a consistent Jaina tradition that Candragupta had strong leaning towards Jainism. Tradition holds that Bhadrabahu, a well-known Jaina pontiff, predicted a famine of twelve long years in Magadha during the reign of Candragupta and migrated to south India along with his devoted disciple Candragupta himself. Tradition further holds that Candragupta died by practising a fast unto death (sallekhana.) It may, however, be stated that the epigraphical material that relates this incident belongs to a period as late as circa A.D. 650. In support of Jaina monks being present at the time of Candragupta, scholars point out the mention of Sarmanes (Śramana) by Megasthenes, the Greek envoy to Candragupta's court. And if we accept the tradition embodied in the epigraphs in spite of their late date, it would mean that Jainism had spread to south India even in the fourth century B.C. The Jaina sources are silent about Bindusära, the successor of Candragupta. That Asoka, who succeeded Bindusära, was more favourable to Buddhism is a well-known fact, and this is in consonance with the complete silence of the Jaina sources on Aśoka. Some scholars try to see too much in some of Asoka's dicta like the practice of ahirns, and his proclamation that all sects must be honoured on all occasions. These may simply show Ašoka's ethical broadmindedness and his spirit of toleration, for he issued instructions that Brāhmapas, Šramapas, Nirgranthas and Ajivikas should be given proper honour and care. The Jaina texts are, however, cloqueat about Kupala, the son of Asoka, who was a governor of the province of Ujjain. In later years Kunala secme to to have pleased his father and asked him to hand over the kingdom to him. It is stated that Asoka made Kupala's son Samprati the viceroy of Ujian in central India, and Samprati later on conquered the whole of Dakşiņapatha. However, after the death of Asoka, Samprati seems to have been in charge of Ujjain and Dasaratha in charge of Pataliputra. 1 Epigraphia Carnatica, 11, revised ed., 1923, inscription 31, pp. 6 and 7. 25 Page #44 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ INTRODUCTION [PART 1 Samprati contributed greatly to the spread of Jainism. According to literary tradition, he was the disciple of Arya Suhastin and gave clothes and food to Jaina monks. If true, this would mean that Jainism had spread to Madhya Pradesh by the end of the third century B.C. Samprati is also credited with the celebration of festivals and worship of Jina images within the Ujjain region. According to the Brhat-Kalpa-sütra-Bhasya,' he made the regions of Anda (Andhra), Damila (Dravida), Mabaratta (Mahārästra) and Kudukka (Coorg) safe for Jaina monks. That Jainism had some hold over the people in the Mauryan period is further corroborated by the find of the torso of a Jina figure at Lohanipur near Patna. Though Samprati is credited with the building of numerous Jina temples, no relics are available to corroborate this. Reference has already been made to Khåravela of the Ceti dynasty of Kalinga of the first century B.C. (above p. 24), who brought back to his capital the Kalinga-Jina that had been taken away by the Nandas to Magadha. In his inscription at Hathi-gumphá cave in the hills near Bhubaneswar in Orissa he provides interesting data, inter alia, on Jainism. The inscription opens with salutations to the Arhats and the Siddhas and further states that the king caused to be compiled the sevenfold angas of the sixty-four letters which had been lost in the period of the Mauryas. This indicates the active affiliation of the king towards Jainism. It has been stated (above, p. 24) that of all the schisms in the Jaina church the Digambara-Svetämbara was the most serious one, as it permanently divided the Jaina church into two. The details of the stories as given by the Digambaras and Svetämbaras about the origin of the schism have not much relevance here. It would suffice to say that according to the Digambaras a twelve-year long famine at the time of Candragupta compelled a section of the Jaina monastic community to migrate to the south under the leadership of the monk Bhadrabahu, while those who remained in Magadha were allowed the concession of wearing a piece of cloth. These Ardha-phälakas were the forerunners of Svetāmbaras. As against this, the Svetambaras relate the story of Sivabhūti, who accepted nudity out of anger. Instead of, therefore, accepting these sectarian accounts, it would be safer to visualize the existence of a conservative or puritan group which insisted on nudity and a physically older and weaker group which did not subscribe to thc nudity of the first group. In course of time the puritanic (Jinakappiya) and the weaker (Therakappiya) sections might have crystallized into the Digambara and the Svetämbara sects Bahar-Kalpa-sútra-Bhasya, III, 3275-89. Page #45 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ THE EXPANSION OF JAINISM respectively. In any case, it appears plausible that the differences between those two groups were of slow growth and did not fossilize till about the end of the second century A.D. The western parts of India beyond Ujjain seem to have come under the influence of Jainism in the second century B.C. According to literary tradition, Saliśuka, the brother of Samprati Maurya, contributed to the spread of Jainism in Saurastra,' the traditional association of Gujarat-Kathiawar with Jainism going back to the period of the twenty-second Tirthankara Neminatha, who renounced the world in Kathiawar. Thus, by about the second century B.C. Kalinga, Avanti and Saurastra seem to have felt the force of Jainism. Later Jaina literature abounds in stories pertaining to king Salähana or Salivahana, a Satavahana king ruling from Pratisthāna, modern Paithan in the upper Deccan. Kälakācārya, legendarily associated also with the Saka ruler of western India, is said to have visited Salivahana as well. Recently, Sankalia has brought to our notice a rock-cut inscription of about the second century B.C., which, according to him, begins with a Jaina formula. The evidence of extensive Jaina contacts with the Sātavāhanas is, however, meagre Further south, with the foundation of the Ganga kingdom in about the second century A.D. under Sirihanandin, Jainism practically attained the status of a state religion. Kings like Kongupivarman, Avinita and Sivamāra, as also subsequent princes, were devout Jainas, who made grants to Jaina temples, monasteries and other establishments." Like the Gangas, the Kadambas (from the fourth century A.D.) were also patrons of Jainism. Inscriptions of the times Kākutsthavarman, Mrgesavarman, Ravivarman and Devavarman bespeak the popularity of Jainism in the Kadamba kingdom. These records refer to the Svetapatas, Nirgranthas and Kürcakas (naked asceties), who appear to have formed differeut monastic groups. The records also mention certain practices as the worship of icons with ghee. · K.H. Dhruva in Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society, XVI, 1930, pp. 29-31. * H.D. Sankalia ía Indian Historical Quarterly, XVI, 1940, p. 314. • H,D. Sankalia in Siddhodya (Gujarati journal), Baroda, VII, 4, pp. 419 4. • K. Aiyangar and S. Rao, Shurities to South Indian Jainism, Madrao, 1922, pp. 110-11 For detaiks, see M.V. Krishna Rao, The Ganges of Tallad Madras, 1936, pp. 204-05. For details, see George M. Moraes, The Kadamba Kuta, Bombay, 1931, pp. 254-55. 27 Page #46 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ INTRODUCTION [PART I In the extreme south there is some evidence to suggest that some Cera kings patronized Jaina pontiffs. Guerinot refers to a few inscriptions of the Cola period which mention the grant of lands to Jaina establishments." To turn back to central and northern India. According to tradition, round about the first century B.C., there arose the famous Vikramaditya of Ujjain who was converted to Jainism by Siddhasenadiväkara, a famous Jaina pontiff. The story of the famous Kalakacārya tells us how that pontiff was responsible in inducting the Scythian king in western and central India. Thus, it appears that central India and the Deccan, the latter which had possibly the first impact of Jainism under Candragupta Maurya, continued to patronize Jainism to some extent. This is corroborated by the recent find of a Jaina caveinscription of the second century B.C. in Pune District." Mathura in north India was another great centre of Jainism. The remains of the Jaina stupa along with inscriptions-some of them going back to the second century B.C.-speak of the flourishing condition of Jainism in the Mathura region. The excavations at Kankali-tila at Mathura have brought to light the remains of a brick stupa, images of Tirthankaras, fragments of sculptures depicting incidents from the lives of the Tirthankaras, ayaga-patas, toranas and railing-pillars with sculptures mostly belonging to the period of the Kushans. The Vyavahara-Bhāṣya (5, 27) refers to a jewelled stupa at Mathurā and further tells us that the people of Mathura were followers of Jainism and worshipped Jina images in their houses. The evidence from Mathura is of utmost importance in the history of the development of Jainism. The numerous inscriptions bespeak the fact that Jainism had a large following among the trading and lower classes of the society, as the donations came from such classes as treasurers, perfumers, workers in metal, members of gosthis, village-headmen, wives of caravan-leaders, merchants, wives of dancers, goldsmiths, and also courtezans. The inscriptions also refer to various ganas, kulas, sakhas and sambhogas, which indicate a well-knit organization of the church. The find of several images of Tirthankaras also proves that idol-worship had been completely stabilized by this time. The prevalence of Jaina faith in Saurastra in the early centuries of the Christian era can be deduced, according, to some scholars, from the occurrence 1 Jaina Antiquary, XII, 2, 1946-47, p. 74. A. Guerinot, Repertoire d'Epigraphie Jalna, Paris, 1908, nos. 167, 171 and 478. * Johannes Klatt in Indian Antiquary, XI, 1882, pp. 247 and 251. Information kindly supplied by Professor H.D. Sankulia. Deo, op. cit., p. 101. 28 Page #47 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 31 THE EXPANSION OF JAINISM of religious-symbols in the Bawa-Pyara's Math near Junagadh. However, the evidence is not altogether convincing. The Junagadh inscription of the grandson of the Ksatrapa ruler Jayadaman refers to kevela-jiana, which is indeed a Jaina technical term. This indicates the existence of Jainism in Kathiawar at least from the early centuries of the Christian era. Sankalia refers to the find of Tirthankara images in Gondal (now Rajkot District) which he assigns to circa A.D. 300. That Jainism had a firm hold over the Gujarat region in the next centuries is clear from the fact that two Councils were held at Valabhi, the first reportedly in fourth and the second in the fifth century; but there is no unanimity on the date of these councils. Thus it appears that by the beginning of the Christian era and the initial centuries of it, the field of activity of Jainism had shifted from the eastern sector to the central and western parts of India. In north India, after the fall of the Kushans, the Guptas helped the revival and consolidation of Brahmanism. In spite of this, however, it would be incorrect to hold that Jainism got a set back during this period. Even though the rulers of the dynasty were primarily Vaisnavites, they displayed a remarkable religious toleration. We now know of the installation of Jina images during the reign of the early Gupta ruler Råmagupta. The Udaigiri caveinscription of the reign of Kumaragupta refers to the dedication of an image of Pārsva. An inscription from Mathura speaks of the installation of an image by a female lay-follower at the instance of her Jaina guru who belonged to the Kottiyya-gana. The reign of Skandagupta, the successor of Kumaragupta, also provides similar data: the Kahaum pillar-inscription (A.D. 460-61) records the dedication of five Jina images by one Madra. To such stray cases may be added the data available in the copper-plate grant from Paharpur in Bangladesh, assignable to the reign of Budhagupta, which records the gift of land for the maintenance of worship in a Jaina vihara by a Brahmana couple.' 1 James Burgess, Report on the Antiquities of Kathiawad and Kachh, Archaeological Survey of Western India, New Imperial Series, London, 1876; H.D. Sankalia, The Archaeology of Gujarat, Bombay, 1941, pp. 47-53. ⚫ Epigraphia Indica, XVI, 1921-22, p. 239. Sankalia, op. cit., 1941, p. 233. J.F. Fleet, Inscriptions of the Early Gupta Kings, Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, III Calcutta, 1888, p. 258. * Epigraphia Indica, II, 1894, p. 210, Fleet, op. cit., pp. 66.67. 7 Epigraphia Indica, XX, 1929-30, p. 59. 29 Page #48 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ INTRODUCTION (PART 1 In this context, the remarks of Havell are worth quoting. Says he: 'The capital of the Gupta emperors became the centre of Brahmapical culture, but the masses followed the religious traditions of their forefathers, and Buddhist and Jaina monasteries continued to be public schools and universities for the greater part of India.' SUBSEQUENT HISTORY In north India, after the fall of the Guptas the picture becomes rather hazy till we come to the period of Harşavardhana. Though Harsa had strong Buddhistic affinities, Jainism managed to survive during his régime, though feebly, as is indicated by some donations made by the Jaina laity to Jaina establishments in Bihar. In the post-Harsa period, Jainism made headway in Rajputana, Gujarat and central India. A few inscriptions from Deogarh of the times of the Pratihāras refer to the erection of a pillar in about A.D. 862. Deogarh contains the relics of a of Jaina temples and a large number of Tirthankara images. Another record belonging to the reign of Vatsarāja (778-812), found at Osia near Jodhpur, refers to the construction of a Jaina temple. Thus, Jainism continued to be active under the Pratihäras, though the days of its glory might have been over. Jainism seems to have regained its lost glory during the régime of the Candellas who ruled over the Bundelkhand region from the ninth century. The majestic Adinātha and Pārsvanātha and the ruined Ghanțai temples of Khajuraho stand testimony to the large following Jainism had in this region. Jaina dedicatory inscriptions of the reigns of Dhangarāja, Madanavarman and Paramarddin are also available. Monumental and sculptural remains and inscriptions prove that Mahoba, Khajuraho and other places were great centres of Jainism between the ninth and twelfth centuries. Under the Haihayas (ninth to thirteenth centuries), the Paramāras (ctrca tenth to thirteenth centuries), the Kacchapaghātas (circa 950-1125) and the Gāhadavālas (circa 1075-1200), Jainism asserted its influence over parts of Quoted by Deo, op. cit., p. 104. · H.V. Glasenapp, Der Jainismus (Gujarati translation), p. 46. Alexander Cunningham, Archaeological Survey of India Reports, X, C'akutia, 1880, pp. 100-01. Progress Report, Archaeological Survey of India, Western Circle, 1906-07, p. 15; Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report, 1908-09, Calcutta, 1912, p. 108. 30 Page #49 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 31 THE EXPANSION OF JAINISM Malwa, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, as is attested by numerous images, inscriptions and ruined temples spread over these regions. In the tenth and eleventh centuries some Paramara rulers of Malwa, such as Sindhurāja, Muñja, Bhoja and Jayasirhha, patronized a number of eminent Jaina scholars and authors. Other Jaina scholars of renown like Asadhara flourished under Arjunavarman of the same dynasty. Some Jainas occupied high posts at the Paramāra court. In medieval Gujarat Jainism received further boom during the period of the Rastrakutas (808-88) and particularly the Caulukyas (940-1299). Some copper-plate records of the Rästrakūta period mention the existence of certain groups in the Jaina church. For instance, a copper-plate grant of 821, belonging to the period of Karkarāja Suvarnavarsa, mentions the existence of the Jaina monastic community of the Sena and the Malasanghas along with a Jaina temple and a monastery at Nagasarikä, identified with modern Navsari.1 Under the Caulukyas Švetämbara Jainism got a firm foothold in Gujarat, the most noteworthy patron being Bhimadeva. In spite of his Saivite leanings, he allowed his minister Vimala to build the famous Vimalavasahi temple on Mount Abu. King Jayasimha is believed to have been a great friend of the renowned Jaina author Hemacandra. It is stated by him that the king erected a temple to Mahavira at Siddhapura. Debates also were held between the Svetambaras and Digambaras. Kumarapala, the successor of Jayasimha, built temples at Palitana, Girnar and Taranga and prohibited slaughter of animals on certain days. It may not be an exaggeration to say that the people of Gujarat have remained predominantly vegetarian down to this day due to the efforts of Kumarapāla. After Kumarapala, however, there was a strong reaction, and his successor is said to have destroyed some Jaina temples. But even with the loss of royal patronage Jainism seems to have received massive support from Jaine ministers, merchants and the masses. The temples at Abu, Girnar and Satruñjaya hills were the creation of the ministers of the Vaghelas. Numerous inscriptions stand testimony to the magnitude of popular support which Jainism received in this age. The prevalence of Jainism under the medieval dynasties of Rajasthan is evidenced by the donatory inscriptions by the Jainas of the period. The fillip that Jainism received in west India in the medieval period has left a permanent 1 Epigraphia Indica, XXI, 1931-32, pp. 136-144. 31 Page #50 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ INTRODUCTION {PART I effect, as Gujarat and Rajasthan still have a sizable percentage of Jaina population. From the meagre and vague evidence of Jaina contacts with the Deccan in the preceding centuries, the picture changes with the Calukyas of Badami (535-757). A number of epigraphs evidence the existence of Jainism in a flourishing condition in the seventh century. The copper-plate grants from Kolhapur and inscriptions from Aihole (Bijapur District), Lakshmeshwar and Adur (Dharwar District) refer to the building of Jina temples and the grant of land for their maintenance. Besides, the caves at Badami, Aihole and Dharasinva with Jaina images and symbols attest to the flourishing condition of Jainism in the Deccan during the period. Under the Răştrakutas of Manyakheta (733-975), Jainism seems to have enlisted royal support as well. Some of the kings of this dynasty had strong leanings towards Jainism. It is stated that Jinasena was the preceptor of Amoghavarsa (814-78). His successors Kṛṣṇa II (878-914) and Indra III (91422), as also Indra IV (973-82), patronized Jainism and gave grants to Jaina temples. It appears that even the feudatories of the Răştrakutas, like the Rattas of Saundatti, were patrons of Jainism. The Jaina rock-cut caves at Ellora, which may be assigned to the period of the Rastrakūtas, provide evidence of the flourishing condition of Jainism in the Deccan. Jainism seems to have received a further impetus during the régimes of the Calukyas of Kalyāņi (973-1200), the Yadavas of Devagiri (1187-1318) and the Silāhāras (810-1260). This is attested by a number of Jaina records found in the southern districts of Maharashtra and parts of Karnataka. More than a score of inscriptions of the Kalyani Calukyas are available; they are mostly from Belgaum, Dharwar and Bijapur Districts and range between the tenth and twelfth centuries. Apart from supplying proof of the existence of Jainism in this region, they provide some interesting details. For instance, they prove that Digambara Jainism was in ascendency in this region, that not only the royalty but even the common people were liberal towards Jainism and that the sumptuous grants of land to different establishments prepared the ground for the creation of the institution of matha-patis. However, Jainism fell into bad days during the régime of the Kalacuris (eleventh to early thirteenth centuries), especially of Bijjala (1156-68). Nevertheless, a few inscriptions show that it survived the Saivite onslaught and continued 1 Deo, op. cit., pp. 116-17. A.S. Altekar, The Rashtrakutas and their Times, Poons, 1934, pp. 272-74. 32 Page #51 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ ChariR 31 THE EXPANSION OF JAINISM to hold its own under tho Yadavas (1187-1318). Similar was the case under the Silabáras, as some of the inscriptions from Kolhapur indicate. That Jainism was in practice within the Eastern Calukya kingdom (6241271) is evidencod by a few grants mentioning donations to Jaina ascetics. Venkataramanayya observes: "The Jaina monks were very active. The deserted images met with in the ruined village sites all over the country show that the Jaina settlemonts were numerous... Several inscriptions of the Eastern Calukya monarchs and their subjects record the construction of Basadis and temples, and register the gift of land and money for their maintenance.'s Similar was the case with the Hoysalas (1106-1343). The very origin of this dynasty is attributed to a Jaina sage. It is stated that one Gopanandin 'caused the Jaina religion, which had for a long time been at a standstill, to attain the prosperity and fame of the time of the Ganga kings." It is held that some of the kings of this dynasty like Vira Ballála I (1101-06) and Narasimha III (1263-91) had strong Jaina affinities. In the south, in spite of the rise of Brahmanical leaders such as Kumärila, Sankarācārya and Manikka Văcakār, the Jainas had their strongholds at Kanci and Madurã. With varying fortunes, the south as also the Deccan all along remained strongholds of Digambara Jainism. But there is no doubt that round about the eighth century Jainism lost grip, as it had to face tough opposition from Saivism. There was persecution of the Jainas by Pallava (fourth to tenth century) and Pandya (circa third century to 920) rulers under the influence of the Saiva saints Appara and Sambandara. At a much later date, under the Vijayanagara and the Nayaka rulers the Jainas had to come to terms with the Saivas and the Vaişpavas. For instance, an epigraph of the reign of Veákațådri Näyaka of Belur refers to the crasing of a Sivalinga by a Jaina at Halebid in 1633. A compromise was reached after the flare-up, which resulted in the precedence of the Saiva form of worship over the Jaina form. With the advent of the Muslims, practically all Indian religions suffered a set-back and Jainism was no exception. There are, however, some of individual Jaina pontiffs influoncing some Muslim rulers, but such cases are * Dco, op. cit., pp. 121-22. * N. Venkataramanayye, The Eastern Capukya of Vengi, Madras, 1950, pp. 288-89. Epigraphia Carnatica, II, 1923, inscription 69, pp. 31 and 34. The origin of the dynasty is sometimes ascribod to Sudatta or Sudatti Vardhamana, B.A. Salctore, Medlaeval Jainism with Special Reference to the Vijayanagør Empire, Bombay, pp. 64-68. * Epigraphla Carnatica, V, 1902, Belur Talag, taxcription 128, p. 192. 33 Page #52 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ INTRODUCTION [PART I indeed stray. It is stated, for instance, that Muhammad Ghuri honoured a Digambara monk. It is also stated that no less a distinguished ruler than 'Alau'd-Din Khilji paid respect to some Jaina ācāryas. Akbar was influenced by Acarya Hiravijaya, because of whom he prohibited animal-aughter near some Jaina tirthas and exempted them from tax. Cases are also available to indicate that Jahangir patronized a few Jain pontiffs, thoug's a Jaina officer had to suffer at his hands." A possible effect of Muslim rale in India was the rise of a non-idolatrous sect, the Sthanakavisin, among the Svetambara Jainas of Gujarat in about the fifteenth century, when a similar sect, the Terapantha, came into being among the Digambaras. At present the Jainas are more numerous in western India, the Deccan and Karnataka than in other parts of India. Whereas the Digambaras preponderate in south Maharashtra and Karnataka, the Svetambaras and the Sthanakavāsins are more numerous in Gujarat and Punjab respectively. Mostly consisting of traders and merchants, the community, as a whole, is economically well off. Its affluence is reflected in the lavish festivals of worship and templebuilding activity which even now persists on a grand scale. The foregoing account of the spread of Jainism indicates that from its homeland in Bihar Jainism spread not as a continuous process but in waves compelled by several factors. Essentially dependent on the patronage of the royalty and the merchant-class, it has left behind a wonderful legacy of temples, sometimes temple-cities, painted manuscripts and a galaxy of icons, and culturally the outstanding principle and practice of non-violence (ahimsa). S.B. DEO 1 For details see Deo, op. cit., pp. 135-36. Page #53 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 4 THE GENESIS AND SPRIT OF JAINA ART THE AVOWED AM OF THE JAINA MILJOIN 18 THE PERFECTION OF MAN, OR the transformation of the individuel mundanc sou (awart) into the very state of Godhood (paramdaman). It exhorts and helps to bring out the divinity inherent in a person through the realization of the spiritual Self. The path generally is one of severe discipline, self-control, reminciation and austerity. But art, too, may be said to be, in a way, one of the purest means to attain, and become one with, the Divine,' and it would perhaps not be an exaggoration to say that 'nothing more nearly approaches the spirit of true religion than the spirit of true art.' It is probably why the Jainas have always patronized and cultivated the different forms and styles of fine arts. They were no doubt to serve primarily as hand-maids to rpligion, but they also helped to soften the rigorous austerity of the path. The emotional, devotional and popular aspects of the creed as well necessitated the creation of various works of art and architecture, and in making them really beautiful no pains of money were spared. Nevertheless, the spirit of the Jaina religion is clearly reflected in its art, which, though very variod and luxuriant, is characterized by a marked absence of the erotic, vulgar or common. It is rather sober, sublime and uplifting, Inspiring feelings of self-abnegation, peace and equanimity, besides giving aesthetic pleasure. A sort of Ugworldliness thet is attached to it is conducive to the attainmont of spiritual contomplation and the upper reaches of self-realization. Piodes of Jaina art and architocture belonging to different types and ages are scattered all over the country, but the places of Jaina pilgrimage are in particular veritable store-houses. And the ideal of a religious aspirant in Jainism is exactly what the term 'pilgrim' implies, namely, 'one journeying through life 4s a stranger in the world'. He lives his life in the world and scrupulously performs his duties and dischargos his obligations; yet his attitud is that of a stranger, an onlooker or an observer. He does not identify himself with the show, does not let himself be engrossed in worldly relations and objects. He is a pilgrim who fought through the worldho taking the triple poth, made in pof night Faith Right Knowledge and Right Conduct, and parties his spiritual pilgrimage til ho attains the goal utrudna. As Page #54 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ INTRODUCTION (PART 1 a matter of fact, in Jainism a place of pilgrimage is called a tirtha (literally, a ford), because it helps the aspirant in crossing over the occan of sansara which is full of pain and misery, and in attaining liberation from the otherwise unending round of births and deaths. The primary aim of Jaina pilgrimage is, therefore, spiritual edification. It is probably why the Jainas have generally selected for the sites of their tirtha-ksetras mountain-tops, secluded dales for jungle-clearings, far from habitations and the hubbub of materialism-ridden worldly life, in the midst of captivating natural scenery and peaceful surroundings, conducive to concentrated meditation and spiritual contemplation. The sacred associations of the place give it an added sanctity and make the atmosphere charged, as it were, with spiritualism, sublime purity and transcendental serenity. The architecture of the monuments (temples, shrines, etc.) there and, above all, the images of the Jina, countenances lost in the exuberance of peace, detachment and contemplation, make the devout pilgrim feel himself face to face with the divine presence'. No wonder if he bursts out in a fit of mystic ecstasy: 'In a holy place with a god I walk ... On a trail of beauty, with a god I walk.' Pilgrimage to holy places is a coveted undertaking in a devotee's life. These places, with their artistic monuments, images, etc., are the living reminders of deities, personages, events and happenings held sacred and memorable, and a visit to them is considered meritorious and spiritually purifying, which fact is substantiated by the life led by the pilgrims there. Almost the entire time is spent in different religious activities-continence, abstinence, fasting, worship, meditation, study of scriptures, listening to religious discourses, chanting and recitation of hymns or devotional songs, charity and almsgiving. People, young and old, men and women, from different walks of life and from different parts of the country live together in perfect peace and amity, and full of pious thoughts. It is a fact that the Jainas have been amongst the foremost in contributing to the cultural heritage of India. They have enriched the country's arttreasure with numerous and diverse specimens of art and architecture, not a few of which are unique and vie with the best in their grandeur and artistic merit. It is also true that Jaina art has been essentially religious, and as with everything else in life, it would appear that the Jainas have carried their spirit of acute analysis, and even asccticism, into the sphere of art and architecture, 36 Page #55 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 41 THE GENESIS AND SPIRIT OF JAINA ART so much so that in conventional Jaina art the ethical object seems to predominate, and one may sometimes find in it a lack of the purely aesthetic element conducive to its own growth. There are minute details, for instance, in texts like the Manasdra, which show that there was a regular system of sculpture and architecture to which the workers in these arts were expected to conform strictly. But the same thing holds true in the case of the Buddhist and the Brahmanical religious art; if there was any difference, it was only one of degree. Among Jaina sculptures the Jina or Tirthankara images are no doubt the most numerous, and they afford some ground for the criticism that they are more or less uniform and provide the artist little scope for the display of his talent. But even amongst such images there are many superb pieces. For instance, referring to the world-famous Gommata colossus at Sravanabelgola in Karnataka, Heinrich Zimmer remarks: 'It is human in shape and feature, yet as inhuman as an icicle; and thus expresses perfectly the idea of successful withdrawal from the round of life and death, personal cares, individual destiny, desires, sufferings, and events.' Alluding to another Jina image, he says: "The image of the released one seems neither animate nor inanimate, but pervaded by a strange and timeless calm.' Another observer describes a standing Tirthankara image as a veritable embodiment of immovable strength and indestructible power, not unlike the tall and dignified sal tree (sala-prāmsu)." Others have admired 'the colossal calm', 'the simple dignity', or the käyotsarga yoga posture of complete bodily abandonment, which is 'the likeness of one such, who knows the boundless joy that lies beyond the senses, as is grasped by intuition, and who swerves not from the Truth, is that of a lamp in a windless place that does not flicker." The Jina images are thus the likenesses of those 1 Cf. jitätmanaḥ prašantasya paramdıma samdhitaḥ Jääna-vijfdna-trpiātmā kūjastho vijitendriyah. samam kaya-siro-grīvam dhdrayann acalam sthiraḥ sampreksya nasikāgraṁ svaṁ diśaś canavalokayan. yatha dipo nivätastho nengate so'pamā smṛtā yogino yata-citanya yuljato yogam dimanah. Bhagavad-Gitd, VI, 7,8,13 and 19 djānu-lamba-báhuḥ śrīvatsáňkaḥ praśānta-mûrtis ca dig-väsäs taruno rūpavāṁšca kāryo'rhatan devah. Varahamihira's Brhat-samhita, Bangalore, 1947, LVIII, 45. santa-prasanna-madhyastha-näsägrasthävikära-dṛk saripürṇa-bhava-rüpdmusiddhängan lakṣandavitam. raudrddi-dosa-nirmuktaṁ prätihäryanka-yaksa-yuk nirmäpya vidkind pitke jina-bimbaris nivešayet. Asadhara's Pratistha-sdroddhara, 63, 64; also Manasdra and other texts. 37 Page #56 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ INTRODUCTION saviours who, in the words of Zimmer, dwelt in a superno, zomp at the ceiling of the universe, beyond the reach of prayer there is no possibility of their assistance descending from that high and luminous place to the clouded sphere of human affort.... The Makers of the River-crossing are beyond coarnic event as well as the problems of biography; they are transcendent, cleaned of temporality, omniscient, actionless and absolutely at peace.' It is an ideal to be adored and achieved, and not a deity to be pleased, appeased or propitiated. Naturally this spirit pervades the gamut of Jaina art and architecture. In the representation of the many lesser deities or godlings of the Jaina pantheon, such as Indra and his spouse, the Yakşa and Yakşi attardants of the Títhankaras, the goddess Sarasvati, Nava-graha, Ksetrapala or the lay-worshippers, men and women, in the depiction of scenes from the life-stories of the Tirthańkaras and other celebrities of yore, and in the use of various decorative motifs, howover, the artist was not restrained by any rigidly prescribed formulae and had greater freedom. He could also give full play to his genius in carving or painting natural objects and secular scenes from contemporary life, which are sometimes marvellous, very informative and full of aesthetic beauty. But here too he had to keop in mind the puritanical character of the creed and avoid eroticism, obscenity or unethical subjects. As regards architecture, the early Jaina monks being mostly forest recluses and wandering ascetics, natural caves on the sides or top of hilfs, situs from human habitation, served as temporary refuges and places of stay for them. Even the early artificial caves were simple and often contained polished stone beds for those who performed sallekhana. From the third-fourth century A.D. the practice of living more or less permanently in out-of-the-way temples or establishments gradually began to gain ground with a large section of Jaina ascetics, and it gave encouragement to the making of rock-hewn cave-temples. As Smith observes: The varying practical requirements of the cult, of course, had an effect on the nature of the buildings required for particular purposes.” Still, the Jaina monks could never do away with their austere way of living. It is probably why even in the days of Ajanta and Ellora but few Jaina caves were built and there were only about three dozen such cave-temples built between the fifth and twelfth centuries and these, too, by the Digambara section of the community; the Svetāmbara monks had already begun to live in or near habitations. 1 Heinrich Zimmer, Philosophies of India, New York, 1951, pp. 181-82. • V.A. Smith, History of Fine Arts in India and Ceylon, Oxford, 1930, p. 9. Page #57 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ THE GENESTS AND SPIRIT OF JAINA AKT Tomaplo-architecture is a diroet remull of icon- or image-worship which pour to have boca provalent among the duas sinco at least from the begittning of Historie there. The Buddhist touts spouk of the existence of Arhatcaityas in the Vajji curry and Vaišati, wtrich had come down from pre-Buddha and so from pre-Mahavira times (cf. Mahd-parinibbana-suttanta). From the fourth y B.O. tugen tot de direct evidence of the existence of Jina Image, cave temples d structural dries or tiples In their templo-architecture the Jainas, while adopting the styles prevalent in the photo and Shines where and when they built their templos, also introduced certain characteristic features in keeping with their own culture and ideology, which tended to make it almost a distinct Jaina art. In certain localities, they created whole "citics of temples'. The Jainas also distinguished theraselves by their decorative sculpture, as distinct from individual statuary, and attaided & considerable degree of excellence in the perfection of pillared chambers, one of their favourite forms of architecture. Some of these richly-wrought chambers have been declared by reputed art-critics to be the finest specimens of the ancient and early medieval Indian architecture. Many a time the carvings and bas-reliefs are so full of human interest that it looks as if the austere asceticism symbolized in the huge, stoic and nude Jina images was more than counterbalanced by the abundance and variety of these sculptures, which in a sense gave expression to the later and emotional Jainism. Another peculiar contribution of the Jainas is the free-standing pillar found in front of many a Jaina temple or basadi, especially in south India. This pillar, called the mana-stambha, is the prototype of such pillars which are said to have stood within the entrances to the samavasarana (audience-hall) of the Tirthankara, the temple itself representing the samavasarana. The stūpa was an early form of the structural architecture of the Jainas as evidenced by the excavation of the Kankali-da site at Mathurā, where a large and beautiful Jaina sttipa, beticvod, Vor about the beginning of the stian era, to have been built by the 'gods' in the times of the seventh Tirthankara and renovated in those of the twenty-third Tirthankara was extant till probably the beginning of medieval times Building stūpas, however, seems to have lost favour with the Jainas by the close of the Gupta period. Then, as observed by Longhurst, Unlike the Hindus, the Jainas almost invariably selected a picturesque sito fate their teamplos, valuing rightly the effect Page #58 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ INTRODUCTION (PART 1 of environment on architecture." They zealously cultivated other fine arts as well, such as calligraphy, ornamentation, painting, both mural and miniature, music and dancing and did not neglect the theoretical side either, producing valuable texts on art and architecture, music and prosody, No gainsaying that the ideology and spirit of the Jaina religion and culture are very much reflected, as they ought to be, in Jaina art and architecture." JYOTI PRASAD JAIN 1 A.H. Longhurst, Hampi Ruins, Madras, 1917, p. 99 *Cf. Jyoti Prasad Jain, The Jalna Sources of the History of Ancient India, Delhi, 1964, chapter X, Religion and Culture of the Jains (in presa), chapter VIII; and the different cbapters of the present volume. WINWINNINUM NO 20 Page #59 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 5 THE ETHICAL BACKGROUND IN ASSESSING THE ETHICAL BACKGROUND OF JAINA ART AND ARCHITECTURE, it is necessary to see what art and architectural form the Jainas have created all over the country through the centuries. Their contributions are a part and parcel of the Indian heritage; still, in view of their religio-ethical values, they can be taken up as a unit of study. · Among the representative arts, the Jaina Bhandaras possess rich collections of manuscripts. In fact, the study of their scripts would help us to mark the evolution of writing in different parts of India. There are miniature paintings in the manuscripts, especially in west India and to a small extent in south India. Then there are paintings in some caves of the south. There are representations of the Meru, Nandisvara-dvipa, samavasaraṇa, māna-stambha, caityavrkşa, stúpa, etc. There are caves dug by the Jainas, once intended for the residence of ascetics, but some later on taking the form of cave-temples; temples with images of one or more Jina; statues of the Tirthankaras, the Siddhas, Acaryas, Sadhus; and those of Yakşa, Yakşi, etc. In this context it is necessary to understand the Jaina attitude towards arts in general and towards divinity, worship and objects and places of worship in particular. Jainism does not subscribe to the popular idea of God as some supreme being invested with the power of creating the universe and sitting in judgement over the destinies of all the beings. But the Jaina God is the highest spiritual ideal for every one who wants to progress on the path of religion. The spirit in every one of us is in the grip of karmans from beginningless times. Karmans give their fruits automatically according to their nature, duration, intensity and quantum. There is no escape from them unless one experiences their consequences, good or bad. In all this God has no part to play. If Jainism admits worship of the divinity, it is not for gaining any favours or for escaping calamities, but for evolving and attaining the great qualities which are found in the Supreme Spirit which is the final, spiritual stage of the spirit in every one of us. It is well-put in the mangala verse of the Tattvärtha-sutra: 41 Page #60 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ INTRODUCTION mokşa-margasya netāram bhettaram karma-bhubhṛtām jñātārām viśva-tattvänäṁ vande tad-guna-labahaye. [PART 1 The Jainas worship Pañca-Parameşthins, the five-fold Divinity, namely (1) Arhats, i. e., the twenty-four Tirthankaras; (2) Siddha, the Liberated Soul; (3) Acarya, the preceptor (usually through his symbolic representation called sthapana; (4) Upadhyaya, the teacher; and (5) Sadhu, a monk who has renounced worldly ties. Specific qualities are attributed to them (cf. Davvasargahagāhās, 50-54). There are different mantras or syllables to remember and revere them (ibid., 49) The first syllables of the names of these Parameşthins constitute the sacred syllable Om, which has great religious significance. The real worship in the religious sense is confined to the first two, especially the first, under the twenty-four Tirthankaras whose biographies are elaborate in many respects. There are hymns of praise in their honour, which are not intended to ask for anything from them; but the devotee who recites them wants their great qualities to develop in himself. There are rituals, pujäs of various kinds, etc., to express devotion to the Tirthankaras. All these aim at purifying oneself by pious activities and finally at eliminating one's karmans, so that the diman becomes paramatman. The Jaina ethic aims at improving oneself by eradicating one's raga and dveşa, attachment and aversion, which, in other forms, are the four passions, anger, vanity, deceit and greed. If these are brought under control, the atman is on the path of becoming paramatman, i.e., one evolves oneself to the highest spiritual status. Of the four human objectives, yearning for wealth and pleasures must be subordinated to dharma, religious attitude, which takes one to mokşa the highest objective, the liberation from karmans. The worship of the Jina involves the adoption of a number of virtues, to the best of one's abilities and honesty, such as non-violence, truthfulness, non-thieving, celibacy and possessionlessness, apart from fasting, etc. Most of these ethical concepts are reflected in some form or the other in Jaina art and architecture. Jaina art not only reflects the fine taste for beauty to the extent it can elevate that taste but also heightens the spirit in man and makes him more worthy as a member of human society, having respect for the personality of others. Very often Jaina pieces of art are symbolic of great concepts which have a moral and ethical appeal. Of what value is that piece of art which does not convey some ethical lesson and enable men and elevating women to live a nobler life? In fine, Jaina pieces of art aim at elevating our spirit, inspire religious values and present in concrete philosophical concepts 42 Page #61 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 5] THE ETHICAL BACKGROUND and rules of conduct laid down in Jainism. They satisfy the yearning spirit to identify itself and evolve itself into the higher spirit which is characterized by infinite knowledge, faith, strength and bliss. There is a large number of miniature paintings in Jaina manuscripts, some on palm-leaf and others on paper. Apart from their value in our cultural heritage as evidence for contemporary costumes, etc., and as stages in the evolution of art of painting in different areas, the themes they depict have a religious appeal and ethical import. They may be sketches of Nandisvaradvipa, Two-and-a-half Islands, Loka-svarupa, episodes from the lives of Tirthankaras (for instance, the proposed wedding procession of Neminatha, the dreams seen by the mother of a Tirthankara, Kamatha attacking Parsvanatha, etc.), samavasaraṇa, āhāra-dāna, i.e. giving food to a saint, the scripture being read by a teacher, etc. They give an idea of the immensity of the universe in relation to oneself, of the theory of rebirth according to one's karmans and of the pious duties of offering food, scriptures, etc., to the sat-patra. What is preached in the text for the ear is put in colours for the eye, so that the pious get a better impress of these lessons on their career. The caves (with or without decorative painting), some of which later on became cave-temples, and nișidhi squares with inscriptions remind us of the austere living of Jaina monks and also of their voluntary death (sallekhand) recorded on the spot. Such monuments idealize the spirit of non-attachment for the worldly ties. Some of the inscriptions at places like Sravanabelgola glorify the saints, householders and housewives who faced death piously and their spirit of sublime detachment, under the prescribed circumstances and conditions. Among Indian idols one comes across those from the crudest to the most artistic, from the simple to the gorgeous and from the serene to the ferocious, reflecting the socio-religious spirit and the affluent society behind them. Almost from the beginning, Jainism was linked with idol-worship; it wasnatural, if not inevitable. The Tirthankaras who have been spiritual ideals could be easily idolized for rendering concrete their great qualities and for devotion to and worship and cultivation of them. Simple image-worship, in due course of time, became highly complex depending on the means of the worshipper. There are statues of individual Tirthankaras, of Siddhas and even of Acaryas, of twenty-four Tirthankaras or five Parameşthins, or Nava-devatās, or Nandisvara-bimbas or Sarvatobhadra (with four faces, those of Adinatha, Päriva and two others in one unit), of Sruta-devata (as the goddess Sarasvati, 43 Page #62 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ INTRODUCTION [PART 1 or as representing Dvadasanga), of Yaksa and Yaksi, in addition to those of Kula-devatas which the new followers of Jainism brought along with them. The statue of the Siddha is empty-space image cut in metal; if a statue is made at all, it has no distinguishing mark (lanchana). Then there are other symbolic images of dharma-cakra, asta-mangala, ayaga-pata. Among the statues of the the Tirthankaras the most common are those of Rsabha, Candraprabha, Nemi, Parsva, Santi and Mahavira. All these, in later ages, are marked by individual lanchanas. Raabha has the mark of bull, Neminatha of conch, Mahavira of lion, etc. The rituals at the pratistha festival deserve to be carefully studied: in fact, the statue passes through the conventional career of the Tirthankara, and the formula sa eva devo jina-bimba eşah is uttered, thus investing the image with all the great qualities of Jina. Then it becomes fit for worship. When one attends the ritual of the pratistha, one has the experience of covering the life of a Tirthankara from birth (if not conception) to kevalajñāna (if not nirvāṇa); and one has the realization that what one is worshipping is not just stone or metal but the Jina himself with all those supreme qualities. The life of a Tirthankara has a lesson for the worshipper. It elevates his spirit and automatically he tries to follow the great ideal of getting rid of karmans. At the same time it cannot be denied that some of the Jaina statues are pieces of art, and as such they have an additional appeal. The statues of the Jina, whether standing or seated, are in a pose of meditation; and the mudra is of vita-rága and the expression is of santa-rasa. In fact, a devotee, when piously concentrating himself on such an image, lifts himself, if for a while, into its spirit of vita-ragata and Santa-rasa which are rare commodities in dayto-day life. The image of Bahubali has two types from the point of view of the set-up of the hair. The one with curly hair is more common; and the pattern is set by that of Gommatesvara at Sravanabelgola. This has been imitated in subsequent days, as it is being imitated even today: the pose is grand (bhavya); the face is vita-raga; and the meditative mood is exemplary. Such an image would evoke admiration for the artist in anybody; the sincere and devout worshipper is impressed by these qualities and would try to cultivate them in his life. Jaina temples are found in plenty in the south, west and elsewhere. The pattern varies and the artistic details are different; but their influence on any one who goes there with devotion is more or less the same. Some of them, at Sravanabelgola, Halebid, Deogarh, Abu, Ranakpur, etc., are rich pieces of architecture, and their ethical influence on us is one of serenity and detachment. 44 Page #63 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 51 THE ETHICAL BACKGROUND In the temple of Abu it is the marvellous architectural wealth that eclipses the quiet influence of the image of the Jina inside. The Jaina temple is intended to be a place for quiet meditation on the qualities of Jina and on one's pursuit of the same. This is intended by the construction itself: the garbha-gṛha, Sukanäsikä, mukha-mandapa, etc., add to the dignity and serenity of the atmosphere. The mana-stambha, found in front of some of the temples in the south, is a fine pillar, rich in artistic details and having a sarvatobhadra image in the square done at the top. It is symbolic: it illustrates how small one is by its side and how one's vanity of greatness should melt away when one comes to the temple. In fine, the ethical background of Jaina art and architecture aims at evolving atman, into paramatman and cultivates the spirit of piety, peace, serenity, detachment, charitable disposition, devotion to learning and pious living as well as to austerity and renunciation, in the minds of the devotees. A. N. UPADHYE Page #64 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ Part II MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 Page #65 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 6 MATHURA EARLY HISTORY MATHURĀ, THE CAPITAL OF THE SŪRASENA MAHA-JANAPADA, WAS AN important city in the sixth century B.C. With the rise of the Nandas in the fourth century B.C. the Janapada probably became an integral part of the Magadhan empire and Mathura lost its position as a capital. However, the city continued to enjoy prosperity. Megasthenes (circa 300 B.C.), the Greek ambassador to the court of Candragupta Maurya who overthrew the Nandas, refers to Methora (Mathura) and Cleisobora (Krşpapura) as two great cities of the Sourasenoi who were noted particularly for their worship of Krşņa (Heracles of the Greeks). The prosperity of Mathură was not merely due for its being the birth-place of Kyşņa and consequently a strong seat of the Bhāgavata religion, but also on account of the influx of wealth through trade due to tion on a highway connecting it with commercial caravan-routes, one of them going as far as Taxila and even beyond. It became the meeting-ground of various traditions, both indigenous and west-Asian, the latter received through the extreme north-west. The composite culture evolved by this cosmopolitan town is amply reflected in its decorative motifs, architecture and art, remarkable for their assimilative character. Mathură was one of the few places of Madhyadesa to receive the impact of the Hellenistic culture quite ea in the beginning of the second century B.C., shortly before the rise of Pusyamitra Sunga (circa 187-151 B.C.) who supplanted the Mauryas, it faced a Yavana (Indo-Greek) invasion, as may be gathered from the Yuga-Purdņa section of the Gärgi-Samhita. In the later part of the first century B.c. it became the headquarters of a Scythian Satrapal dynasty who ousted the local Mitra rulers, The Satrapal dynasty in its turn was overthrown by another stock, the Kushan. Under Kaniska and his successors Mathura held a prized position, reflected not only in a large number of inscriptions of the reigns of these rulers recording dedications of various structures and images, Buddhist, Jaina and Brahmapical, but in the construction of the portrait-gallery of the Kushan rulers. With the decline of the Kushan power, a Naga dynasty established itself at Mathura, but it lost its independent status with the rise of the Guptas in the fourth century A.D. Page #66 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ [PART 1 MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO AD. 300 MATHURA IN JAINA TRADITION Mathurd was particularly sacred to the Jainas from early times. It is, however, not definitely known when the faith stepped into this land. Traditions as recorded in the later Jaina texts would assign a hoary antiquity to the Jaina establishment at Mathura and associate it with a number of Tirtharkaras. Thus, according to Jinaprabha-sūri (fourteenth century), there existed at Mathură a stūpa of gold and jewels, raised by the goddess Kubera in honour of Supärsvanātha, the seventh Tirtharkara. Long afterwards, following the visit of Pārsvanatha, the twenty-third Tirthankara, at the instructions of the goddess, the stūpa was encased in brickwork, and a stone image of Pärśvanåtha was installed by its side. Restoration of this stúpa was effected at the instance of Bappabhatti-süri thirteen centurics after Mahävira had attained nirvana. Sri-Supārsva-stūpa of Mathură is noted as a centre of pilgrimage in the Vividha-Tirtha-kalpa. One tradition records Mathură as the birth-place of Neminátha, the twenty-first Tirthankara, but according to the Uttarapuräng his birth-place was Mithila. Being the first cousin of VasudevaKrsna and Balarama, Ariştanemi (Neminátha), the twenty-second Tirthankara who belonged to the Harivamśa, had a close association with Mathurā. His father Samudravijaya, a brother of Vasudeva, is said to have been a ruler of Sauryapura.. From the Vividha-tirtha-kalpa it is gathered that Neminātha had a specially-honoured place at Mathura. Several images of the Kushan and post-Kushan periods represent this Tirthankara in the company of Krsna and Balarama. From the Vivāgasuya' it appears that Mahāvira visited Mathura and delivered his discourses there. During this visit he probably halted in the Bhandira-udyāna (garden) which was sacred to a Yakşa named Sudarsana. Vividha-iiriha-kalpa of Jinaprabha-sūri, ed. Jinavijaya, Santiniketan, 1934, pp. 17 ff.; Vincent A. Smith, The Jaina Stupa and other Antiquities of Mathurd, Archaeological Survey of India, New Imperial Series, XX, Allahabad, 1901, p. 13; U.P. Shah, Studies in Jaina Art, Banaras, 1955, pp. 9 and 62-63. • Vividha-tirtha-kalpa, p. 85. . B.C. Bhattacharya, The Jaina Iconography, Lahore, 1939, p. 80. * Ibid., p. 79. This place has generally been identified with an ancient site, variantly called Surapura, Sauripura, Surajpura and Suryapura, near Bateshwar (District Agra), cf, Uttar Pradesh District Gazetteers-Agra, ed.- E.B. Joshi, Lucknow, 1965, p. 22. Sauri being one of the epithets of Krsoa, B.C. Law identifies Sauryapura or Sauripura with Matburà itself (Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, Letters, XIII, 1947, pp. 21 and 25.). B.C. Bhattacharya is inclined to Identify it with Dwaraka, op. cit., p. 81. • Vividha-tirtha-kalpa, p. 85. " P.L. Vaidya, The Vixigasuya, Poona, 1933, p. 45. Page #67 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 61 MATHURA EARLY JAINA RELICS While these late literary traditions are yet to be substantiated by other evidence, it is certain on the basis of the archaeological data that the religion got a firm footing at Mathurd by the second century B.C. The faith continued to flourish in this centre despite the political changes which led first to the establishment of the rule of a Saka Satrapal family under Raðjuvula and Sodāsa (Sondása) and ultimately to the suzerainty of the Kushans, Under the latter Mathura became an exceptionally rich and populous city, a congenial soil for the prosperity of different cults, Brahmapical, Buddhist and Jaina. In fect the Kushan period witnessed a tremendous outburst of creative activity in the ateliers of this cosmopolitan city, with the result that this important religiqus seat became a prolific centre of art and architecture. The wealth of the Vaiśya caste, particularly the opulent mercantile class (sreşthin, sarthaväha, vånija, gandhika and others), who formed an appreciable percentage of the laydevotees, contributed to a large extent to the prosperity of the Jaina monuments. This is evident from the dedicatory records of the members of families engaged in trade, commerce and industry. At the same time it may be noted that the almost unceasing demand of the followers of different creeds, not only of Mathurā but of a large part of northern India, on the artists of this period left them hardly any leisure to bestow special attention to their creations and forced them to resort to mechanical mass-production with an adverse effect on artistic merit. The figures were not only conventionalized but were often flat and insipid. The Mathură school of art of the period under consideration was essentially Indian in character, inheriting the age-old art-tradition, root and branch, of Madhyadeśa, as typified by the primitive statues of Yakşas and the early products of Bharhut and Sanchi. However, it was open and expansive enough to introduce freely foreign motifs received through the north-west, partly to satisfy the composite character of the clientele. The principal medium of its expression was the mottled red sandstone quarried from places like Sikri, Rupbas and Tantpur. The existence of a Jaina shrinc (posada) as early as the middle of the second century B.C. is proved by an inscription recording the dedication of a posada-torana by a śrävaka namod Uttaradásaka. Another inscription, incised on a piece of a carved lintel and belonging to the period immediately before Epigrantia ledica, II, 1893-94, p. 198; H. Lüders, List of Brdhnet Inscriptions, 1912, Do. 93. Page #68 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 [PART 11 Kaniska I, records the gift of a pasada by Dhamaghoşă. To about the same period belongs an dydga-pata in the Archacological Museum, Mathura (AMM, Q. 2; plate 1), the inscription on which registers the dedications, by the courtezan Väsu, daughter of Loņasobhika, of a shrine (devikula) of the Arhat, a hall (dyaga-sabha), a cistern (prapa) and a stone slab (slla-paļa) in the NirgranthaArhatāyatana (sanctuary of the Arhats)! Another inscription (dated 299 of an unknown era), probably of the Kushan period, on the pedestal of a broken image records the installation of an image of Mahavira in the temple (dyatana) of Arhats and erection of a shrine (devakula). The word vihara occurs on a fragmentary dyaga-pata, now in the Mathura Museum. The discovery of a large number of images of the Tirthankaras and an image of the Jaina goddess Sarasvati proves that there existed a number of shrines at Mathură in the Kushan period, though the possibility of many of the images having been installed in the open cannot be entirely ruled out. KANKĀLI-TILA: REPLICAS AND COMPONENTS OF STUPAS Unfortunately, not a single monument of the period under consideration is now available, though sporadic excavations and probings by Hardinge, Cunningham, Growse and Führer at Kankali-tilā, the main Jaina site within the orbit of Mathurā, yielded an overwhelmingly large number of sculptures, āyāga-pațas, pillars, capitals, umbrellas, railing-posts, cross-bars, copings, component parts of gateways, tympana, bracket-figures and other architectural pieces. These dismembered slabs give an idea of the architectural and sculptural splendour of the magnificent monuments raised by the affluent and pious Jaina community which included a good number of female lay-worshippers. Inscriptions on many of the slabs and images furnish not only the names of the rulers but throw a flood of light on the organization of the Jaina sangha with its teachers and ascetics grouped into varied ganas, kulas and sakhas. Epigraphia Indica, II, p. 199; Luders, List, no. 99. Lucknow Museum no. J. 540. I AMMArchaeological Museum, Mathura: SML State Museum, Lucknow. • Journal of the U.P. Historical Society, XXIII, 1950, pp. 69 and 70; Lüders, Llat, no. 102. Lüders, List, no. 78. J.E. van Lohuizen-de Leeuw reads the date as 199, The "Scythian" Perlod, Leiden, 1949, p. 58. Her views have been refuted by R.C. Sharma, who, on stylistic consideration of the available feet of the missing image, assigns the picco to the transitional period between the end of the rule of the Kusbans and the beginning of the Gupta rulo, Shri Mahavir Jaina Vidyalaya Golden Jubilee Volume, I, Bombay, 1968, p. 149. Journal of the U P. Historical Society, XXIII, 1950, p.71. • A few Jaina antiquities were recovered from the site of Sitala-ghati, Rani-ki-mandi and Mudobarpur as well. Page #69 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 6) MATHURA Though Führer, in the course of his major operations between the years 1888 and 1891 at Karkali-tila, succeeded in getting remnants of a brick stūpa and two temples and an immense number of antiquities ranging in date from the second century B.C. to the eleventh century A.D., he failed to make a proper documentation of the structures in the form of detailed drawings, description and photographs, his dig being mainly directed to the recovery of antiquitios, specially inscriptions, without a record of the context and the buildings to which they had belonged. In the absence of this essential documentation we have naturally to fall back on the representation of the structures on carved stones of the dismembered monuments to have an idea of the monuments raised by the Jainas.' From the available evidence it appears that the Jaina establishment at Karkali-tilă grew up around a stupa which formed an object of supreme veneration. An inscription,' dated 79 (A.D. 157) or 49 (A.D. 127), on the pedestal of a missing image mentions the installation of an image of Arhat Nandiāvarta' at the so-called Vodva srüpa built by the gods (deva-nirmita). This shows that by the middle of the second century A.D. this stūpa had become so ancient that the facts about its origin were completely forgotten by the people and its construction came to be ascribed to the gods. Presumably this very stūpa was referred to by Somadeva when he, in his Yašastilaka-campu (A.D. 959), gave an account of the origin of a stūpa which was known as deva-nirmita down to his days. According to Somadeva it was erected by Vajrakumära endowed with supernatural powers of the divine Vidyadharas. As already noted, Führer unearthed a brick stūpa, stated to be 14:33 m. in diameter. From a rough drawing of the plan of this stūpa (fig. II), it appears that the stupa was not of solid brickwork. The brickwork within the core simulated a wheel with eight spokes; apart from the rim, there was a circular wall connecting the radiating spokes in the middle to impart strength to the framework. The remaining spaces within this fraemwork were, presumably, filled in with clay. 1 A systematic excavation at the extensive moond of Katkall, though gically disturbed by previous diga, is likely to uncover the plans of some of the structures. . Lüders, List, no. 47. • Read as Manisuvrata by K.D. Bajpai, S-Mahdrina Commemoration Volume, I, Agra, pp. 189 and 190. • KK, Handigui, Yadastlaka and Indlas Culare, Sholapur, 1949, pp. 416 and 433. Smith, op.cit., pl. IIL The drawing, bowovor, prosents the diameter as much more than 14-33 m. Page #70 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 [PART 11 METRES 2 B . . .. FAX NU: FRG. II. Kankal-tilă: plan of a brick stupa. (After Smith) For the elevation and outer form of the stūpa we have to refer to the representation of the reliefs on architraves of gateways, āyāga-patas, tympana and others. From the reliefs and also from the dismembered stones of gateways and railings it appears that either there were more than one important stūpa at this site or a sole stūpa underwent restorations and embellishments at frequent intervals. Chronologically, the earliest representation of a stūpa occurs on the obverse of the bottom architrave in the State Museum, Lucknow (SML, J. 535) of the gateway of a stūpa (plate 2A). On stylistic consideration of the figures represented on the architrave, the latter cannot be regarded later than the first century B.c. The stūpa with its receding terraced drum is somewhat bell-shaped. The two terraces of the circular drum have around them three-barrod railings. The hemispherical dome is crowned by a square three-barred railing, from the The Brhat-katha-kota of Harisena (A D. 932), ed. A.N. Upadhye, Bombay, 1943, p. 26, gives an account of the foundation of five ancient sripas of Mathura. Page #71 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 6] MATHURA centre of which rises a conspicuous chatra. A fourth railing enclosing the processional path is provided at the ground-level. It is not unlikely that this stipa represents the so-called deva-nirmita stupa, which possibly had no lithic gateway to begin with. Another representation of a stupa occurs on a fragment (SML, J. 535) of a second architrave of this period; this is now in the store-room in the Lucknow Museum. All the four sides of this architrave were deliberately sliced in order to convert it into the corner-post of a railing, with the result that portions of the carved surface have disappeared. The available portion of the relief shows a stupa, of which the lowest portion and the umbrella above the railing on the hemispherical dome are missing. As the lowest portion is not available, one is not sure if the drum had two terraces with railings or not. If not, the lowest railing (the portion immediately below it chipped off) would have served as a ground-balustrade. On the sinister of the stupa are an elephant with two riders, a horse-rider and heads of two bullocks, possibly driving a cart (missing). The carved face bears two-and-a-half sockets. One of the adjoining sides also presents sockets for the tenons of the cross-bars. A developed form of stupa-architecture is furnished by the well-preserved relief (plate 1) on a silä-paţa (äyāga-pata) (AMM, Q. 2), referred to above.' The inscription on it, recording various dedications (above, p. 52) of the courtezan Vāsu, is palaeographically referable to the pre-Kaniska decades. In contrast to the preceding stupa, its elongated cylindrical drum is conspicuously high enough to give the stupa a somewhat tower-like appearance. It is in two terraces, both having carved railings around. At the crown of the hemispherical dome is a square two-barred railing, from the centre of which rears up an umbrella with floating garlands. An innovation of this stupa is its high platform, presumably square. The terrace over the platform served as a processional path. It is enclosed by a three-barred railing, the latter pierced by a gateway (torana). Access to the terrace from the ground is provided by a balustraded staircase of eight steps right in front of the gateway. The façade of the platform is relieved with arched niches simulating makara-toranas and containing standing figures (male on the dexter and female on the sinister) above pedestals. The lavishly-carved torana has an affinity with those of Bharhut and Sanchi. It consists of two oblong carved posts supporting three horizontal curviform architraves with ends simulating makaras. Between the architraves are supporting blocks, while the two rolled ends of the bottom architrave are sustained by two lion-shaped brackets. Crowning the top architrave is a honeysuckle motif Journal of the U.P. Historical Society, XXIII, 1950, pp. 69 and 70. 55 Page #72 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 (PART 11 flanked on either side by a tri-ratna (or nandipada) symbol, as in the eastern gateway of the stupa of Bharhut. From the central portion of the bottom architrave hangs a lotus-drop with pendant garlands. That the relief of the gateway is modelled after the then existing ones is proved by the discovery of the dismembered fragments noticed below (p. 60). A distinctive feature of this stupa is the existence of two high pillars, one each at the front corners. (Probably there were two more pillars at the remaining two corners of the stūpa, of which this relief is a miniature replica.) The ghata-base of the pillars rests on a stepped-pyramidal pedestal. Over the shaft, which is circular in the one on the dexter and octagonal in the other, is a carved ghafa, above which is a pair of recumbent winged lions. Above the animals is a voluted splayed-out member, supporting the crowning capital which is a wheel on the dexter and a sejant lion on the sinister. The pillars are of the height of the stúpa above the platform. Several pillars of this type are encountered at Kankāli-tila, The fragment of another ayaga-pata (SML, J. 255) preserves the lower portion of a stūpa-relief (plate 2B). The general arrangements and broad features of the available portion of the stúpa are similar to those of the preceding one (AMM, Q. 2), but the platform is comparatively low, and consequently there are only four steps leading to the gateway (torana) which gives access to the balustraded terrace over the platform. On this terrace there are two pillars as in the preceding relief. Of the stūpa proper the lower terrace of the high cylindrical drum alone is preserved. The ends of the curviform architraves of the gateway, which is luxuriantly carved, are in the form of makaras with rolled tails. The square blocks (in alignment of the oblong posts of the gateway) between the architraves are relieved with motifs like honeysuckle and śrīvatsa. Connecting the central portions of the architraves are two carved balusters, and the spaces between the balusters and blocks are filled in with jali-patterns. The crowning elements of the gateway are similar to those on AMM, Q. 2. There is a lotus-drop with a garland hanging from the central portion of the bottom architrave. The inscription on the slab records the setting up of the dyäga-pata by Sivayaśā, wife of a nartaka (dancer), for the worship of the Arhats. On palaeographic considerations the inscription has been ascribed to the period immediately before Kaniska I. There are other representations of stūpas as well. One of them occurs on a tympanum (plate 12), now in the National Museum, New Delhi, Although * Epigraphia Indica, II, p. 200; Luders, List, no. 100. 56 Page #73 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 6] MATHURA . .. . . . !! da Nov No SA . - . . ... - MyTVN V . Mathura : dydga-para (AMM, Q. 2) PLATE 1 Page #74 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 BC. TO A.D. 300 [PART II A. Mathură : architrave of the gateway of a stūpa, A, obverse, and B, reverse (SML, J. 535) YAN WIR WAY B. Mathură : fragment of an ayaga-pata (SML, J. 255) PLATE 2 Page #75 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 6] Mathură sculptured slab (SML, J. 250) PLATE 3 MATHURA Page #76 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 [PART II Mathura : railing-posts (A, SML, J. 283; B, SML, J. 288; C, SML, J. 282) PLATE 4 Page #77 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 6] goo Mathura: corner-post of a railing (SML, J. 356), view of four sides PLATE 5 MATHURA Page #78 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 (PART II Mathură : cross-bars of railings (A, SML, J. 427; B, SML, J. 422; C, J. 403; D, J. 365) PLATE 6 Page #79 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 6) MATHURA , , དགད ཀ༽ ༡ Mathura : copings of railings PLATE 7 Page #80 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 D PLATE 8 [PART II B Mathura: uprights of railings (A, SML, J. 277, B and C, National Museum; D, back view) Page #81 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 6] MATHURA A. Mathură : railing-post of a staircase (AMM, 14.3 69) Ver B. Mathură : fragments of architraves (A, SML, J. 544; B, SML, J. 547) PLATE 9 Page #82 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 (PART II A. Mathura : bracket (obverse and reverse) of a gateway (SML, J. 593A) B. Mathurā : bracket (obverse and reverse) of a gateway (SML, J. 593 B) PLATE 10 Page #83 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 6] MATHURA A. Mathură : bracket of an architrave (SML, J. 594) B. Mathura : pillar (obverse and reverse) of a gateway (SML, J. 532) PLATE 11 Page #84 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 Mathură: fragment of a tympanum (obverse) (National Museum) PLATE 12 [PART 1] Page #85 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 6) MATHURA Mathură : fragment of a tympanum (reverse) (National Museum) PLATE 13 Page #86 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ (PART 1 MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 what were 4. 4 S Mathura : dydga-paja (SML, J. 250) PLATE 14 Page #87 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MATHURA CHAPTER 6] Matburð : dydga-pata (AMM, 47-49) PLATE 15 Page #88 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 Mathura äyäga-pata (SML, J. 248) PLATE 16 [PART II Page #89 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 61 MATHURA summarily treated due to the various themes crowded together, it maintains the essential characteristics of the stupa propora high cylindrical drum in two balustraded terraces, a low hemispherical dome, a square railing on the dome and a crowning parasol. A second tympamum (SML, B. 207) again presents a tiny stipa. Here there is a base-balustrade. Another summary representation occurs on a slab, possibly an dyðga-pata (SML, J. 623), bearing an inscription dated 99, presumably of the Saka era.' Here the stūpa (plate 3) flanked by two seated Jinas on either side occurs in the upper register, while the standing figure of a framana, called Kapa or Kanha along with a lady in abhaya-mudra besides three devotees is in the main panel. The drum of the stūpa, in contradistinction to the preceding five representations, has a single terrace. An interesting feature is that the balustraded railings at the ground-level and at the top of the drum have both an arched forana. Above the hemispherical dome is a square railing with the dwarf thick yasti of the umbrella in the centre. There are at least two more tiny representations of stupa with a singleterraced drum. One is on an ayaga-pata (SML, J. 250; plate 14), while the other occurs within the central lotus-medallion of a railing-post (SML, J. 283; plate 4A). From the available evidence it appears that the dome and the drum of the Jaina stūpas of Mathurā, like Stūpas 1, 2 and 3 of Sanchi, did not receive embellishments, the community apparently choosing to have an austere and plain stūpa to maintain its solemnity. Again like the Sanchi stūpas, the urge for decoration here found expression on the railings and gateways the adjuncts, though not essential clements, of the stūpa. A large number of the component parts of the railings and gateways found at Kankāli-fila bear eloquent testimony to the remarkable achievement of the artists of the pre-Kushan and Kushan periods. The earliest railing (vedika) may go back to the second-first century B.c. To judge from the detachod members, it consisted of a series of uprights (stambha) connected together by three cross-bars (suci) and crowned by a running coping (usnisa). The provision of lonticular sockets on two sides and tenons at the top of the uprights to receive the coping is clearly inspired by the primitive wooden Technique which is also palpable in the remnants of the gateways. Bulletin of Museums and Archaeology # U.P., 9, Jupe 1972, pp. 48 and 49 and fig. 4. • Engrapada India, X, 1909-10, p. 117. Page #90 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 PART I The uprights (SML. J. 283, J. 288 and J. 282; plate 4) are partly squaro and partly octagonal, the latter portions being left bare. While their two sides provide each three mortises to receive lenticular tenons of the cross-bars, the front face and the rear have generally three carved medallions and two half medallions (one each at the base and the top). The repertoire of the motifs, carved in low relief, in the full and half medallions is rather limited, the commonest motif being the lotus rendered in a wide variety of forms. Among other motifs, which include bunch of flowers, honeysuckle, stūpa (plate 4A), makara and animals (plate 4C), are particularly interesting the composite and fabulous animals (plate 4B). The treatment of the upright at the entrance is somewhat different. These particular uprights are oblong and the carvings cover the entire face. SML, J. 356 is one such upright, discovered at Kankali a. Its three faces are huxuriantly carved with creepers and flowers of considerable beauty (plate 5), the uncarved fourth side having three lenticular sockets for cross-bars. One (plate 5C) of the carved faces of this particular post bears two lenticular sockets, evidently subsequent provisions, at the cost of the original carvings. It is not unlikely that the sockets were provided for the rightangled extension of the railing, as at Sanchi, when the gateway was installed. Kankāli-tilā also yielded a large number of lenticular cross-bars (plate 6), of two different sizes, of railings. These cross-bars are relieved with medallions containing various motifs, the most frequent of which is the lotus. Other motifs within the medallions include vrksa-caitya (SML. J. 422; plate 6B), bowl (?) on a pedestal, winged conch with oozing coins, foliated leaves, honeysuckle, frivatsa, harsa and animals (SML, J. 403; plate 6C). Many of the animals are in fact fabulous creatures (SML, J. 365; plate 6D) like a humanheaded lion, fish-tailed winged lion, fish-tailed elephant (SML, J. 427; plate 6A), fish-tailed crocodile, fish-tailed wolf, fish-tailed griffin, winged goat and winged antelope. Several heavy coping-stones were found, some of them ascribable to the first century B.C.; with rounded top corners, they are in two registers. The upper, which is thicker and projecting over the lower, is carved usually with a string having alternately bells and bud-shaped pendants. The common motif on the lower register is a stylized wavy band or creeper with flowers (plate 7A and B). Other motifs include luxuriant honeysuckles and animals (plate 7C), the latter in many cases rendered with consummate skill. 1 According to Dr Jyoti Prasad Jain (personal correspondence), it is enher & fardra. sarpuja or pratisthana (fhauna), one of the Jaina auspicious symbols. 58 Page #91 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MATHURA Kankalwila yielded some interesting uprights which belonged to a railing of the Kushan period. Though shorter than the uprights of the preceding series, these uprights are arresting by virtue of the themes and artistic excellence of the sculptural qualities. While their two sides present three lenticular sockets (mostly truncated at the ends), the top is provided with a tenon. The back side presents two full lotus-medallions and two half lotus-medallions, one each at the base and at the top (plate 8D). At the corners of the modallions are what are called blue lotuses. The spaces intervening the medallions are in three facets. What, however, distinguishes these posts is the portrayal of the lively human figures in bold relief on the front side. The modelling of these well-proportioned figures is fairly mature, displaying the skill of the sculptor in the handling of human figures in various poses. The women with beaming cheeks are rendered free and joyous, engaged in their favourite pastimcs and sports. It is rather curious that despite its rigid code of discipline the Jaina community gave the artist a free hand in giving expression of his zeal and zest for depicting the beautiful and even voluptuous female figures with a certain warmth of flesh in an atmosphere of sunshine. Thus, on one upright (SML, J. 277) a lady is seen under an asoka-tree standing with attractive flexions on the back of a crouching dwarf and making up her coiffure with a garland (plate 8A). On another, now in the National Museum, the female figure is almost in a dancing-pose above a pedestal with two lions; with a sword in her left hand, she touches with her raised right hand a cluster of kadamba-flowers above the head (plate 8B). On a third, also in the National Museum, a woman, rendered in three-quarters profile and with bent back, is taking her bath under a waterfall cascading from the rocks above (plate 8C). The carvings on the balustrade of the staircase are also equally rich. On an upright (plate 9A) with a sloping top and a tenon (AMM, 14.369), which had been ascribed to the Kushan period, is seen a lady holding a tray with some objects covered by a conical lid in her raised left hand and a handled pot with a high base in her right hand under an aśoka-tree. The back side is relieved with full and half lotus-medallions having three facets in between. The reliefs on two of the already-noted aydga-patas (AMM, Q, 2 and SML, J. 255) appear to present faithful representations of the gateways of the pre-Kaniska age. Of the gateways of the stupas, several detached members were recovered. One of the carly toraja-architraves is SML, J. 535, a work possibly of the first century B.C. It formed the central portion (between the two end-blocks) of the bottom architrave which is slightly curved. The front side dopicts a stapa worshipped by two suparpas (half-men and half-bird) and Page #92 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 (PART II five centaurs, holding variously a garland, vases with garlands, a bunch of blue lotuses and a lotus (plate 2A). While winged figures are reminiscent of those in the Assyrian and Persian sculptures, the centaurs are presumably inspired by Greck prototypes. On the rear side (plate 2B) is depicted a lively procession of devotees, two on an elephant, three on horses, two on foot and several within a bullock-cart, on a mission of visiting probably the stūpa itself. Remarkable for their vitality, the animals are drawn from life; the spirited horses, particularly, bespeak the consummate skill of the artist. In the central portion of the underside is carved a lotus-drop. SML, J. 544 (plate 9B, A) is another torana-architrave which is horizontal and appears to be slightly later than the preceding. The central portion is luxuriantly carved with a creeper of compelling beauty and freshness; the undulating stem encompasses lotuses, buds and leaves of exquisite execution. The creeper is flanked on either side by a square panel (in vertical alignment of the torana-pillars) containing a dwarf in the act of supporting the superstructure. Curiously enough, the snake-like legs of the dwarf end in a forked tail. Such figures, which are also found on many carved slabs including pre-Kaniska ayaga-patas, are perhaps the adaptation of a Hellenistic motif. Beyond the panels are the two projected ends (sinister missing) relieved with a fish-tailed makara having a fish in its mouth. The extreme end is semicircular. The fragment of another architrave (SML, J. 547) of this type shows at the dexter end a Garuda holding in its beak a three-hooded serpent which has coiled itself around the neck of the former (plate 9B, B). Beyond it is the partly-preserved panel depicting a cart with unyoked bullocks. Specimens of two distinct types of gateway-brackets have been found at Kankāli-țilā. One type represents the salabhanjikās. There are several specimens of torana-śālabhanjikās, which, rising from the torana-pillars, supported the two ends of the bottom architrave of the gateways. Two of them (SML, J. 595 a and b; plate 10A and B) belonging to one and the same gateway, are intact. Both the brackets have at the base a tenon which was inserted into the socket of the pillar. Fashioned in the round, both the female figures are fully finished in the front and partially in the back. Though possessing certain features (e.g. coiffure, ornaments, figures below the feet) of the railing-figures of Bharhut, they mark an advance over the former by virtue of their superior modelling and appear to be somewhat earlier than the torana-salabhaxjikas of Sanchi. Leaning against the trunk of a flowering tree (possibly asoka), both of them grasp the branches of the tree. While the one on the dexter stands on a bent human figure (plate 10A), the one which was on the sinister is on the 60 Page #93 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 61 MATHURA head of an elephant (plate 10B). Other brackets of this type are all in fragments. In two of them, the female figure stands on a makara with a fish-tail. The other type of brackets represents a lion as depicted in an dyaga-pata (AMM, Q. 2; plate 1). A complete specimen (plate 11A) of this type is SML, J. 594. Among the gateway-pillars, those of the Kushan period are particularly rich in carvings. One (plate 11B) of these bears an inscription recording the gift of a torana by the frårika Balahastini. The two faces of these pillars are, as at Sanchi, compartmented from bottom upwards into a succession of panels, separated from one another by a railing-motif. The subject matter of the pancis is mostly mundane, showing scenes of love, palace-life, drinking couple, man attending to the coiffure of a woman, woman decorating herself, dancing couple, and so on, but religious scenes depicting men and women carrying gar. lands and flowers are not entirely lacking. The venue of the mundane scenes is invariably a pillared pavilion with open sides and semicylindrical roof; the two semicircular ends of the latter present caitya-arches. The shaft of the pillars supporting the roof is squarc below and octagonal above with chamfering of arrises in some cases. Over the shaft is a projected member with lotus-petals supporting the abacus on which rest winged lions. Above the lions is a gradually expanding member with voluted topcorners. Several pillars of this type have been found at Kankäli-tila. Two of the pavilions are connected with a lotus-lake, evidently meant for the jala-krida of the nobility. The treatment of these scenes is admirable. Untrammelled by religious conventions, the artist was at ease to display his skill in depicting men and women in various actions and in a wide variety of poses. Of others members of the gateways, several carved blocks which had been inserted between the architraves, lion-capitals of the torana-pillars and crowning elements were found. Possibly included in the last are two tri-ramas' (or nandipadas) supporting a wheel (mostly missing). Curiously enough, the upper portion of one of these trl-ratnas (or nandipadas) above the circular portion is composed of two makaras with a fish-tail. SHRINES AND MONASTERIES As already noted above, p. 51), the epigraphic evidence and also the finds of images point to the existence of temples in the second century B.C. and 1 Smith, op. cit., plater XXXVI and C. * SML, J. 532; Läders, List, no. 108. Smith, op. cit., pls. XL and L2. Page #94 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 [PART 11 onwards. There were no doubt vihdras as well for the residence of the Jaina monks. It is, however, not possible to reconstruct these structures from the available evidence. It is also not known if the earliest Jaina sanctuary was apsidal as at Udayagiri (chapter 7), or elliptical or quadrilateral. The Buddhist reliefs of Mathura of the Kushan period present representations of apsidal and quadrilateral shrines. Most probably the shrines, halls and monasteries were of brick, and stones were used generally in pillars, pilasters, door-frames, windows, pavements and drain-channels. A few specimens of the last show that these drains too received lavish carvings. Their sides were decorated with aquatic creatures like fish and fish-tailed makara (the latter sometimes chasing the former) and auspicious symbols. Some specimens of the windows have been recovered. One intact specimen shows square perforations at four corners of the connected crosses. The central square of the crosses is criss-crossed into rows of diamonds, while the arms are decorated with four-petalled flowers. A fragmentary perforated window is made of groups of petals, each group having four. Another fragment shows an eight-petalled lotus. Of great interest is a fragment (slightly less than half) of a tympanum (now in the National Museum; plates 12 and 13) which might have belonged to a shrine instead of the torana of a stūpa as is commonly believed. Both sides of this piece are exuberantly carved with care, the layout of the decoration being nearly the same. Each face is divided into three semicircular (half existing) panels within four bands decorated with floral and creeper motifs. The triangular spandril at the corner of the front side is relieved with a group of devotees approaching a stūpa; in front of the stūpa are four platforms crowned by dyaga-patas, while below the devotees is a covered wheeled carriage. A larger cortege of worshippers is seen above a similar carriage on the spandril of the reverse side; in front of this group are a pürna-ghata, a petal-shaped basket with garlands and three bowls covered by lids. The ends of the lunate panels of both the faces have fish-tailed makaras, the mouth of which is being opened by boyish figures in five cases. The rest of the available portions of the panels of two faces depicts men and women and flying Vidyadharas proceeding towards the objects of worship which were depicted in the central portion (missing) of the panels. While some devotees are on foot, others are within * J. Ph. Vogel, La Sculpture de Mathura, Paris and Bruxelles, 1930, plate XXIII a and c. The relief numbered a of this plate depicts also a monastery within a compound-wall. The entrance is flanked by pylon-like projections. The layout of the cottages appears to be quadrangular (catuh-sald). The roofs, possibly tiled, are triangular in shape with a gable at either end, • Smith, op. cit., plate XLII. Ibid., plate XLI. Page #95 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 6 MATHURA carriages drawn by bullocks and horses, and still there are others on the back of composite animals with fish-tails and serpentine bodies. In the top panel of the obverse is represented a vimana, possibly drawn by hahsas, an oblong strueture with a semicylindrical roof having caitya-arches at two ends and railing at at the base. AYAGA-PATAS This particular tympanum throws significant light on the manner in which the dydga-pafas were used. As already noted, there are four oblong solid platforms (pithika or vedt) adjacent to the stúpa. Resting on the top of each of these platforms is seen a carved slab. The carvings on the slabs are no doubt summarily executed due to the miniature scale of the slabs; still, the general arrangement and layout of the designs point to the slabs being undoubtedly ayāga-patas. The slab over the platform acarost to the stūpa bears in the central portion a medallion which serves for the basal circle of four tri-ratnas (or nandipadas), the upper members of these symhois being arranged around the central circle. Similar arrangement of tri-ratnas (or nandipadas) is found in the case of several specimens of dyaga-pafas (c.g. SML, J. 249, J. 250 and J. 253 and AMM, 48.3424). The representation of four dyaga-patas in this tympanum may suggest that the pichikds capped by āyāga-patas were placed near the Main Stūpa, possibly in front of its four cardinal sides. However, it may be stated that the number of ayaga-pafas of the first half of the first century A.D. exceeds four. Further, from the dedicatory records on the tablets established by Văsu (above, p. 52) and Nandighosa,' it appears that these dyaga-pafas were also installed at the Arhatdyatana and the bhandirat-tree or -grove. The word bhandira signifies both nyagrodha (vata) tree (Ficus indica), the kevala-yskṣa of Rşabhanātha, and strisa (Acacia Sirissa), the kevala-vrksa of Supārsvanátha, the former tree (bhand ira-vata) of Mathurà having been sacred in ancient days. As already noted (above, p. 50), Mahavira during his On a specimen from Chaubik-PAÇA, Matburi, (AMM, 48.3426), these members are formed of a pair of makaras holding aloft a lotus with their proboscis. • Lüders, List, ao. 95. Bühler read the word as bhandire and noted that one is tempted to read mandire "in the templo". But the first consonant seems plain', Epigraphia Indica, I, 1892, p. 397, n. 35. As pointed out by Lüden (Indian Antiquary, XXXIII, 1904, p. 151), the correct reading is bhandire. In this connexion Lüden remarked that whether this means "at the bhandira tree", or pomibly stands for Sk. bhanddre, "at the storehouse", 1 do not venture to decide at present.' On going through the account of Mabavira's visit to Mathurt in the Vintgarmya (above, P. 50), one foel certain that the Dhardlra of Nandigbosa's Inscription dedicating dydga-pator stands for the Bhatt dire-grove or trec. Page #96 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 [PART 1 sojourn at Mathura most probably halted at the Bhapdira-udyang which was the abode of Yaksa Sudarsana. Apparently, the bhandira-tree or -grove was sacred to the Jainas on account of its association with Mahåvira. While most of the available dyāga-patas, which form a class by themselves, have been assigned a pre-Kaniska date, a few no doubt belong to the Kushan period. The carvings on most of these ayaga-patas are exuberant and reflect the zeal and skill of the artists in weaving a good number of motifs, both indigenous and of foreign inspiration, into compositions of surprising excellence (plate 14) for beautifying these cherished objects of sanctity. The religious character of these āyāgd-patas is evident not only by the available inscriptions (referring to the setting up of the dyāga-patas for the worship of the Arhats) but by the depiction of stūpas (plates 1 and 2B), figures of Tirthankaras (plates 14 and 15), caitya-vskșa, dharma-cakra (plate 16) and auspicious symbols, including asta-margalas, particularly sacred to Jainism. As suggested by Shah,' the precursor of the dyaga-pajas might have been the pudhavi-sila-pasta (prthvi-sila-patta) placed on a small platform at the foot of vrksa-caityas, sacred to the sylvan folk-divinitio Yakşas and Någas. In early reliefs we find devotees worshipping such vacant vedis or altars below the trees. Such vedis were conceived as of high sanctity, being the sacred seat and symbolizing the physical presence of the invisible divinities. The latter were worshipped by the local people who used to put various offerings, including floral, on these vedis. The worship of folk-divinities is of hoary antiquity and has survived in many parts of India even now in the cult of gråma-devatas. The representations of Jinas and stupas on the âyäga-patas tend to prove that these slabs perched on the vedis or pithas did not serve merely as arghyaparjas or bali-pajjas, where flowers and other offerings were deposited for worshipping the Jinas and stūpas, as in the case of the purely ornamental slabs. On the contrary, these representations would suggest that these ayaga-patase were themselves, like the image of the Arhat at the deva-nirmita stūpa, were objects of worship, a presumption supported by the manner in which the sprinkling of flowers is depicted on two of the dydga-patas in front of the stupa represented on the tympanum in question. Just as the pious dedication of the + Shab, op. cit., pp. 109-12; V.S. Agrawala, 'Astamangalakamala', Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art, New Series, 11, 1967-68, pp. 1-3. * Shah, op. cit., p. 69. • In this connexion Bühler's remarks are noteworthy : 'Aydga occurs in the Ramdyana, 1, 32, 12 (Bo. ed.) and is explained by the commentator as ydaniyade vard, a deity to be worship ped, i.e. an object of homage,' Epigraphia India, 1, p. 396, n. 28. Page #97 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 6] Mathura a Tirthankara (SML, J. 15) PLATE 17 MATHURA Page #98 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ (PART 1] MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 kte Mathură : pratimd sarvatobhadrika, view of two sides PLATE 18 Page #99 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 6] MATHURA P . 2 . kan WOMA . Mathura : Yakşi Aryavati (SML, J. 1) PLATE 19 Page #100 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 [PART II Mathura : Sarasvati (SML, J. 24) PLATE 20 Page #101 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MATHURA Buddhists took generally the form of stulpas, the pious donations of the Jainas of this period at Mathura were dydga-patas. The practice of installing these slabs on vedis as pions dedications with the object of carning religious merit probably bocame defunct when the installation of the images of the Tirtha karas on small platforms or pedestals on four sides of the stupas and in temples and other sacred spots became widely prevalent. JINA AND OTHER IMAGES A prolific centre of art, Mathura played a significant role in the develop ment of the Jaina iconography as well. There are very limited representations of the incidents from the life of the Tirthankaras like the dance of Nila jana which inspired Reabhadeva to renounce the world and Harinaigamesin, who, according to the Kalpa-sútra, removed the embryo of Mahavira from the womb of Brāhmani Devånanda to that of Ksatriyāni Tribala. It appears that images of Tirtharkaras interested the Mathură artists and their clientele more than any. thing else, with the result that numerous images were produced in the workshop of Mathura from the first century A.D. to the Gupta period. The earliest figures of the Titharkaras are found on the dyäga-patas assigned by Bühler to the period before Kaniska. In the figures the robeless Jinas with an umbrella over head are seated cross-legged with hands on the lap. Lanchanas are not depicted; consequently Parsvanatha alone can be distinguished by the seven-hooded serpent-canopy over the head. Of the Kushan period there are numerous images, many of them being inscribed and several bearing dates of the Kushan rulers ranging in date from the year 5 in the reign of Kaniska: to the year 98 in the reign of Vasudeva. The iconography of the Jinas, without the paraphernalia of the later period, are almost standardized, though the distinguishing lanchanas are yet to be evolved, with the result that, unless the names of the Tirthankaras are mentioned in dedicatory inscriptions, it is not possible to differentiate the individual Tirthankaras, except Parsvanatha who is marked by a canopy of snakehoods and Rsabhanåtha who has some locks of hair falling on his shoulders. 1 Shah, op. cit., 1995, p. 11; Bulletin of Museums and Archaeology in U.P., 9, June 1972, pp. 47-48. • Dr Jyoti Prasad Jaio it, however, of the opinion in personal correspondence) that the representations allude to the transfer of the newly-born babes of Devaki ip Kansa's prison to the botom of Alaki, wife of Sudrasta, a merchant of Bhadrilapun. * Ode of the images in dated in the year 4 (Lüdens, Lla, 10. 16), presumably of the era used by Kushno rolor. Page #102 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 [PART IT The images, normally robeless, with the Srivatsa-mark on the chest and with circular halocs, scalloped in some cases, are either seated cross-legged with hands in dhydra-mudra (plate 17) or standing in kdyotsarga-pose. While several of the images present the appearance of shaven heads, others have hair, rendered in short spiral curls or in lunate notches on rolls gathered round the head. In the images of Rşabhanatha the matted locks are thrown backward. Usnisa is usually absent. On the facade of the pedestal there is a relief of a dharma-cakra in many cases. In the absence of the cognizances and also of marshalling of images of twenty-four Tirthankaras together, it is not known if all the twenty-four Tirtharkaras were conceived and given form in this period, though there is no doubt about the emergence of at least seven Jinas." That four of the Tirthankaras were held particularly sacred by the Jaina community of Mathură is proved by the find of several quadruple images, called pratima sarvatobhadrikā (known as caumukha-pratima in later periods) in the dedicatory inscriptions, one being dated in the year 5, presumably of Kaniska. This interesting type of images (plate 18) presents the figure of a Tirthaikara on each of the four sides of a stone block. The figures on two faces in most cases can easily be identified as Rşabhanåtha and Pārsvanātha distinguished by locks and serpent-hoods respectively. Of the remaining two, one is certainly Mahavira and the other might be Neminátha, who being the cousin of Krspa and Balarama, was greatly esteemed at Mathură. Capped by umbrellas, the sarvatobhadrika pratimas were most probably installed in the open within the sacred precincts of the Main Stupa. Reference may be made to a slab already noticed in connexion with the stūpas, bearing a dedicatory inscription in the year 99. Here four seated Tirtharkaras--two cach on either side of a stūpam-are represented in the upper register, one being Pārsvanātha. It is not unlikely that the panel conveys the idea of four images either installed in front of the four cardinal directions of a stupa or within the stūpa-niches facing the cardinal directions. An interesting class of images of the Kushan and post-Kushan periods represents a Tirthankara identified as Neminátha, flanked by Balarama and Vasudeva Krsna (or Vispu). One such images of the late Kushan period shows 1 The available inscriptions present the names of Vardhamana-Mahavira, Reabhanatba, Parsvandtha, Aristanemi (Neminatha) and Sambhavanatha. While the name of Santinatbe has boen doubtfully read by Bühler in a dedicatory inscription (Epigraphia Indica, I, p. 383), Bajpai road Munisuvrata in place of Nandidvarta (which is the cognizance of Aranktha) in an inscription dated 79 (Epigraphia Indica, II, p. 204) or 49 (Lüders, Liet, no. 47). * Journal of the U.P. Historical Society, XXIII, 1950, p. 36. • AMM, 2502; Journal of the U.P. Historical Society, XXIII, 1950, pp. 50 f. 66 Page #103 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTE 61 MATHURA Balarama with seven hoods and four hands : the upper right hand holds a hala (plough), the lower left hand being akimbo. Vasudeva-Krapa carries in the upper left hand a gadā (mace) and in upper right a cakra (wheel); the ob jects in the remaining two hands are broken. Above the figures are a projecting canopy and representation of leaves of the retasa, the kevala-tree of Naminatha. Among other figures, two are specially notoworthy. One (SML, J. 1) is the relief of Aryavati attended by three women holding an umbrella, & cumara and a garland and a boyish figure with fokled hands on an inscribed votive tablet of red sandstone (plate 19). The tablet, possibly an dydga-pata, bears & . dedicatory inscription of Amohini, dated in the year 72 (A.D. 15) of the Mahakşatrapa Sodāsa. Aryavati, who stands in sama-pada with her left hand near the waist and right hand in abhaya-mudra, bas generally been identified with Trišalā, mother of Mahävira. The other, though now headless, is highly interesting, being the carliest Jaina image of Sarasvati (plate 20) so far discovered. Dated in the year 54 (A.D. 132), it bears a dedicatory inscription. Seated squat with knees drawn up above an oblong pedestal, the goddess, specifically named as Sarasvati, holds a book in her left hand which rests on the waist. The broken palm of the right hand, which was raised to the shoulder, most probably held a rosary. The installation of an image of Sarasvati, the goddess of learning, at such an early period is of great import, as it would indicate that the Jainas not only attached great importance to the pursuit of knowledge but started the literary activity at a very early time." Images of the Tirthankaras of the first and second centuries A.D. are in a class and style apart from the human figures delineated on the railing-posts and tympana. Characterized by heavy shoulders and chest and archaic stolidity. these images with open eyes are rather stiff in pose and devoid of expression and grace. These features may not be duc either to the lack of skill of the artist or his conservative spirit to retain the features of the primitive carthbound figures of the Yakşas which served as the models for the images of Buddha, Bodhisattvas and Tirthankaras initially. It appears that the artist, though fairly at case in handling human form, was conditioned by the restraint Epigraphia Indica. II, R. 199; D.C. Sircar, Select Inscription, I, Caloutte, 1965, pp. 120 f. * SML, I. 24; Liders, Lisy, no. 54. • Jyoti Prumad Jain, The Jaine Sources of the History of Ancient India (100 B.C.-A.D. 900). Dethl, 1964, pp. 100-19. Page #104 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 (PAAT of the hieratic coteric to delineate images of the Tirthankaras in a manner that would emphasize their rigorous life and penance. Still, one cannot escape the feeling that the artist has not yet succeeded in giving expression to the true character of the serene Jinas, noted for their spiritual strength, firmness of will and discipline. This is particularly evident in the facial expression and the rendering of the limbs, which are disproportionate in most cases and are often flat. A considerable progress, however, was made by the sculptors towards the end of this period when the images started to assume fully-absorbed calm and contemplative expression, charming equipoise and grace which culminated in the spiritually luminous figures of the Gupta age. DEBALA MITRA STA Allo Lul 68 Page #105 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 7 EAST INDIA BIHAR OF ALL REGIONS, BIHAR WAS THE EARLIEST STRONGHOLD OF JAINTSM. Many of its villages and towns were graced by the presence of Mabăvira, the capitals and important towns of three of the east-Indian Mahă-janapadas, namely Voji, Magadha and Anga, being particularly associated with him. The Vrjian confederacy comprised eight or nine clans including the Licchavis and the Videhas. Vaisali, the capital of the Licchavis, was the native town of Mahāvira, as he was born at Kundagrāma, a suburb of the capital. His mother was a sister (according to another tradition daughter) of the Licchavi chief Cetaka. Mahävira, in the course of his wanderings, spent a large number of rainy seasons at Vaisalt and its suburb Vāpijyagrāma, and for six rainy seasons he was at Mithilā, the capital of Videha. Räjagtha, the capital of Magadha, was also a favourite varsdyasa of Mahāvira: here and in its neighbouring village of Nalanda, he spent as many as fourteen varsds or rainy seasons. According to the Jaina tradition, king Sreņika-Bimbisāra, who had married Cellanā, a daughter of Cetaka of Vajšali, and his son KönikaAjātaśatru were devoted to him, Campa, the capital of Anga, which was annexed to the Magadhan empire by Bimbisára, was also a favourite resort of Mahavira. Jainism continued to receive royal patronage in cast India even after the death of Mahåvira. Thus, when Udayabhadra, the successor of Ajātaśatru and a devout Jaina, ascended the throne of Magadha, which by this time had incorporated into itself the Licchavi principality, he built a Jaina shrine in the newly-founded capital of Pataliputra. Later on, the Nandas also were favourably disposed towards Jainism and their ministers were Jainas. According to late Jaina traditions, Candragupta Maurya, who brought to an end the rule of the Nandas, came under the influence of Jainism in his last days and left his capital Pataliputra, along with monk Bhadrabahu and a large * The Age of Imperial Untty, ed. R.C. Majumdar and A.D. Prsalker, Bombay, 1960, R 29. Page #106 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 [РТ Ц following for the south when a dreadful famine had overtaken Magadha. The famine is said to have lasted for twelve years, at the end of which was convened the first Jaina Council at Påfaliputra to compile the canon. Though Asoka, the grandson of Candragupta, took up the cause of Buddhism with great zcal, he did not neglect the Nirgranthas (Jainas) as may be gathered from his seventh Pillar-edict, wherein he says that his Dharma-mahămătras (officers of piety) were engaged equally among the Samgha (Buddhist church), Brāhmapas, Ajivikas and Nirgranthas. Among his successors Samprati is stated to have been a devout Jaina ruler, who rendered considerable service to the dissemination of the faith and constructed Jaina edifices." Though it is certain that the religion was in a flourishing state during this period, one is confronted with an extreme rarity of Jaina monuments and antiquities not only of this period but also of the earlier one in Bihar. Even at Vaišali (modern Basarh, District Vaishali), not a single Jaina monument of the early period has been identified so far, though the place was closely associated with Mahavira and was reported to have a stūpa dedicated to Munisuvrata. The earliest Jaina monument identified so far at Rājagtha (modern Rajgir, District Nalandā) is a set of two rock-cut caves, the western one of which is known as Sonbhandar. On the basis of the palacography of an inscription on the facade of this cave, which records the dedication of images of Arhats, the caves have generally been ascribed to the third or fourth century A.D.: However, as suggested by Saraswati, the caves appear to be earlier than this 1 Ibid. p. 89; U.P. Shah, Studies in Jalna Art, Banaras, 1955, p. 6. * Shah, op. cit., pp. 9 and 62. M.H. Kuraishi and A. Ghosh, Rajgir, New Delhi, 1958, p. 25. • S.K. Saraswati in Majumdar and Pusalker, op. cit., p. 503. [Soe below chapter 11 and plate 51A. It is difficult to separate chronologically the excavation of the caves from the carvings the early Gupta Jina bas-reliefs in the eastern cave and inscription of the same period on the outer wall of the western cave recording that Acaryaratda Muni Vairadeva bad the two caves, in which was the installation of the images of Arbats, made (excavated) for the attainment of nirvana. It is conceivable that in this region where rock-cut monuments are rare any evolution of rock-architecture would be slow, if not virtually non-existent. This may explain the resemblance between the Soubhandar caves on the one hand and the Mauryan ones at Barabar and Nagarjuni on the other, on which ground Saraswati assigns an early date to the former. To sult the theory of an carly date of the caves, it has even been suggested that the inscription belongs to the first-second century A.D. (Hiralal Jain, Bharatiya Sanskrti men Jaina-Dharma kd Yoga-ddna, Bhopal, 1962, pp. 308-09), but that is palacographically not possible.-Editor.] Page #107 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 7] EAST INDIA period. Fit for the residence of Jaina monks, the caves are spacious oblong chambers with an arched ceiling rising from an inconspicuous ledge, the latter projecting above the vertical walls. An early feature of the western cave is the sloping jambs of the door, the opening at the base being wider than that at the top an irrational imitation of wooden constructions in live rock. This cave, which is larger than the eastern one, is provided with a small squarish window, also with plain sloping sides. There are traces of high polish on the walls. The existence of sockets show the prior existence of doorleaves. The only early Jaina remains so far discovered at Pataliputra (Patna) are from Lohanipur (Patna). The site yielded two nude stone torsos, the lower portion of a head, a mutilated arm or leg and the plinth of a brick structure (2.68 m. square), on the footing of which was found a worn-out silver punchmarked coin. Unfortunately the discovery was not followed by planned excavation, with the result that we are left in the dark about the remains of one of the earliest Jaina establishments. The fragmentary head and one (plate 21A) of the two torsos, both of sandstone, bear the characteristic Mauryan polish. Evidently, they belonged to the Mauryan times. The head, which is too large for the torso, apparently belonged to another sculpture. The portion above the tip of the nose is not extant; to judge from the available portion, the face with firm lips was roundish. Though a large, portion of the two arms of the polished torso is missing, the figure was apparently in kayotsarga-pose with arms falling along the thighs, a presumption supported not only by the rendering of the extant upper part of the arms and the pose of the body but by the indications of fractures left on the thighs where the palms or wrists touched. The figure no doubt represents a Tirthankara. The modelling of the torso, which is in the round, is fairly naturalistic, bearing the imprint of a master hand. In sculptural qualities it is on a plane much superior to the other torso (plate 21B) of Lohanipur. The arms of the latter, which also are in kayotsarga-pose, are disproportionately short. Rendered in the tradition of the primitive Yakşa statues, this torso is probably not earlier than the first century B.C. The accidental discovery of a hoard of eighteen Jaina bronzes at Chausa (District Bhojpur) opens before us the possibility of the find of early Jaina monuments at the place or in its neighbourhood. Unfortunately, here, too, 1K.P. Jayaswal, Jaina image of Maurya period', Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society, XXIII, 1937, pp. 130-32; A. Banerji-Sastri, Mauryan sculptures from Lobanipur, Paton', Ibid., XXVI, 1940, pp. 120-24. 71 Page #108 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 [PART II the discovery has not been followed up by systematic survey and excavation. The hoard includes sixteen images of the Tirthankaras, an aśoka-tree and a dharma-cakra (plate 21C) on a post, the last ascribable to the first century A.D. Among the images of the Tirthankaras, ten are in kayotsarga-pose, while six are seated in dhyana-mudra. The group is highly interesting on account of the fact that the images covering a period of nearly four hundred years record the artistic achievements of bronze-casters from the period of experimentation to the culmination in the well-modelled graceful figures of the Gupta period. While two of the seated images are stylistically ascribable to the post-Kushan to early Gupta period, the remaining four are of the Gupta period. The standing images, all robeless, cover a wider period from the preKushan to the Gupta period. Some of the figures, with stump-like legs, crude workmanship and disproportionate modelling, are in folk-tradition. These primitive figures appear to be somewhat earlier than Kushan. A good Kushan example is furnished by the Patna Museum 6530 (plate 22A). Characterized by a broad chest, roundish face and open eyes, it is in the tradition of Mathura. Here, too, no attention has been paid to the modelling of legs. A considerable progress in the proportionate and graceful modelling of different limbs is noticeable in the images produced in the third-fourth century A.D. (plate 22B). Läñchanas are depicted in none of the images, so that Ṛṣabhanatha and Pārsvanatha alone can be identified by the locks of hair and serpent-hoods respectively. In the well-preserved example, the śrivatsamark is clear on the chest. WEST BENGAL It is not definitely known when Jainism firmly established itself in Bengal. From the Acaranga-sutra it is learnt that Mahavira received inhospitable treatment during his wanderings in Ladha (i.e. Radha) consisting of Vajjabhumi (Vajrabhūmi) and Subbhabhumi (Suhmabhümi). From a legend recorded in the Divyavadana it is generally held that Pundravardhana (in north Bengal) had 1 Patna Museum Catalogue of Antiquities, ed. Parameshwari Lal Gupta, Patna, 1965, pp. 116 and 117; Hari Kishore Prasad, 'Jaina bronzes in the Patna Museum', Shri Mahavira Jaina Vidyalaya Golden Jubilee Volume, I, Bombay, 1968, pp. 275-83. [See below, Chapter 11-Editor.] • Jaina Sutras, part I, Acdränga Sutra, trans. H. Jacobi, Sacred Books of the East, XXII, Oxford, 1884, pp. 84 and 85. 72 T Page #109 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 7) EAST INDIA A. Lohanipur : torso of a Tirthankara 13 B. Lohanipur : torso of a Tirthankara PLATE 21 Page #110 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 [PART II A. Chausa : a bronze Tirtba kara B. Chausa : bronze Rşabhanatha C, Chausa : bronze asoka-tree and dharma-cakra PLATE 22 Page #111 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ Cek 7) . 0 5 . 'A *JU : EAST INDIA VA. .. VA Udayagiri : Cave 9, exterior PLATE 23 Page #112 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 Udayagiri Cave 1, lower storey, worship of a cult-object PLATE 24 [PART II Page #113 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 7] 307 Udayagiri Cave 1, exterior PLATE 25 EAST INDIA Page #114 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MÖKUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 es . Khandagiri : Cave 3, exterior PLATE 26 Page #115 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 7) EAST INDIA . . Khandagiri : Cave 3, worship of tree on tympanum PLATE 27 Page #116 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 [PART II Khandagiri : Cave 3, Gaja-Lakşmi on tympanum PLATE 28 Page #117 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER - BAST INDIA been a stronghold of Jainism and Ajivika faith at the time of Asoka." Accord. inc- to this legend." Ašoka, on finding that a lav-follower of the Nirgrantha of Pundravardhananagara (modern Mahästhāngarh, District Bogra, Bangladesh had drawn a picture showing Buddha at the feet of the Nirgrantha, caused a holocaust of eighteen thousand Ajivikas of Pundravardhana. That the religion was well-established in a large part of Bengal prior to the redaction of the Kalpa-sätra is proved by the mention in this text of the Tamraliptik (known after Tamralipti, modern Tamluk, District Midnapur), Kotivarsiya (named after Kotivarsa, probably Bangarh in District West Dinajpur and Pandravardhaniya sakhas of a gana founded by Godása, a disciple of Bhadrababu, who was a contemporary of Candragupta Maurya. Though the redaction of the text of the Kalpa-sutra in its present form was not earlier than the fifth-sixth century A.D., it embodies a good amount of old traditions, as is proved by the Mathura inscriptions of the first century A.D. and onwards. These inscriptions record the names of several ganas with their kulas and sakhas which are enumerated in the Kalpa-sütra. An inscription of the year 62 (A.D. 140) found on the pedestal of a Jaina image from Mathură mențions a Jina monk with the epithet Räraka, which has been interpreted as a 'native of Rära," equated with Rādba (western Bergal). Unfortunately, not a single Jina relic of the period has so far been located in Bengal. The earliest document with Jaina affiliation is the Paharpur (District Rajshahi, Bangladesh) copper-plate of the year 159 of the Gupta era, recording the endowment of lands for the maintenance of the ceremonial worship of Arhats, with sandal-paste, incense, flowers, lamps, etc., by a Brahmapa couple at the vihara Vata-Gohåll. As the vihara is stated to have been presided over by the disciples and the disciples disciples of the Nirgranthaśramanācārya Guhanandin belonging to the Panca-stūpa-nikaya of Kāśi, it is. very likely that it existed at Paharpur even in the fourth century A.D. Whether the nucleus of the Jaina establishment went back earlier is not known. ORISSA From early times, Kalinga (comprising a large part of Orissa) was a. stronghold of Jainism. Mahävira is stated to have visited this country. That 1 Divydvaddna, Baddhist Sanskrit Texts, Darbhanga, 1959, p. 277; R.C. Majumdar, Jainism in Ancient Bengal, Shri Mahdvira Jana Vidydlaya Golden Jubilee Volume, 1, p. 135. • Jacobi, op. att., p. 288. . , K.D. Bandyopadhyaya, Mathura inscriptions in the Indian Muscum', Journal of the Astatic Society of Bengal, New Series, V, 1909. pp. 239-40. *R.C. Majumdar; op, dt. p. 136. . Epigraphie Indica, XX, 1929-30, pp. 59.64.. Page #118 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 PART 1 the religion had a footing in Kalinga as early as the fourth century B.C. is proved by the Hathi-gumpha (one of the caves of the Udayagiri hill near Bhubaneswar) inscription' of Khåravela (first century, according to a less probable view second century, B.C.), the third king of the Mahameghavahana family of the Ceti dynasty of Kalinga. In this inscription, which preambles with an invocation of the Arhats and Siddhas, this powerful ruler claims to have brought back to Kalinga the Kalinga-Jina which had earlier bocn wrested away by a Nanda king. It is not unlikely that this sacred Kalinga-Jina had originally been installed on the Udayagiri hill itself and also was, after its Fecovery, reinstalled there by Khåravela. This low hill, along with the abut. ting hill of Khandagiri, was a Jaina centre from a very early period. The prime considerations for the selection of this twin hill for the site of the Jaina establishment were, evidently, their secluded situation ensuring a proper atmosphere for meditation and monastic life and proximity to the populous capital (identified with Sisupalgarh, 10 km. south-east of the hills) of Kalinga, where the monks could easily go on their missionary rounds and from where the devotees might come to pay homage to the ascetics and perform worship at the sanctuary The Jaina establishment on the Udayagiri and Khandagiri hills flouTished tremendously during the rule of Mahămeghavahanas. From the Hăthigumphā inscription it is evident that Khåravela, who professed Jainism, championed the cause of the faith with great zeal. In the thirteenth year of his rule, he not only excavated caves for the Jaina ascetics in the Kumäriparvata (present Udayagiri) but erected on the prägbhdra of the hill, close to the monastic retreats, a costly structure (presumably a shrine) with stones collected from distant quarries and a pillar having cat's-eye gem in its core. Though there are no doubt a good number of monastic caves of the period of Khäravela, due to the lack of inscriptional evidence it is not possible to identify the particular caves excavated at the instance of this king. Other members of the royal family also took active part in the pious donations of caves. Thus, from the dedicatory inscription on the facade of the upper storey (locally called · Edited and commented upon by many scholars, including Dines Chandra Sircar, Select Inscriptions bearing on Indian History and Civilization, 1, Calcutta, 1965, pp. 213-21. For the Udayagiri-Khandagiri caves, see James Ferguson and James Burgeu, The Cave Temples of India, London, 1880, pp. 55-94; Rajendralala Mitra, Antiquities of Orisse, LI, Calcutta, 1880, pp. 1-46; James Fergusson, A History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, London, 1910, pp. 9-18; Debala Mitra, Udayagiri and Khandagiri, Now Delhi, 1960, 74 Page #119 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ EAST INDIA AL STRUCTURE U DA YAGI 16G KHAN DAGIRI JANA-TURE 20 UPTACANA DEVA-SABHA OHMMASALA AKASAGANDA 061 - +20 -100 NSPECTION BUNGALOW Rok OWOK 9900 HO 200 230 ° FEET SYAMKUNDA 100X7 T'ITZ (54002m)ABOVE MEAN SEA-LEVEL CONTOUR-INTERV 10 Ft (3048 m) NUMBERS OF CAVES SHOWN THUS O 13003 ho VELKRONAS FIG. III. Udayagiri and Khundagiri : layout of the caves Page #120 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 (PART II Svargapuri) of Cave 9 (plates 23 and 24) of the Udayagiri hill, it is known that this storey owed its origin to the piety of the chief queen of Khåravela. Again, two of the cells of the ground floor (locally called Manicapurt) of this cave were dedicated by Mahärāja Kūdepa (or Vakradeva) and Kumāra (prince) Vadukha (Uvadukha). Kūdepa appears to have been a successor of Khåravela as the excavation of caves generally started from the top, the upper floor with the dedicatory inscription of Khāravela's queen appearing to be earlier than the ground floor. While most of the caves were excavated during the régime of the Mahāmeghavāhanas (first centuries B.C. and A.D.), some might have had an earlier origin. Not a single cave of this period was meant to be a shrine, all of them having been designed as the dwelling-retreats (viharas) of the Jaina recluses. That the cells were planned as dormitories is proved by the sloping rise of the floor at the rear end, extending from one side-wall to the other, to serve the purpose of a running pillow. In much later periods some of these dwelling-cells were converted into shrines with minor alterations and additions of the reliefs of the Tirthankaras. Not planned with a systematic layout (fig. III), the monastic retreats were excavated at different heights. The excavators saved both labour and expense by following the configuration of the rock and connecting different units by rock-cut steps wherever necessary. A predilection was towards excavation near the top of the ledge or boulder, probably to relieve the load over the caves, the sandstone of the hill being of a brittle variety. Meant for the residence of Jaina ascetics, who were noted for their selfmortification, the caves provided little amenities. The height of most of the caves, including the exceptionally large Raņi-gumphà (Cave I, plato 25) of the Udayagiri hill is too low for a person to stand erect. The remaining ones are only slightly more than the height of a man. Some of the caves are too narrow for a person even to stretch. The door-openings are invariably small, and one has almost to crawl to enter the cells through them. The cells were not provided with niches. The only places where scriptures and articles of bare necessity could be kept are the rock-cut shelves across the side-walls of the verandah. The interior of the cells is austerely plain, but in important instances their façades and the brackets supporting the ceilings of the verandahs are decorated with carvings and sculptures (plate 33). A fully-developed monastery presents one or more cells preceded by a common verandah, the latter having a levelled ground for the courtyard in Page #121 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 71 EAST INDIA some cases like Caves 1 (Rani-gumpha, plate 25), 9 (Mañcapurl and Svargapuri, plate 23) and 10 (Ganesa-gumpha) of the Udayagiri hill and Cave 3 (Ananta-gumpha, plates 26 and 27) of the Khandagiri hill. The cells are arrayed on one, two or even three sides of the verandah, the first layout being the commonest. What distinguishes the Räni-gurapha is the provision of two small wings of cells fronted by a verandah, at right angles to the main wing, and two small guard-rooms on the ground-floor. The upper storey generally is not perched directly on the lower but recedes back, this arrangement being either to lessen the load or to follow the configuration of the slope of the rock or even to both. The open space in front of the Svargapurl is edged by a rock-cut railing (plate 23), which gives it the appearance of a balcony. Notwithstanding their being the work of rock-cutters and sculptors and not of masons and engineers required in a true piece of architecture, these rock-cut caves, by their emulating structures of timber, bamboo and thatch, have important place in the history of Jaina architecture. Their importance is further increased by the paucity of extant Jaina buildings of this period. The excavators attempted to copy in live rock structural houses with which they were familiar, with the result that the features peculiar to wooden, tiled and thatched houses were reproduced even if they are irrational and unnecessary for stability. Thus, the ceilings of the cells are in some cases arched and convex like that of a hut; the ceilings of the verandahs supported on brackets and architraves perched on pillars, as in a hut with bamboo and wooden posts, are mostly lower than those of the cells; the floors of the verandahs are at a level lower than those of the cells; the roofs of the verandahs project outward in the form of caves, the inner sides of the latter being curved as in thatched or wooden huts to break the flow of rain-water; the door-jambs incline inwards making the opening slightly wider at the base than at the top, which is inappropriate in masonry or rock. The cells are adequately lighted, not only through their opening directly into the verandah or even in the open but also by the profusion of doors, the number of which varies from one to four depending on the size of the cells. In some rare instances there are windows as well. The doors have grooves, cut all around their outer frames, probably to receive movable wooden shutters. Additional holes for hinges, one each at the threshold and the lintel, in a few cases, suggest a single door-leaf. That the walls of the caves were at one time plastored is indicated by patches of shell-lime lingering at places. The caves can be grouped into two broad categories--one plain without a piltaned verandah and the other with a regular pillared verandah. Whether Page #122 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 [PART II this division has any chronological significance or not cannot be determined, though, on general grounds, some caves of the first category appear to have been earlier than the latter. The former are small, mostly open in front and without any architectural pretension. In a few cases, as in Cave 12 (Baghgumphă) of the Udayagiri hill, the roof of the cell projects forward to form a verandah. In most of the caves, which are absolutely open in front, a horizontal chase is seen on the facade. Whether it is meant to divert the rain-water outside the cells or to receive an wooden adjunct is not known. The date of these particular caves is difficult to determine in the absence of inscriptions in them. The interval of time between the excavations of individual caves of the second category would not appear to be considerable if we examine their architectural features. Architecturally, these caves form practically one homogenous group, without evincing any appreciable process of development. They are all characterized by a benched verandah; their pillars are of a uniform pattern, square below and above and octagonal in the middle, the corners of the squares chamfered with the resultant formation of semicircles at the points of transition (plate 23); they have a similar arrangement of the decoration of the facade of the cells with pilasters, semicircular arches, railings (plate 31) and sometimes mouldings simulating the barrel-vaulted roofs of structures. None of them bespeaks any different architectonic tradition. On the basis of their architectural features and the palacography of the inscriptions they bear, they are assignable to the first century B.C. with a probable extension into the next century. As already noted (above, p. 76), all the rock-cut caves of the period were meant for the habitation of the Jaina recluses, none being designed as a shrine. Evidently the place of worship on the hills was a structural one. Fortunately a small digging' by the author of the uneven, sloping and narrow top of the Udayagiri hill, immediately above the brow of the rock bearing the inscription of Khäravela, yielded the lower portion of a large apsidal structure (fig. IV; plate 34), which, no doubt, provided the place of worship. As excavated, the outer wall of this structure, 23.77 m. in axial length and 14:62 m. in basal width, was made of laterite slabs, the maximum available courses being eight. Within the structure, towards its apse-end was a circular wall, of which only one course of laterite slabs was extant. A large part of the space within the apsidal structure was flagged with laterite slabs, with a 1 Indian Archaeology 1958-59--a Review, ed. A. Ghosh, Now Delhi, 1959, pp. 38-40. Page #123 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CRM 71 EAST INDIA APSIDAL STRUCTURE, UDAYAGIRI 8CD-ROCK POST HOES DOST HO.ES 4503 BED-A0 EARLEST STRUCTURE EARLIEST Stacrueer POST-HOLE FIG. IV. Udayagiri : apeidal structure on the top of the hill filling of lateritic soil underneath; towards the northern end where the sandstone bed-rock rose higher, the rock itself was roughly dressed in a level with the paved surface. From this, it appears that the flagged surface was not intended as the floor which was probably laid slightly higher up so as to cover both the bed-rock and flag-stones. The last were presumably laid with the object of securing a firm level ground above the filling in the depressions of the hill-top. The outer edges of some of the stones of the circular wall rosted on this paving, which, however, was not traceable within the circular wall. The oblong space in front of the circular wall was enclosed by walls, raised on the paved surface within the framework of the apsidal structure, to form a chamber While the walls of three sides of this chamber ran parallel to the walls of the apsidal structure, a portion of the wall of the circular structure itself formed the back wall of this chamber, there being no other wall on this particular side. The ends of the side-walts of this chamber, with their bevelled edges, joined the circular wall so cohorently that the outer plan of the two together became apsidal, the interior plan being analogous to that of the Sudāma Cayo of the Barabar hills (Bihar) and the cattyp grka at Kondivnute (Maharashtra). The Page #124 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 [PART 1 lack of proper bonding of the walls of the two at first led the author to think that the oblong chamber, the walls of which abut the circular wall, was later than the circular wall. However, on the analogy of several temples of Bhubaneswar where the walls of the porch abut the front wall of the sanctum without a proper bonding, it is now felt that both the chamber and the circular wall were contemporaneous. In the middle of the three walls of the oblong chamber was an opening, presumably for doors. As the circular wall had been reduced to a single course when excavated, it is difficult to determine its exact nature and use. However, the plan of the entire complex is so similar to the Buddhist caitya-grhas with their apse, nave and side aisles that it is very likely that the circular wall formed the sanctum of the apse and the oblong chamber the hall or nave. On the same analogy the space between their outer wall and the inner edge of the outer apsidal wall could have been used as circumambulatory side aisles. The two arc-like buttress-walls of laterite blocks placed on edge in somewhat receding courses, that could be seen near the base within the framework of the apsidal structure, were presumably erected to sustain the deep depression filling and its overlying flag-stones below the two front corner-walls of the oblong hall, so that the walls of the latter might not sag. It is not unlikely that there was a barred railing around the structure. for amidst the débris adjoining the terrace in front of the Hathi-gumphā were found a few fragments of carved sandstone railings. A rough idea of the elevation of the apsidal structure may be had from the upper part of a relief (plate 29) on the facade of the ground-floor of Rāņi-gumphā. There were several holes at fairly regular intervals in the bed-rock around the outer wall of the apsidal structure. Evidently they held posts. Whether the posts were short to form part of a railing or long to support an architrave (from the top of which projected the eaves) is not known. In the northern corner of the apsidal structure was a drain cut into the bed-rock and covered with laterite slabs flush with the paving for channelling out water outside. Partly below the circular structure, and seemingly unconßected with it, was a small oblong chamber, of which one course of laterite slabs is available. It seems to have been the first structure on the site. 80 Page #125 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 7] EAST INDIA Udayagiri : Cave 1, lower storey, main wing, relief of a doublo-storeyed structure PLATB 29 Page #126 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 [PART II Udayagiri : Cave 1, lower storey, right wing, a danseuse amidst musicians op back wall of verandah PLATE 30 Page #127 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 7] Udayagiri Cave 1, lower storey, right wing, frieze on back wall of verandah PLATE 31 EAST INDIA Page #128 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 A. Udayagiri Cave 1, upper storey, main wing, frieze on back wall of verandah B. Udayagiri Cave 1, upper storey, main wing, frieze on back wall of verandah PLATE 32 [PART II Page #129 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 7] BAST INDIA A. Udayagiri: Cave I, upper storey, main wing, frieze on back wall of verandah B. Udayagiri : Cave 10, frieze on back wall of verandah PLATE 33 Page #130 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ [PART II MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 Udayagırı apsidal shrine on hill-top PLATE 34 Page #131 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 7] EAST INDIA Udayagiri : ramp supported by retaining-wall PLATE 35 Page #132 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 12 B. Udayagiri Yakşi, back view PLATE 36 A. Udayagiri Yakşi [PART II Page #133 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 7 EAST INDIA In the absence of definite evidence, it is difficult to determine whether the object enshrined in the circular sanctum was a stūpa, an auspicious symbol or the image of a Tirthankara. The third alternative does not recommend itself in view of the total absence of the figures of Tirtharkaras in the original reliefs on the caves. On the other hand, we find the worship of the sacred tree (plate 27) depicted on the facades of Cave 3 (Ananta-gumpha) of the Khandagiri hill and Cave 5 (Jaya-Vijaya-gumpha) of the Udayagiri hill. Again, on the back wall of Cave 3 of the Khandagiri hill is carved a nandipada on a pedestal flanked on either side by three symbols—a triangle-headed one, $rivatsa and svastika-all of which are found on the dyaga-patas of Mathura. The cult-object (plate 24) in worship by a royal family depicted on the façade of Cave 9 (Maficapuri) of Udayagiri is not certainly an image of a Tirthankara, though it cannot be correctly identified on account of defacement. Over the defaced object (somewhat cylindrical in form), which rests on a high, possibly circular, platform, is perhaps an umbrella. In the light of these facts and also in view of the circular plan of the sanctum, the object of worship within might have been either a stupa or a sacred emblem on a circular pedestal. A noteworthy feature, though inexplicable for want of evidence, was a fragment of coarse rock, roughly in the centre of the circular structure, with a squarish scooping with chisel-marks on it. Whether the socket originally contained relics, the base of the post of an umbrella or the tenon of the sacred emblem is now a matter of mere conjecture. That the object in the circular structure was of high sanctity and attracted pilgrims is proved by the arrangement in front of the Hathi-gumphã. As already noted, the top of Udayagiri is narrow. In fact, the apsidal structure practically covers the entire top of this particular portion of the hill, the vacant space not being extensive enough to accommodate any large assemblage. To make necessary accommodation for the occasional gathering, an artificial terrace was raised in front of the Hathi-gumph with the necessary filling retained by walls running towards Cave 9 and Cave 17. Approach to this terrace was provided by laying an imposing ramp (plate 35) rising gradually from the foot of the hill and reaching the terrace. Supported on either side by retaining-walls and flagged with laterite slabs, the ramp was wide enough to allow easy passage even to a chariot. The débris edging the retaiming-walls of the terrace near the steps giving access to Cave 17 yielded a few fragments of carved railings and the upper part of a female figure (plate 36) sculptured in the round, all of sandstone and of the first century BC. Page #134 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 {PART II The apsidal structure is singular on account of its plan which has not so far been noticed in the later temples of Orissa. The plan itself points to its early origin. However, the date of the structure is uncertain but can be guessed from circumstantial evidence. As has been stated above, it is perched on the hill-top, immediately below which, on the brow of a cave (Hathi-gumphā, Cave 14), is the famous inscription of Kharavela, wherein, among other things, he recounts his activities, including excavation of caves and erection of a certain stone edifice and pillar on the Kumari hill (present Udayagiri). Architecturally, the Hathi-gumpha itself is insignificant, being, in fact, only a large natural cavern of irregular shape, enlarged by human hands for some sort of shelter, as shown by chiselling and finishing at the back of side-walls, for occasional assemblages. On the walls are scratched a few names, possibly of pilgrims, some in Gupta characters. The presence of the important record of the mighty ruler on the brow of such an unimportant cave would be fully explained on the assumption that Kharavela himself was responsible for the erection of the apsidal shrine above it. As already noted, the interiors of the cave are austerely plain. However, the façades of the cells, in several caves, are richly decorated with pilasters with animal-capitals supporting carved arches (plate 31) above door-openings, the arches being often connected together by railings (plates 24 and 31) supported by carved and sculptured brackets (plates 32 and 33). The spaces above the railings in some caves contain luxuriant reliefs (plates 24, 30 and 33B) depicting scenes, both religious and secular. Some of the friezes have narrative themes (plates 32B and 33B). The tympana below the arches in a few caves, like the Ananta-gumpha, also bear reliefs (plates 27 and 28). There are again carved and sculptured brackets, which, rising from the pillars, support the ceilings of the verandahs. Some of the pilasters of the verandahs have against them large-sized figures, mostly dvara-palas, in fairly high relief. The façades of the two guard-rooms of the Räni-gumpha which received the most exuberant treatment in carvings and sculptured friezes and panels, arc also richly carved. Almost all the decorative patterns used in embellishments are found at Bharhut and Sanchi, pointing thereby to one common tradition. This, coupled with the use of some west-Asian motifs like the honeysuckle, merlon and winged animal, which had a wide distribution over a large part of India in this period, precludes the possibility of an independent and isolated development of the art-motifs and tradition. In the patterns themselves also there is hardly 82 Page #135 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CLAIR 7 BAST INDIA anything which is specifically Jaina, for the same motifs are used both by the Buddhists and followers of the Brahmanical faiths. Although conforming to the common denominator of the art-tradition of Madhyadeśa, the sculptured friezes have a distinct place of their own in early Indian art. The facial features of many of the figures have a provincial look. The workmanship of the reliefs is by no means uniform, but taken as a whole, the execution displays a decided advance on the work of Bharhut. The lower storey of the main wing of Cave 1 (Rāni-gumpha) has a running frieze which appears to depict the victorious march of a dig-vijayin king, starting from his capital, where people gaze at his departure from their houses and his return to the capital after passing through many lands. It is tempting to think that the exploits of Khāra vela inspired the theme of this long frieze.1 The friezes (plates 32A and 33A) on the facade of the main wing of the upper storey of Cave 1 compare favourably with the reliefs of the gateways of Sanchi and have practically nothing that would savour of the archaic traits of Bharhut, like frontality, lack of perspective, rudimentary plastic conception, etc. The reliefs display the artist's appreciable mastery over forms and skill in depicting figures in varied positions-front, back and side. The faces are rendered in full or in three-quarters and half profiles. The poses of the figures are fairly easy and natural, their movement elastic and emotions tolerably well-expressed. The composition is also fairly coherent and effective; the different figures bear relationship with one another. The reliefs are also mature in depth, displaying a considerable plasticity of form and naturalistic modelling. Slender figures of men and women are marked by a suavity of outline. The reliefs on the other caves and even those of the lower storey of Cave 1, to a certain extent, are not of this standard. They are relatively crude and Mitra, op. cit., pp. 20-22. According to one scholar, the scenes from this frieze would represent Parsvanitha's wanderings as a Tirtha kara and the honours shown to him. According to the same scholar again, the friezes on the upper storey of Cave 1 and on the front wall of Cavo 10 (Ganesa-gumpba) also represent scenes from the life of PÅrsvanatha including his rescue of Prabharati and his subsequent marriage with her (L.S.S.O. Malloy, Bengal District Gazetteers Purt, Calcutta, 1908, pp. 256-and 259). However, V.S. Agrawala is inclined to identify two of these scones with episodes from the maies of Dugyanta-Sankuntall and UdayanaVinvadatta ("Varvadatta and Sakuntald scenes in the Rantgumpha cave in Orisha', Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental An, XIV, 1946, pp. 102-09). 83 Page #136 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 [PART II inferior in plastic treatment and vivacity. The figures are less elastic, modelling coarse and grouping less coherent. The inequality in artistic attainments becomes palpable when one compares the abduction-scene (plate 33B) in Cave 10 (Ganesa-gumpha) with that (plate 33A) of the upper storey of Cave 1 (Rāņi-gumpha). The difference may be due to the varied skill of the artists or the interval of time which enabled the artists, improving through experience, to attain mastery in sculptural qualities and compositions, though the interval could not have been appreciable. 84 DEBALA MITRA Page #137 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 8 WEST INDIA MEDIEVAL JAINA TRADITIONS SPEAK OF MAHAVIRA'S VISIT TO WEST INDIA, especially Bhinmal (Bhillamala) in south-west Rajasthan or Marwar and Mundasthala (modern Mungthala) near Mount Abu. An inscription dated v.s. 1334 (A.D. 1277), recording the consecration of the Mahavira temple at Bhinmal by Pürpacandra Süri, says that Mahavira had visited Bhillamāla.1 A later inscription, of v.s. 1426 (A.D. 1369), from the Jaina temple at Mungthala also says that Mahavira had visited that place. But Mahavira's itinerary seems to have been limited to east India only. He had been to Ladha (Radha) in the east where he suffered great hardships at the hands of local primitive population. Mauryan rule extended westward at least up to Bairat in Rajasthan, Girnar in Gujarat and Sopara in the Deccan as evidenced by Aśoka's edicts at these places, and it is very likely that his grandson Samprati, whose patronage to Jainism is well-attested by early texts like the Bṛhat-Kalpa-Bhasya and the Nisitha-Curni, did continue to exercise control over these parts. But no relic of Jaina art which can be definitely assigned to the Mauryan or Sunga period has been discovered from these regions. A fragmentary inscription discovered at Barli, Ajmer District, was read as referring to the year 84 after Vira and to Majhamika (Madhyamika), modern Nagari near Chitorgarh. D.C. Sircar has, however, shown that the reading Vīrāt 84 is not tenable, and hence the Jaina association of this inscription is now discarded. 1 Progress Report, Archaeological Survey of India, Western Circle, 1907-08 p. 35. Muniraja Śrl-Jayantavijaya, Arbudacala Pradaksinä Jaina lekha-sandoha, Bhavnagar, 1947, V, inscription 48. • Brhat-Kalpa-Bharya, III, gdthds 3277-3289, pp. 917-21; Nitha-Curni,, section 5, gäihd 2154, and Cürni, p. 362: Sthaviravali-caritra or Parisistaparvan of Hemacandra, XI, 55-110. 4R.R. Halder in Indian Antiquary, LVIII, 1921, p. 229; G.H. Ojha, Bharatiya Pracina Lipimala, Ajmer, 1918, pp. 2-3; K.P. Jayaswal in Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society, XVI, 1930, pp. 67-68. *D.C. Sircar, 'Barli fragmentary stone inscription', Journal of the Bihar Research Society, XXXVII, 1951, pp. 34-38. $5 Page #138 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 [PART II The Vasudeva-hindi, an early text of the fourth-fifth century A.D., speaks of a Jivantasvāmin (life-time image of Mahavira) at Ujjain. The Brhat-KalpaBhasya (circa sixth century) also refers to it, and the Tikd on this work gives a fuller account of the conversion of Samprati to Jainism by Arya Suhastin during the ratha-yatra festival (of this image) at Ujjain." The Avašyaka-Cūrni of Jinadāsa (seventh century) gives an account of the queen of Uddayapa of Vitabhayapattana, in Sindhu-Sauvira, as worshipping a Jivantasvāmin sandalwood portrait of Mahavira, which was later carried off by Pradyota of Avanti and ultimately continued in worship at Vidišā. But we have no other evidence of Jina worship in Maurya or Sunga period in territories west of Avanti-Malwa region. The first portrait-sculpture of Mahāvira, made of sandalwood, was thus worshipped by the queen of king Uddāyana of Vitabhayapattana. This was carried away by Pradyota of Avanti and installed for worship later at Vidiśā. But Pradyota took away the original only after depositing a copy of it in Vitabhayapattana. A further interesting account of these statues is given by the great scholiast and monk Hemacandrācārya in his Trisasti-salākā-purusacarita, which shows that the original image of Vidišā later came to be worshipped as Bhaillasvamin," while the copy at Vitabhayapattana was buried in a sandstorm along with the city itself. Uddayana had installed it in a temple and donated gifts for its worship by issuing royal charters. According to Hemacandra, Kumarapāla, the Caulukyan king whose rule extended up to Sind in the west, Jalor and parts of Rajasthan in the north and over almost the whole of modern Gujarat, sent special officers to the site of the capital of Sauvirā, and they dug out the wooden statue along with the charter issued by * Vasudeva-hindi, ed. Muni Chaturvijaya and Punyavijaya, Bhavnagar, 1930, khanda I, part I, p. 61. The image at Ujjain is also referred to in the Avasyaka-Cürni of Jinadasa, Ratiem, 1923, II, p. 157. For the Jivantasvāmin image, see U.P. Shah, 'A unique Jaina image of Jivantagvāmi', Journal of the Oriental Institute, I, 1951-52, pp. 72-79, and 'Sidelights on the life-time sandalwood image of Mahāvira', ibid., pp. 358-68. Brhat-Kalpa-Bhasya, III, gåtha 3277, pp. 917 ff. The Kalpa-Cümnt, still in MSS. (earlier than the Tikä on Bphat-Kalpa-Bhasya), also describes this, sce quotation in Muni Kalyanavijaya, "Vira-pirvåņa-samvat aur Jaina kalaganana', Ndgari Pracårini Patrika (Hindi journal), Benaras, X, 1930. Avasyaka.Caraca, Surat, 1999 Avašyaka-Cural, I, pp. 397-401, commenting on Av.-Niryukti, gdthd 774. Also see Ay-Vriti of Haribbadra, Surat, 1916, I, part 2, pp. 296-300; Iv.-Niryakth, 1, pp. 156 f.; Jagdish Chandra Jain, Life as Depicted in the Jaina Canons, Bombay, 1947, p. 349; Shah, op. cit. Trisasti-Salaka-purusa-carita, parvan 10, sarga 11, especially verses 604 ff. Ibid., sarga 11, verses 623 ff. Page #139 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 8) WEST INDIA Uddayana. Hemacandra further says that these were brought to Patan and the image was installed in a new shrine by Kumarapala, whose leanings towards and patronage of Jainism are well-known. If this contemporary account is true, and it is difficult to believe that a person of the stature of Hemacandra would have cared to fabricate it or narrate from hearsay, then we have to admit that even during the life-time of Mahavira Jaina art and Jina worship had spread not only in MalwaAvanti region but also westward as far as Sindhu-Sauvira. According to the Jaina canonical text Bhagavati-sūtra; 13, 6, 191, Mahavira had gone to Vitabhayapattana to ordain king Uddayana who wanted to pay a visit to Mahåvira. A very old bronze of Parsvanátha standing in the kâyotsarga-pose, with the right hand and a part of the snake-hoods overhead mutilated, exists in the collections of the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay (plate 36A). Its pedestal is missing, and unfortunately there is no record of its original findspot. It bears close affinity in style with a terracotta figurine from Mohenjo-daro. The limbs are long and slim and can also be compared with those of the Mohenjo-daro dancing girl. The modelling of the torso, especially of the belly and abdomen, closely allied to the highly-polished torso of a Jina image from Lohanipur, now in the Patna Museum (above, chapter 7; plate 21A), and the Harappa red stone torso. Thus the bronze is modelled in the Indus style which seems to have continued down to the Mauryan age. The physiognomy is peculiar, also comparable with that of the Mohenjo-daro bronze dancing girl and a few Mauryan and early Sunga mother-goddess terracottas from Mathurā, Hathras and other sites. It is difficult to assign a correct age or provenance to the bronze in the absence of any record, but the stylistic comparisons cited here clearly show that it cannot be later than circa 100 B.C. and may be even earlier. * Ibid., parva 10, sarga 12, verscs 36-93. Jain, op. cit., p. 309; Brhat-Kalpa-Bhasya, II, p. 314, and IV, pp. 1073 f. ; Bhdsya, gdthds 912-13. * U.P. Shah, 'An early bronzo of Parsvandtha', Bulletin of the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay, 3, 1952-53, pp. 63-65 and plates. Joha Marshall, Mohenjo-daro and the fandon Cixlization, London, 1931, III, p. XCV, 26 and 27; Mackay, Further Bxcavation ar Mahonfo daro, New Delhi, 1938. II, p. LXXXII 6, 10, 11 and pl. LXXV, 1, 21. Marshall, op. cit., pl. XCIV. 6-8. For some terracotta comparable with this bronze, soe D.H. Gordon. "Early terracottas', Journal of the Indian Sectery of Oriental Art, XI, 1943. Page #140 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 (PART The bronze, cast in cire perdue, is very light in weight. It is not unlikely that it was obtained for the Bombay Museum from some part of western India-Sind, Rajasthan, Gujarat or Kutch." According to the Brhat-Kalpa-Bhasya, it was difficult for Jaina monks to obtain alms (according to the prescribed rules) in the south beyond Pratisthanapura, and it was Samprati who ordered that such facilities should be provided 80 that Jaina monks could travel farther south to propagate the doctrines of Jainism. One hears of Jaina followers at Sürpåraka, and Vajrasena, pupil of Arya Vajra (traditional date circa 57 B.C, to A.D. 50), gave initiation to some monk-disciplines at Sürpāraka (modern Sopara, near Bombay). Out of these four disciples started the four ancient kulas (schools, orders) of Jaina monks, namely, Nagendra, Candra, Vidyādbara and Nivýtti. Also Arya Samudra and Arya Mangu had been to sūrpäraka. However, no early Jaina images of this age have yet been discovered in western India or the Deccan. [Moti Chandra and Gorakshakar suggest a second century A.D. date and a north-Indian provenance, sce their chapter on the Prince of Wales Museum. The author of the present chapter says, in personal correspondence, that because of the affinity with the Indus art, the bronze in question could have come from a west-Indian site--perhaps in Sind-and could have been obtained for the Museum by an officer of the Archacological Survey of India who had extensively explored the weat-Indian sites. He adds that Professor V.S. Agrawala was especially intrigued by the absence of the frivatsa-mark, which is found on the chest of all north-Indian Jina figures.--Editor.) Brhat-Kalpa-Bhasya, pp. 917-21; cf. Paffdvali-samuccaya, ed. Muni Darśapavijaya, Viramgam, 1933, Kalpa-Sutra-Sthavirávali, p. 8; ibid., Guruparvakrama of Gunaratnasūri, p. 26; ibid., Sri-Tapagaccha-Patidrali, pp. 47-48. J.C. Jain, Bharata ke Pracina Jaina Tirtha (Hindi), p. 65; Vyavahara-Bhd sya, 6, 239 fr. The Tåpagaccha-Pagdvali of Mahopädbāya Sri-Dharmasagaragani, Paffdvali-samuccaya, I, p. 46, says: śni-Virdt tri-pañcasad-adhika-catuh-sata-yarşåtikrame 453 Bhrgukacche Aryd-Khaputacarya ilt parfával, dm/Prabhavdka-carite lu catur-asityadhika-catuh-sara-484varse AryaKhaputācāryah/sapta-sasty-adhika-catuh-sata- 467-varse Arya-Manguh. Sankalia has recently published an inscription from a cave at Pala, about 12 km. from Kamshet in Pune District, which he reads : (1) namo Arihantanam Phaguna (2) da bhadanta Indarakhitena lenam (3) kdrdpltam podl ca saha ca kahe sahd. He suggests that the cave is a Jaina one. He assigns the inscription to circa second century B.C. H.D. Sankalia in Syddhyaya (Gujarati journal), Baroda, VII, 4, pp. 419 ff. and plate. It is well-known that the term arhat was used commonly by both Buddhists and Jainas at the early stage. It is difficult to say when the term came to be exclusively used by the Jainas. Because of the definite Buddhist association of Karla and other caves in this arca, one cannot be too sure that the inscription is of Jains origin but that possibility cannot be completely ruled out. It must be remembered that some time before the Gupta period, and by the end of the Kusban period, the term arhat or arihante gradually came to be reserved for Jaina Tirthaakaras. Page #141 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 8] WEST INDIA Prince of Wales Muscum : bronze Pårsvanatha PLATE 37 Page #142 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ [PART 1] MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 WA SSS Junagadh : Bawa-Pyară's cave PLATE 38 Page #143 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 8] WEST INDIA That the Jainas were very active in west India during the early centuries of the Christian era is proved by the accounts of Arya Khaputa of Broach,1 and Arya Padalipta' and Nagarjuna in Saurästra (near Palitana) and Valabbi (also in Saurästra) respectively. Arya Nagarjuna was the head of the first Valabhi Council in the early fourth century A.D. Acarya Mallavadi, the great Jaina logician and author of the Dvādaśāra-Nayacakra, defeated the Buddhists in a dispute at Valabhi in early fourth century. Arya Vajra, the teacher of Arya Vajrasena, referred to above, is reported to have visited the Abhira country, Dakṣipapatha and even Srimala (modern Bhinmal in Marwar). At Junagadh near Girnar is a group of about twenty monastic rock-cut cells, known as caves of Bawa-Pyara's Math and described by Burgess.* Arranged in three lines, these caves have a very early form of caitya-window ornament over Cave B (plate 38B). Cave F of Burgess is a primitive cell, flat-roofed, originally with four pillars, the back being like a semicircular apse. Cave K in this group has two cells with carvings of the auspicious pot-andfoliage (mangala-kalasa) and other symbols like the svastika, śrivatsa, bhadrasana, mina-yugala, etc. (fig. V), found on the Mathura ayaga-patas. These symbols could not conclusively establish the Jaina character of these dwellings, since there seems to have been an unfinished (perhaps later) attempt to add these symbols in front of one cell. But the discovery of a mutilated inscribed slab (buried in front of Cell I) of the time of the grandson of 1 Av. Nir. with Cúrni, p. 542; Nitha-Carni, 10, p. 101; Brhat-Kalpa-Bhasya. 4, 5115 ff. Also see note above. Av. Ca., p. 554; Pinda-Niryukai, 497 f. * Muni Kalyanavijaya. op. cit., pp. 110-18. "Muni Jambavijayaji, Dvddasdra-Nayacakra, introduction. Av. Ca., pp. 396-97. ⚫ Ibid, p. 404. Av. Tika, p. 390s. Arya Vaira (Vajra) is possibly the same as Acarya-ratna Muni Vairadeva of the Sonbhandar cave inscription at Rajgir, as shown by U.P. Shab in Journal of the Bihar Research Society, XXXIX, 1953, pp. 410-12. [Others have doubted this identification, see chapter 11. The writer of the present chapter says in personal correspondence that in all known Digambara and Svetämbara literature or Pattavalis there are only two monks-Acārya Vajra and his pupil Vajrasena (in Prakrit Vaira and Vairasena) who could have been referred to in the Sonbbandar inscription; the identification suggested by him is therefore highly probable. About the date of the caves, he draws attention to S.K. Saraswati's views.-Editor.] Burgess, Report on the Antiquities of Kathiawad and Kacch, Archaeological Survey of India, New Imperial Series, II, London, 1876, pp: 139 . H.D. Sankalia, Archaeology of Gujarat, Bombay, 1941, pp. 47-53. 89 Page #144 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 [PART II Jayadaman (Rudrasena, the son of Rudradaman), refering to those who had obtained kevala-fñana and conquered age shows that at least in the second century A.D. the caves were in the hands of the Jainas. The absence of any definite Buddhist symbols is significant. It would not be wrong to suppose that the Jainas had a monastic establishment near Girnar. FIG. V. Junagadh : Bawa-Pyara's caves, entrance to Cave K. (After Burgess) According to the Digambara tradition given by Virasenācārya, the author of the Dhavald commentary, some time after six hundred and eighty years of Mahavira's nirvana, i.e., towards the end of the first century A.D. or in the second century A.D., a great Jaina monk Acarya Dharasena taught scriptures to Puspadanta Bhūtabali in the Candraśāla cave near Girinagara (Girnar)." This is identified by Hiralal Jain with the caves of Bawa-Pyärä's Math." Virasena wrote his commentary on the sutras composed by Puspadanta and Bhutabali after studying scriptures from Dharasena. In view of the inscription 1 A.M. Ghatge in The Age of Imperial Unity, ed. R.C. Majumdar and A.D. Pusalker, Bombay, 1960, p. 418, suggests that he was Damayasada or Rudrasimha I. Burgess, op. cit.; Sankalia, op. cit. Tena iv Soratha-visaya-Girininayara pattana-candaguha thiena attharga-maha-nimista päranena gantha-vocchedo hohadi tti jada-bhayena pavayaṇa-vacchalena dakkhinävahäiriyāṇark mahimde millydnam leho pesido. Dhavald-Tikā. Hiralal Jain, Bharatiya Samskrit men Jaina-Dharma kd Yoga-dana (Hindi), Bhopal, 1962, pp. 41-42, 75-76, 309-10. 1 90 Page #145 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 8] WEST INDIA referred to above, and in view of this Digambara tradition, the Jaina association of the caves seems obvious. The Soratthiya-sähä (säkha) of Manava-gana starting from Sthavira Rsigupta, mentioned in the Kalpa-Sütra-Sthaviravalī, would further suggest that already in circa second-first century B.C. there existed a group of Jaina monks in Saurăştra. Regarding Jaina art in the north-west, Marshall suggested that the stupa at Sirkap (Block F), Taxila, might have been a Jaina stupa, since a double-headed eagle in a niche in its basement reminded him of a similar motif on the stupa-relief on the Mathurā āyāga-pata set up by Vasu, the daughter of Lopaśobhika. But the total absence of any other Jaina relic in the whole of this extensively-excavated site cannot be overlooked. Jaina traditions do speak of only a dharma-cakra set up by Bahubali, the son of Rṣabhanatha, the first Tirthankara, in Uttarapatha.' The Vasudeva-hindi and the Pauma-cariyu do not mention the account of origin of the dharma-cakra at Takşaśila given by Haribhadra in his Avasyaka-Vṛtti on the AvasyakaNiryukti. Besides, Digambara sources do not refer to this incident and associate Bahubali with Potanapura and not Takşaśila. The Jaina association of the Sirkap stupa is, therefore, not certain." UMAKANT P. SHAH 1 John Marshall, A Guide to Taxila, 3rd ed., Delhi, 1936, plate XIII, p. 88; Motichandra, 'Kuch Jaina anuśrutiyān aur purătattva' (Hindi), Prem't Abhinandana Grantha, pp. 229-49. J. Ph. Vogel, Catalogue of the Archaeological Museum at Mathurd, Allahabad, 1910, pp. 184 f.; V.S. Agrawala in Journal of the U.P. Historical Society, XXIII, 1950, pp. 69-70, has revised the earlier reading of the inscription. * Brhat-Kalpa-Bhasya V, gdsha 5824, gives the catchword cakra, which the commentator explains as Uttardpathe Dharma-cakram. ▲ Avasyaka-Niryukti with commentary of Haribhadra, 1, 332, and pp. 144 ff. In this account Rṣabhanatha is reported to have gone from Takşašila to Bahali-adambilla and preached to the people of Bahali and to the Yonakas and Pahlagas. The verses in this account suggest that Takṣasila was probably included in the province of Balkh-Bactria (Bahali) in the age of the origin of this account. For a fuller discussion, see U.P. Shah, Studies in Jaina Art, Banaras, 1955, p. 10 and note; U.P. Shah, 'Bahubali-a unique bronze in the Museum', Bulletin of the Prince of Wales Museum. Bombay, 5, 1953-54, pp. 32-39, plates V and VI. H Page #146 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 9 SOUTH INDIA INTRODUCTION THE SPREAD OF JAINISM IN SOUTH INDIA IS ATTRIBUTED TO A MIGRATION OF THE Jaina community under the Śrutakevali Bhadrabahu towards the close of the fourth century B.C. Digambara tradition avers that Bhadrabahu was accompanied by a king called Candragupta (Prabhacandra in the Sravanabelgola inscriptions from A.D. 600 onwards), who is believed to be the Maurya king of that name. The migration brought the Jainas, according to this tradition, to Sravanabelgola in Karnataka and thence to the Tamil country. The subsequent movement to the Tamil areas is believed to have been led by one Visakhācārya. The route of the migration would thus seem to be from north India (Malwa region) to Karnataka and from there to the Tamil country. The above tradition, which is quite strong and persistent, is recorded in later literary texts of the eleventh-twelfth centuries and onwards, while the earliest epigraphic evidence of the movement comes from the Sravanabelgola inscription of a period not earlier than A.D. 600. The correlation of traditional accounts with actual Jaina remains has thus posed a serious problem, due to the almost total absence of monumental and epigraphic evidence before 600, particularly in the Deccan. With the exception of a Puranic reference to Simuka, the first Satavahana ruler of the second-first centuries B.C., being a follower of Jainism and some early Prakrit texts like the Brhatkatha of Gunadhya, clear and proven historical associations of the Deccan with Jainism are practically non-existent for the early period down to circa A.D. 600. It is not till the period of the Badami Calukyas (seventh-ninth centuries) and the Răştrakutas of Malkhed (eighth-tenth centuries) that monumental art-remains of the Jainas, both in the rock-cut and structural styles, are found and have been utilized with significant results in historical studies. 92 Page #147 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 9 SOUTH INDIA The situation is not very different in the Andhra region. South of Orissa, where the earliest rock-cut caves of the Jainas are located (Khandagiri-Udayagiri hills), practically very little has been noticed in the form of Jaina remains belonging to a period before the tenth-eleventh centuries. On the other hand, both between the western and eastern Deccan, the Buddhists seem to have had an incessant architectural activity of the rock-cut mode in the west from the second century B.c. to the ninth century A.D. and of the structural mode in the cast from the second century B.c. to about the fifth century A.D. In contrast to the situation in the Deccan, the Tamil country comes up with an interesting series of natural caverns on hills, suitably altered by the cutting of beds and drip-ledges to render them habitable for ascetics of the Jaina persuasion. It is curious that these caverns with beds belong to a period much earlier than any monuments of the Deccan dedicated to Jainism. Scattered all over the Tamil country, the caverns together with early Brāhmi inscriptions are found at several spots on the Eastern Ghats, particularly in the region surrounding Madurai. These early Jaina foundations are important for various reasons: (1) they epresent the earliest lithic monuments in this area, (2) they contain the earliest epigraphic records in the Brāhmi script and in the Tamil language, and (3) they provide authentic evidence of the early spread of Jainism in the Tamil country. Consequently, they are of great significance in the study of the earliest architectural activity in stone and in the rock-cut style and in the study of the earliest writing known in this region, although from the viewpoint of artistic and aesthetic development they hardly mark the beginnings of any movement. However, the innovation in the material used for religious architecture, viz. stone, may be traced back to these early lithic monuments, most of which were occupied by the Jainas. There is little doubt that these caverns later gave way to the rock-cut caves, both of the Jaina and of Brahmanical sects, which arose in the same areas where the early caverns with Brahmi inscriptions are found. There are certain general features noticeable in these Jaina centres. The natural caverns were altered in such a way as to make them suitable for habitation. The overhanging rock was cut in the form of a drip-ledge to carry rain-water away from the cavern, which acted as the shelter. Inside the caverns beds were cut out of the rock, with raised portions at one end to serve as pillow?). The beds were made smooth by chiselling and even appear to have been polished in some cases. Page #148 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 {PAKT II The short Brāhmi inscriptions, recording the names of the donors or occupants, are found either on the beds themselves or above the drip-ledges on the overhanging rock. In front of the caverns structural additions were made in the form of thatched roofs supported by pillars. The holes for erecting these pillars are seen to this day on the rock-surface in front of some of the caverns. The caverns are invariably located near springs of water, evidently such spots being chosen due to the easy availability of water from the springs. At almost all these sites Jaina sculptures were carved at a later date, i.e. seventh-ninth centuries, accompanied by Vatteluttu: inscriptions, giving the names of famous Jaina teachers and occasionally of the donors. These carvings are generally found on the overhanging rock, or at any convenient spot or rock-surface not far from the caverns. This would indicate an almost continuous occupation of these areas by the Jainas up to about the eighth-ninth centuries, when changes were brought about, either due to their abandonment by the Jainas themselves or by their deliberate conversion into Saiva and Vaişņava centres. These changes were no doubt the consequences of the religious conflict that raged between the adherents of Buddhism and Jainism on the one hand and the Brāhmaṇical sects on the other, the latter having been spearheaded by the exponents of the Bhakti cult. It is also significant that throughout this controversy, the Jainas are referred to as belonging to the hills (usually eight in number), most of which are located around Madurai. The hills around Madurai were perhaps the major strongholds of the Jainas in the Tamil country, for it is in these areas that some of the most flourishing Jaina monasteries subsequently arose. Again it was at Madurai that the Drāvida-sangha of the Jainas was founded by one Vajranandin in circa A.D. 470. The Jainas must have reached this area as early as the second century B.C. (the date given to the earliest Brāhmi inscription from Mangulam). The route of this movement can be traced from the Karnataka region, through the hills of the Kongu country (Coimbatore area), the region west of Tiruchchirappalli, further south to Pudukkottai and then to the hills of Madurai--a series of hillabodes stretching from Karnataka to the Madurai region. Some of the Jainas appear to have trickled into the northern parts of the Tamil country, as shown 1 Vatteluttu is a cursive script, which evolved out of Brabrol in the southern region. * See below, p. 97, under Muttuppatti (Samanarmalai). 94 Page #149 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 9] SOUTH INDIA 1. by the hills of Tondaimandalam (Chingleput, North Arcot and South Arcot Districts), where again similar caverns with beds occur. In the Cola country, south of Tondaimandalam and north of Pändya territory, there is very little evidence of Jaina occupation in this period, with the exception of Tiruchchirappalli and the western fringes of the Kaveri delta. Contemporary Tamil literature, known as the Sangam literature is familiar with the Jainas and some of their practices. Increasing knowledge of the Jainas and their tenets and philosophy is exhibited only in the epics, the Silappadikāram and Manimekalai, which may be assigned to about the fifth-sixth centuries A.D. However, opinion is divided among scholars regarding the date of these two epics, some scholars treating the epics as Sangam works and hence assigning them to about the second century A.D. and others bringing them down to a period as late as the eighth century A.D. There is clear evidence in the Silappadikaram of the existence of Jaina temples in some important towns like Kaverippumpattinam and in the Cera country (Kerala). Evidently these temples were of the structural mode and the materials used in their construction were those commonly used prior to the seventh century in this region, viz. brick, mortar and timber. A Jaina institution of considerable importance and antiquity is mentioned in the Silappadikaram. The institution was known as Gunaväyirkoṭṭam (a temple?) and is said to have been situated in the Cera country. Ilango Adigal, the author of the work, was a Cera prince, who renounced his claims to the Cera throne and took to asceticism. In all probability he became a Jaina monk and retired to the Gunaväyirkottam. Recently, attempts have been made to locate the kottam in the Cera region and incidentally, the date of the epic has been brought down to the eighth century. It may be argued, however, that the nature of Jaina influence revealed by this work and its specific references to Jaina institutions make it highly improbable that such an institution came into existence after the religious conflict which began in the seventh century or that it outlived in any remarkable way the serious consequences of the Brahmaṇical revival of the seventh-eighth centuries. On the contrary, it is quite likely that originally the temple was constructed in brick and mortar and was later converted into a stone edifice, the ruins of which are supposed to exist in a site called Kunavay, not far from Kodungallar (Cranganore) in central Kerala. M.G.S. Narayanan, 'New light on Kunaväyirkoṭṭam and the date of Cilappadikäram'. Journal of Indian History, XLVIII, 1970, pp. 691 f 95 Page #150 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 [PART I In the absence of any notable Jaina remains such as temples or monastic buildings belonging to the early period, the natural caverns with their beds and Brahmi inscriptions acquire greater importance as the only datable series of monumental remains in the Tamil country of this period. The terms that are met with in the Brahmi records for these Jaina foundations are pali (cave), palli (cave and by extension a school), atiftānam (seat or bed) and kañcanam (bed). Architectural terms such as kůra (roof), pina-u (fronds) and mušagai (covering) are also commonly used. . A somewhat puzzling tradition relating to these Jaina sites is that which connects them with the five Pāņdava heroes. Epic associations are indeed very strong in the local traditions relating to all the important historical sites containing monumental remains in south India. This is as much true of the Brāhmaṇical centres as of the Jaina and Buddhist sites. Hence, the hills, their caverns, beds and water-springs are generally referred to locally as Pafcapāndavamalai, Pascapāņdavar tippa (or kufțu), Pañcapāņdavar padukkai, Aivarsunai, etc. The following survey of these early Jaina strongholds in the Tamil country is mainly topographical and regional and attempts to indicate their chronological position, wherever possible. DESCRIPTION OF THE CAVES MADURAI DISTRICT Madurai Taluk 1. Anaimalai (first-second centuries A.D.). Situated not far from the Vaigai river this village has a natural cavern with one Brāhmi inscription refering to the cutting of several beds. On the huge overhanging rock are sculptures of Jaina Tīrthankaras and the Yakşi Siddhāyikā, belonging to a later period, mentioned one of the greatest Jaina teachers of eighth-ninth century, is also Ajjanandi, here in a Vaffeluttu record. The Brāhmi inscription has been assigned to the first-second centuries A.D. 2. Arittapatti (second-first centuries B.c.). Eight km. from Metur on the way to Alagarkoyil from Madurai is a village called Arittapatti with a bill locally known as Kalinjamalai. On the eastern face of the hill is a cavern with a drip-ledge cut on the outer face of the rock. A Brahmi inscription on the 96 Page #151 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 9] A. Mankulam part of an inscription B. Sittannavasal: cavern inhabited by Jaina monks PLATE 39 SOUTH INDIA Page #152 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 Sittannavasal inscribed rock-cut bed PLATE 40 [PART II Page #153 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CRAPTER 9] SOUTH INDIA X2 Tenimalai : cayern inhabited by Jaina monks, later Jaina reliefs on isolated boulder PLATE 41 Page #154 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 BC. TO A.D. 300 (PART II . . X2 . . .. AN SAR M Pugalur: cavern inhabited by Jaina monks PLATE 42 Page #155 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER SOUTH INDIA brow of the cavern records that the cave was given by Chalivan Atanan Voliyan of Nelveti. An interesting reference is made in this inscription to the erecting of & mus agai, i.e. a temporary covering made of wooden posts and palm-fronds, crected in front of the cavern as a protection against sun and rain. There is an image of Ajjanandi with a later Vattehuttu inscription mentioning him. 3. Mankulam (second-first centuries B.C.). This is a village near Arittapatti and the local hill is called Kalugumalai. There are caverns on the hill with rock-cut beds and six Brahmi inscriptions. Four of these inscriptions refer to a Jaina teacher called Kani-Nanta. The earliest Brahmi inscriptions seem to oocur here and have been dated in the second-first centuries B.C. (plate 39A) on the basis of their palaeography and the reference to an early Pandya being Nedubijeliyan. One of these inscriptions refers to the making of the lattice (the fronds ?) (piņa-u) by a merchant belonging to a nigama (guild) from a place called Vel-arai. 4. Muttuppatti (Samanarmalai) (first-second centuries A.D.). A group of rocky hills called Samanarmalai (the hill of the Samaņas or Jainas) stretches for a distance of about 3 km. in an east-west direction, about 8 km. west of Madurai. The south-west extremity of these hills faces the village of Kilkuyilkudi (Kilakkudi) and the north-west extremity lies near the village of Muttupatti. Scattered at different spots on these hills are a large number of caverns with beds and Brahmi inscriptions. Later Jaina sculptures with Vatteluttu inscriptions of the eighth-ninth centuries are found all over the hills. The caverns near Muttupatti have beds locally known as Pafcapāndavarpadukkai, and the Brahmi inscriptions here record the names of occupants and donors. The Jaina sculptures of the eighth-ninth centuries represent Mahavira, his attendants and their deities. There are two caverns near Kilakkudi called Pechchipallam and Settippodavu. The latter faces another village by name Kongar Puliyangulam. The Bráhml records in Kongar Puliyangulam (Settippodavu cavern) are interesting as they refer to the making of the Kura or canopy, the fronds and thatches protecting, K.V. Ramsa and Y. Subbarayaku, "A New Tomi Bakhmi inscription in Arittapatti', Journal of India History, XLIX, Nov. 145-47, April, August and December, 1971, pp. 229-32. Page #156 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 [PART 1 the cavern. The cighth-ninth century sculptures here and in Pechchipallam reprem sent Parsva and other Tirthankaras and Yaksis such as Ambika and Ajita. Aijanandi, the famous Jaina teacher, also figures in one of them. The whole range of hills called Samanarmalai appears to have been a monastic establishment of the Jainas called Tirukkattāmpalli of Kurandi in Venbunadu in later inscriptions from the ninth century onwards. This was, perhaps, one of the largest monasteries of the Jainas in the Tamil country, for members of this institution figure in inscriptions as far south as Chitral or Tiruchcharanattumalai, south of Trivandrum and as far north as Karandai in North Arcot District. 5. Tirupparankunram (second century B.c. to second century A.D.). This centre is well-known for its Subrabmanya worship and is now represented by a huge complex of structures added to a rock-cut cave-temple of Pandya times (ninth century). The hill was originally occupied by the Jainas, and natural caverns with beds occur in another part of the hill at a place called SarasvatiTirtha at a considerable height. There are four Brahmi inscriptions, one of which is interesting as it mentions a householder from Ceylon, making this foundation. Taina sculptures of Bahubali and Pärávanātha found near the caverns belong, as usual, to the eighth-ninth centuries. 6. Varichchiyur (Kunnattur) (second century B. c. to second century A.D.). Three Brāhmi inscriptions in the hill at Varicbchiyur refer to the stone beds as kacana (bed or abode). Pali (or palli) is the term commonly met with in all these early records for a cavern or cave. Palli, similarly, is an alternative term for cave. Both these terms later came to mean either a monastery or any religious institution of the Jainas (and also Buddhists). Palli, by extension, also came to represent a school an educational institution. The Jainas and Buddhists are known to have been great educationists in ancient India. Melur Taluk 7. Alagarmalai (second-first centuries B.C.). Pañcapāndava beds with Brāhmi inscriptions are also found at Alagarmalai (Irunkunram of early Tamil literature), which subsequently developed into a famous centre for the worship of Muruga (Subrahmanya) and Vişņu. The conversion of such Jaina institutions into Brāhmapical ones is a common feature in almost all carly Jaina (and some Buddhist) centres in the Tamil country. One of the Jaina sculptures at Alagarmalai (eighth-Dinth centuries) represents the Jaina teacher Ajjaşandi. 98 Page #157 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ SOUTH INDIA 8. Karungalakkudi (second-first centuries B.C.). On a hill called Paficapandavarkuffa'in this village are found caverns with beds. The cavern is called pult in a Brahmi record of the place. 9. Kilavalavu (socond-first centuries B.C.). The Pafcapándavamalai in Kilavalavu consists of huge boulders and caverns. The Brāhmi inscription here records the foundation of the monastery by a lay-devotee from Tonti. Later sculptures of Päráva and other Tirtharkaras are found on the boulders. 10. Tiruvatavur (second-first centuries B.C.). This village also contains caverns with Brāhmi inscriptions. Trinmangalam Taluk 11. Vikk iramangalam (second-first centuries B.C.). In the local hill called Nagamalai is a huge boulder known as Undan-kallu with caverns, beds and Brahmt inscriptions recording the names of people who occupied them or gifted them. Nilakkottai Taluk 12. Mettuppatti (second-first centuries B.C.). A hill called Siddharmalai (the hill of the Siddhas) in this village contains caverns with beds. The lower portion of the rock containing the beds is fashioned like the petals of a lotus. On the same platform is found a pair of foot-prints in relief with a lotus between the two, inside a circle. The foot-prints are said to be those of Sahajanandanátha, an exponent of the Tantric creed (?). There are nine Brahmi inscriptions giving the names of the donors, assignable to the second-first centuries B.C. Caverns with or without beds are also found in the hills at Uttamapalaiyam, Aivarmalai (Aiyampalaiyam), Kuppalnattam (Poygaimalai), and Palani (Panchavarnappadukkai), all in Madurai District. No Brāhmi inscriptions have been reported from these sites, although their Jaina associations are clearly indicated by their sculptures datable in eighth-ninth centuries. RAMANATHAPURAM DISTRICT 13 & 14. Pulaiyarpatti (fifth century A.D.) and Kunnakkudi (third-fourth centuries A.D.) in Tiruppattur Taluk of the above District contain Brāhmi ins. criptions, but in both the cases the cave-temples which were excavated belong Amanical Report on Sorah beplan Ipteraphy (M.E.R. to the following pages), 1907-08, part IL para 99, fascription 47 of 1908 Page #158 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 [PART 1 to tkie Saiva creed and very little evidence remains of their carly Jaina associations. TIRUNELVELI DISTRICT 15 & 16. Marukaltalai (Chivalapperi) (second-first centuries B.C.) and Virasikhamani in Tirunelveli Taluk contain caverns with beds and Brahmi inscriptions. The stone bed is called kancanam, in the Marukaltalai inscription. Virasikhamani possessrs in addition to stone beds, a carving of a pair of feet in relief inside a lotus within a square. They are said to be of Sahajánandanåtha in a later inscription. Stone beds and Jaina images have also been reported from Sendamaram Malaiyadikkurichchi and Tirumalaipuram, all the Tirunelveli District. TIRUCHCHIRAPPALLI DISTRICT 17. Tiruchchirappalli (third-fourth centuries A.D.). In the hill called Golden Rock in Tiruchchirappalli is a natural cavern with beds. Palli, in this context, may be a suffix to the place-name arising out of its early Jaina associations, as the term is used for all early Jaina institutions, especially to places of learning. On one of the stone beds is a Brāhmi inscription, which has been doubtfully read as Cenkayapan ke. There are cave-temples of the seventh century dedicated to the Saiva creed and the authorship of these caves have been assigned to the Pallava king Mahendravarman (circa 580-630). If the tradition that this Pallava king turned from Jainism to Saivism and that the Tiruchchirappalli rock-cut temples are some of the earliest ones excavated by him, is correct, then this centre would represent one of those sites where Jaina foundations were later converted into or gave place to Saiva and Vaişnava ones. 18. Sivayam in Kulittalai Taluk of Tiruchchirappalli District contains a unique boulder called the Sundakkaparai, over 9 m. high. It has a row of five beds cut into it. On one of its ridges is a square entablature with later sculptures representing Mahāvira with his attendants. There are also some later inscriptions giving names of Jaina teachers." 19. Sittannavasal (second-first centuries B.c.). The most notable among these early Jaina foundations (plate 39B) and one which was in continuous 1 42 of 1908. M.E.R., 1907-08, part II, para 20. I. Mahadevan, Corpus of Tamil Brahmi Inscriptions, Madras, 1966, p. 11. • 50 of 1913. 100 Page #159 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 9) SOUTH INDIA Occupation by the Jainas from about the second century B.C. to the ninth century A.D. is that at Sittannavasal in Tirumayam Taluk of Tiruchchirappalli District (former Padukkottai State). The local hill contains a natural cavern known as Eladipattam after the soven square pits which serve as steps to reach the cavern. The cavern is large with an overhanging rock-face serving as a canopy. The stone beds are chiselled smooth and a Brahmi inscription of about the second-first centuries B.C. is found near one of the beds (plate 40). It records the making of the atit-anam (bod or seat) by Ilayar of Cirupāvil for one Kävuti-Itep born at Kumular in Erumináfu (Karnataka region ?). On another face of the hill, at a spot lower than that of the natural cavern is a cave-temple dedicated to the Jaina creed (see below Chapter 19.-Editor). Originally excavated in the seventh century, this cave-teraple was later renovated and re-embellished with paintings in the ninth century, attesting to the continuous importance that this Jaina centre enjoyed for over a thousand years. 20. Narttamalai. North of Sittannayasal is another group of three hills known near Narttamalai, one of which is the Ammachatram hill (or Aluruttimalai). It contains polished stone beds and later Jaina images of the seventhninth centuries on the overhanging rock of the cavem, 21. Tenimalai (Tenurmalai). Another hill in the same area is Tenimalai, which has a natural cavern on the eastern part called Andar-madam, anciently a place of penance for the Jainas. By the side of the cavern are some Jaina sculptures of the seventh-ninth centuries (plate 41). TIRUCHCHIRAPPALLI DISTRICT 22. Karur Taluk Pugalur (third-fourth centuries A.D. ?). The Arunattar hill in Pugalur has caverns with beds (plate 42). There are twelve short Brahmi inscriptions on the pillows of these beds. A Cerikāyapan from Yårrür who was an amanan (a Digambara Jaina ascetic) figures in three of them as the donee of the adhisthana or residence, which was caused to be made by a Cera prince. The inscriptions have been assigned to about the third-fourth centuries A.D. These, along with three Brahmi records from Arachchalur in Coimbatore District, form an important group of early records from the Kongu country (Qow represented by Coimbatore, Erode, Salem and Karur regions), lying on the route from Karnataka to the Tamil regions, particularly towards the Madurai arca. It is, however, strange that the Brahmi inscriptions here are assigned to a period later than those of Madurai. It may quite reasonably be doubted whether the dating of Page #160 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300 (PART 0 those Brahmi inscriptions on the basis of palacography alone, showing certain evolutionary stages in individual letters, is dependable, without taking into account other historical and geographical factors. It may well be suggested that the Jainas skirted along these hills on their way to the heart of the Pandya territory. 23. About 10 km. from the Arunattar hill is a place called Ardhanaripalaiyam, which also contains beds chiselled out of a rock. A spring by the side of this rock goes by the name of Aivarsunai (the spring of the Five).* COIMBATORE DISTRICT Erode Taluk 24. Arachchalur (third-fourth centuries A.D.). Mention has already been made of the Brahmi inscriptions from Arachchalur. One of them mentions a lapidary called Tevap Cáttan as the donor. NORTH ARCOT DISTRICT Cheyyar Taluk 25. Mamandur (third-fourth centuries A.D.). This is one of those sites where early Jaina foundations later come to be remodelled or converted into Saiva ones. The cavern with a single Brāhmi inscription is found at an inaccessible height on the local hill and the inscription refers to a king who took Tenür and to the tacan (mason) who cut the kunru or hill. What is of special interest is the occurrence in another part of the hill of rock-cut cave-temples assignable to the period of Mahendravarman I. whose conversion from Jainism to Saivism is based on a strong tradition preserved in Tevaram and Saiva hagiological literature, 26. Sedarampattu in North Arcot District also contains stone beds canopied by an overhanging rock. The carving of a triple umbrella on one of the beds establishes beyond doubt the Jaina associations of this place." SOUTH ARCOT DISTRICT 27. Tirumatharkunru (Sirukadambur) (fifth century A.D.). A huge rock in this village carries a series of carvings representing the twenty-four Tirthankaras. There are two late Brāhmi inscriptions assignable to about the fifth centurya period of transition--recording the nisidis of two Jaina teachers Candi * M.E.R., 1927-28, part II, para 1. * M.E.R., 1939-40 to 1942-43, part II, para 158. 102 Page #161 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ SOUTH INDIA CHAPTER 9 ranandi and llayapadaran who fasted for respectively. fifty-seven and thirty days 28. Solavandipuran has a group of boulders called Andimalai with sculptures of Jaina deities. There are some stone beds but no inscriptions have been found with them. CHITTOOR DISTRICT (ANDHRA PRADESH) The northernmost parts of ancient Tamil country (now forming part of Andhra Pradesh) contain some caverns with Pafcapāpļava beds at two places Kannikapuram and Nagari. No inscriptions have been reported from these sites. R. CHAMPAKALAKSHMI gen NO SAXLA 103 Page #162 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ Part III MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 Page #163 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 10 MATHURA THE AVAILABLE MATERIAL WITH THE ADVENT OF THE GUPTAS IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THE FOURTH century, Jaina art and architecture seem to have suffered a heavy blow in Mathura. It is worth noting that against the large number of Tirthankara images, dyaga-patas, caitya-stambhas, vedikd-stambhas, coping-stones, pillars, architraves and carved architectural fragments in red spotted sandstone of the earlier period, the number of such pieces is amazingly reduced in the Gupta age. The Archaeological Museum at Mathura (AMM) and the State Museum at Lucknow (SML), which house the bulk of Mathură antiquities, respectively possess only thirty-eight and twenty-one Jaina sculptures which can be definitely attributed to the Gupta age. Exact information on the number of such sculptures in other museums in this country and abroad is not readily available, but none seems to possess Mathura figures of the period in any considerable number. The position of the architectural pieces of the Gupta age is still worse. Not a single Jaina piece of any interest exists either in the Lucknow or in the Mathura Museum. Nor are there any terracotta figures. All this naturally leads one to believe that after the Kushan age Jainism suffered a great set-back at Mathura, but it is difficult to find any reasons therefor. We do hear of a quarrel between the Jainas and the Buddhists in which the former came out successful.1 Even if this victory of the Jainas was of a temporary nature and the Buddhists were fairly dominant in the Gupta age at Mathura, this quarrel could have hardly damaged the very roots of the Jaina faith. Royal patronage of the Brahmanical cults can be adduced as another reason but cannot be the only cause. The Kahaum stone-pillar inscription of 1 Vyanahara-Bhirya, 5, 27, 28; Vividha-Kalpa-stra of Jinaprabha, ed. Jinavijaya. Santiniketan, 1934, pp. 17-18. 107 Page #164 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 [PART III Skandagupta (A.D. 460-61) provides evidence to show that the Jaina faith did exist at other places, as the Gupta rulers were tolerant. Whatsoever might have been the reason, it is a fact that Jainas apparently lost popularity in Mathura in Gupta times. Nevertheless, they did have their establishment at Mathura, and the faith did enjoy some sort of support from the laity. Jaina images, both of colossal and normal sizes, were being made and enshrined, but the heyday was gone. The available Mathura material comprises the following sculptures: (i) twenty-five seated Tirthankara figures in meditation (dhyānastha) (four illustrated, plates 43-46); (ii) six Tirthankara figures in standing pose (khadgäsana) (two illustrated, plate 47); (iii) twenty-three detached heads of Tirthankara figures (three illustrated, plates 48-50); (iv) some fragmentary pieces. Ayaga-patas and independent figures of Jaina deities like Sarasvati, Balabhadra, Dharapendra or any of the Sasana-devas or Sasana-devis are conspicuously absent. Even sarvatobhadra figures are very rare; the one in the Mathura Museum (AMM, B. 75) is of the late transitional period, i.e. of circa seventh-eighth century. Let us now proceed to examine the available material in greater detail. SEATED TIRTHANKARA FIGURES IN MEDITATION Among the seated Tirthankara figures in meditation two are decidedly of Adinatha (AMM, B. 6 and B. 7, plate 46). One was of Neminatha (SML, J. 89), but it is now completely mutilated, only the attendant Balabhadra appearing on the slab. 1 SML, J.36, J.52, J.89, J.104, J.118*, J.119, J.122, J.139, J.584 (7), 0.181"; AMM, B.1, B.6, B.7", B.11, B.28, B.31, B.33, B.74, B.75, 15.959, 15.983, 18.1388, 54.3769, 57.4338, 57.4382. (*Illustrated.) SML, J.83, J.86, J.100, J.121*; AMM, B.33, 12.268*. (* Illustrated.) SML, J.59 (head only), J.164*, 1.168, J.175, J.176, J.200; 1.207, 1.222: AMM, A.35, B.44*, B.45. B.46, B 48, B.49, B.50, B.53, B.59, B.60, B.61, 11.134, 15.565, 15.566, 29,1941, 33.2348*, 67.189. (* Illustrated.) SML, J.2; AMM, 14.488, 15.624. 108 Page #165 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MATHURA CHAPTER 10) Mathură : a Tirtha kara (SML, J. 104) PLATE 43 Page #166 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 Matbură: Tirthankara (SML. J. 118) PLATE 44 [PART III Page #167 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 10] MATHURĀ Mathurā : a Tirthankara (SML, 0.181) PLATE 45 Page #168 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 (PART III Mathură : Tirthankara Rşabhanatha (AMM, B. 7) PLATE 46 Page #169 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 101 MATHURA B. Mathură : Tirthankara Rşabbanatba (AUM, 12-268) A. Mathura : Tirthankara Neminātha (SML, J. 121) PLATE 47 Page #170 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 Mathura head of a Tirthankara (AMM, B. 44) PLATE 48 [PART III Page #171 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 10] MATHURA Mathura : head of a Tirthankara (AMM, 33.2348) PLATE 49 Page #172 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ (PART III MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 Mathuri : head of a Tirthankara (SML, J. 164) PLATE 50 Page #173 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ Cena 101 MATHURA * Three of these figures bcar inscriptions (SML, J. 584, J. 52; AMM, B. 75). The last is dated in the year 97 (i.c. A.D. 416.)." The appearance of cauri-bearers on a number of these figures (SML, J. 52, J. 5849, J. 119; AMM, B. 6, B. 7, plate 46, 15.983, 57.4388) shows that the motif, which had its start in the preceding age, was gradually gaining popularity Compared with the seated images of the Kushan age, these figures defi. nitely show greater elasticity and naturality. TIRTHANKARA FIGURES IN STANDING POSE The number of standing figures is much smaller than those in the seated pose. Among the six available sculptures, two depict Adinātha (AMM, B. 33, 12.268, plate 47B), one Neminátha (SML, J. 121, plate 47A) and a fourth one Pārsvanatha (SML, J. 100). The remaining two are difficult to identify. Only one image of this class (AMM, 12.268, plate 47B,) bears an inscription, which records that the image of Adinátha belonging to Sågara was dedicated by Samudra and the owner Sāgara to one Sangaraka. On palaeographical grounds, the epigraph--and naturally the image too-has been assigned to early fourth century. In this connexion it is worth noting that most of the sitting and standing images are in bold relief and not carved in the round. HEADS A close study of the detached heads reveals the following interesting facts: (1) With a few exceptions they bear schematic curls (plate 50). Of the exceptions one depicts notched hair (AMM, 33.2348, plate 49) and in another case the hair is combed back (AMM, 12.268, plate 47B). (2) Barring one instance (AMM, 12.268, plate 47B), the ürna-mark is absent. $. V.S. Agrawala, Catalogue of the Mathura Metberena", Jomtone of the 0.2. Historical Sockery, XXII. 1980. A bid. p. 36. '" ' i Page #174 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 (PART III (3) In one case (AMM, B.44, plate 48) there appears on the forehead a circular mark looking like a pendant suspended by means of a narrow strip. Had it not been noticed on another almost contemporary figure of Ajitanatha from Varanasi (SML, 49.199, fig. VI), it could have been summarily dismissed as a later mischief done with the intention of providing a tilaka-mani to the Tirthankara. This mark, therefore, calls for special attention. FIG. VI. Varanasi: head of Ajitandtha (SML, 49.199) (4) Generally the eyebrows meet at a point above the nose; but this, occurring on a few specimens (SML, J. 59, head only; AMM, B. 53, 15.565, 29.1941, etc.), cannot be taken as a characteristic of the age. (5) The eyeballs have not been usually depicted. A specimen from the Mathura Museum (AMM, B. 53) can be cited as a rare exception. A number of non-Jaina Gupta sculptures from Mathura also show that the depiction of eyeballs was not a common practice. (6) Lips are ordinarily thick and elongated and ear-lobes often touch the shoulder. (7) Normally the face is serene, but sometimes a happy smile is visible (SML, J. 207, B. 45, 67.189, etc.) FRAGMENTARY PIECES Such pieces, though belonging to this period, are quite fragmentary and difficult to group under any of the above classes. For example, SML, J.2 is only an inscribed pedestal dated in the year 299 (A.D. 377). 110 Page #175 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER, 10] SPECIAL FEATURES SEATS AND SEAT-DECORATIONS MATHURA Every Tirthankara has been provided with some sort of seat. The earliest type of seats, that is in pre-Gupta times, was plain with a pedestal. In Gupta times the seat was covered with a sort of carpet, a part of which is seen suspended in front of the pedestal (AMM, B. 7, plate 46; SML, J.119). Over this carpet, appears a heavy cushion, which serves as the asana for the meditating Tirthankara. This cushion often bears ornamental patterns (AMM, 15.983, B. 7, plate 46, etc.). In one case, however, there is an additional decoration of lotus-petals (AMM, 18.1388). In a few images no distinct cushion is visible, but the unnatural position of the crossed legs of the meditating figure suggests its existence (AMM, B., SML, J.118, plate 44, etc.). In these cases the crossed legs are not at right angles to the spinal column but are seen slanting towards the front-a position that a person would assume when he sits on a high seat with a small cushion. The appearance of a well-decorated back-rest also had its start in Gupta times. In one specimen (SML, J.118, plate 44) is seen a back-rest with vertical bars, horizontal beams and a 'prancing-lion' decoration. PEDESTALS Below the seat appears the pedestal. It was customary since Kushan times to decorate the pedestal with the dharma-cakra, either placed on the ground or on some sort of upright pillar flanked by male and female worshippers often standing in a line. At the two ends of the pedestal appeared lions. In the Gupta age the entire motif in general remains the same, but the following changes are noticeable: (1) The upright support for the dharma-cakra is rarely to be seen (e.g. AMM, B.6). Normally the wheel has either a very light support (AMM, 12.268, plate 47B), or it appears directly resting on the ground (SML, J.118, plate, 44, J.121, plate 47A). This perhaps conveys the popular idea that the wheeljewel' (cakra-ratna) having travelled all over finally rests below the sacred seat or feet of the Jina. (2) The dharma-cakra generally appears enface (SML, J.121 plate 47), though sometimes the sculptor took fancy to show it in profile (AMM, 18.1388, 111 Page #176 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 [PART DI . . x 4 BEACY kol - Fro. VII. Mathura : lions co podostal. 1-4, Kushan (SMI, S. 20. J. 30, 1. Gupta (SML, J. 118, J. 121) , 3. X: 56 mm 112 Page #177 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ Curt 10 MATHURA B.7, plate 46). The spokes of the wheel are very oftea sixteen in number, but there is no umiformity. The wheel appears in a natural form when shown enface but is more decorative when in profile. Sometimes it has a string passing through its nave (AMM, 18.1388). This brings it closer to the cakra as a weapon, in which case the string was necessary for throwing the missile, even though the dharma-cakra was the wheel of law promulgated by a Tirthankara and not a weapon. By the end of the Gupta period, the Jainas too had adopted the famous "deer-and-wheel' motif (AMM, B.75), which was popular with the Buddhists and meaningful to them. (3) In the Gupta age the line of worshippers flanking the sacred wheel, which perhaps had its origin in Gandhāra art, gradually disappears. In m the Gupta sculptures they are either absent (SML, J.119; AMM, 12.268, plate 47B), or are symbolized by just two persons seated on knees with folded hands (SML, J.118, plate 44). (4) On some of the pedestals a new feature comes into prominence, and that is the depiction of the Supreme Ones'. The Kahaum inscription calls them Pancendras, and they can be identified as Adinātha, Santinātha, Neminātha, Parsvanātha and Mahavira.' The depiction of these five Jinas together in one sculpture seems to have started in the Gupta age at Mathură. Along with the central figure of one of them, the other four would be depicted in miniature either on the pedestal or on the back-slab (e.g. AMM, B.7, plate 46, SML, J.121, plate 47A). The availability of space would decide their appearance in either padmasana or khad gdsana. For example, in the Neminátha figure cited above (SML, J.121, plate 47A) three are in meditation, while one stands crect. (5) The lions appearing on the pedestals to symbolize the cakravartin status of the Jina deserve a special study. Right from Kushan times they apDear at the two ends of the pedestal in one of the following positions (fig. VII. 1-4): (a) standing enface (SML, J.32, J.34, J.40, etc.); (b) standing to front but with the face in profile, facing cach other (SML, J.25, J.29, J.30, J.33, etc.); (c) standing slightly enface in a position between (a) and (b) (SML, J.35); and (d) sejant seated back to back (SML, J.14, J.17, J.18, J.19, T.27, etc.). In the Gupta period some new styles came into vogue in the depiction of the lions (fig. VII, 5-6): (a) back to back in couchant position with tails upraised (AMM, 18.1388, B. 6, 57.4338, etc.); (b) seated back to back, but with IS. B Dob, History of Salma Montachilon, Poona, 1956, p. 103. 113 Page #178 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 PART 10 face turned to front and one of the front paws slightly raised (SML, J.119); and (c) standing enface as if walking (AMM, B.7, plate 46). The most interesting figures are seen on the pedestal of the specimen (SML, J.121, plate 47A). Here there is a curious mixture of the Kushan and Gupta features. In cach corner of the pedestal there appears one faco to which two bodies have been joined-one from the front and the other from the adjoining side. The Kushan tradition is preserved on the adjoining side, while the front depicts the Gupta characteristic. Fig. 36 shows the respective vogues in the Kushan and Gupta periods. GODS AND DEMI-GODS These include mälädhäri-Gandharvas, Suparpas hovering in the air, attendants flanking the Tirthankaras and either bearing cauris or standing in adoration-pose and Krşņa-Baladeva in case of Neminātha figures. A number of them can be traced back to Kushan art. In Gupta art the following can be noted: (i) celestial males hovering in the air carrying garlands (AMM, 12.268, plate 47B; SML, J.118, plate 44; J.121, plate 47A); (ü) Gandharva couples in the air carrying garlands (SML, J.119); (iii) celestial beings carrying offerings (SML, J.104, plate 43); (iv) flywhisk-bearers flanking the Jina (AMM, B.6, B.7, plate 46, 57.4338, etc.); (v) Krsna-Baladeva flanking Neminátha (SML, J.121, plate 47A); and (vi) planets appearing by the end of the Gupta period: in the available specimen (AMM, B.75), the number of the planets is only eight, but in post-Gupta times depiction of all the nine planets becomes quite normal. Depiction of Sasana-deyatās was not prevalent at Mathurā. DECORATIONS ON THE HALO In a number of Kushan sculptures the halo, if depicted, was plain and bore a scalloped border; but fully-decorated haloes of Tirthankara figures too were not altogether absent (e.g. SML, J.8). In the Gupta age it becamo a normal practice to decorate the entire halo with several motifs such as lotuspetals (padma-dala), scroll-work (patråvalī), floral wreaths (hära-yasti), scalloped border (hasti-nakha), leaf-border (patra-sakha), and so on. USE OF AUSPICIOUS SYMBOLS AS BODY-MARKS The Lalitavistara, a Buddhist work which existed in the early centuries of the Christian era, mentions a number of sacred symbols that appeared on Page #179 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ - MATHURA the body of Buddha. The Mathura Buddha and Bodhisattva images of the Kushan period provide visual evidence to support the literary statement. The Jainas, too, in a number of cases adopted this practice for the images of their teachers. The wheel-symbol on the open palms of the Jina images and the whool and tri-ratna on the soles aro very common. In rare cases (e.g. SML, J.36) tri-ratna is absent on the soles. The practice of depicting auspicious symbols like svastika, frivatsa, mina, inverted tri-ratna, Sarikha, etc., in miniature forms on finger-ends was also adopted by some sculptors (e.g. SML, J.17, J.19, J.40). Similar symbols sometimes appear on the soles as well (e.g. SML, J.29). Apart from these the appearance of frivatsa on the chest was popular in the Kushan Tirthankara figures. In Gupta times the practice of depicting sacred symbols underwent the following changes: (1) Miniature symbols at the finger-ends vanished. (2) While the appearance of a wheel on the open palm did continue for while (e.g. AMM, B.1), in subsequent years this too was either given up (e.g. AMM, B.7, plate 46) or made insignificant. (3) Instead, the three natural lines significant in palmistry-viz. lines of head, heart and life-appear very prominently. The lines of mani-bandha did continue to exist. (4) The srivatsa-mark on the chest continued throughout. The old form of a fish flanked by two snakes' became very much decorative. The development of the Srivatsa in the Gupta period over the Kushan representations is shown in fig. VIII. Incidentally it may be observed that generally this mark is visible on the chest of the Gupta Tirthankara images hailing from Mathură only, At other places this is mostly absent. ABSENCE OF CHATRA AND LANCHANA Before we close, it is essential to note the absence of a few things. The first is an umbrella or chatra; none of the cxisting Gupta figures of Tirtharikaras bears a chatra over its head. The idea of chatro-traya and chatravalt is a later development. Lalitoninara, ed. S. Lomaan, Hulle, 1902, pp. 105-c... ' . .:: N. P. Joshi, Uk of stupicious symbols in the Kusini azt at Mathuri'. Dr Mirashi Felicitation YorienneNagel, 1965, pp. 311-17.':, Page #180 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ PART I MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 FIG. VIII. Srivatsa-parks. 1-3, Kushan (SML, J. 16, J. 36, J. 17) and Gupta (SML, J. 118; AMM, B. 6, B. 7) Similarly the lanchanas. Each of the twenty-four Tirtharkaras has traditionally a sign or mark known as lanchana specially attributed to him. Jina images being very similar to each other, it was perhaps thought necessary to assign marks to each of them for purposes of distinction. This does not seem to have been an age-old practice. In none of the Kushan and Gupta sculptures from Mathură do we come across lanchanas. Inscriptions, hair-styles and attendants are the only available means for the identification of individual Tirthankaras. Similarly, the caumukhi or sarvatobhadrika and caubtsi or catur vishatika types of Tirthankara images are practically absent in the Gupta times at Mathura. So are māna-stambhas. 116 Page #181 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 11 EAST INDIA MONUMENTS EAST INDIA IS POOR IN SPECIMENS OF JAINA MONUMENTS AND SCULPTURE OF the period under consideration. It is likely that with the resurgence of Brahmanism and Buddhism Jainism suffered an eclipse in the region. There is definite evidence to show that during this period and a little later certain Jaina establishments changed hands. For instance, one of the Sonbhandár caves at Rajgir was requisitioned by the votaries of Vişnu; likewise, at a later date, in the eighth century, the Jaina monastery at Paharpur was converted into & Buddhist vihara by Dharmapala. Such transitions might have effected the quantitative remains of Jaina art also in the land which had been the cradle of the faith. The Jaina literary tradition of the period contains fantastic details pertaining to different types of structures and motifs of art and encompasses religious as well as civil architecture in enumerating vimdnas, toranas, pillars, arches, palaces, parks, audience-halls, stadia, galleries, etc. The surviving examples of the Jaina monuments have apparently little to match those descriptions either in the profusencss of form or in varicdness of content. A few monuments of the period existing at Rajgir mainly form the basis of our study. These consist of a ruined temple on the Vaibhåragiri and the twin Sonbhandar Caves cut on the southern scarp of the same hill (both described below, pp. 118 and 120) ascribed to this period. * Cf. M.H. Kuraishi and A. Ghosh, Raigh, fourth ed., Delhi, 1956, p. 24. * K.N. Dikshit in Spigraphia Indica, XX, 1929-30, p. 60. • Jaina image of the period might have been recut and shaped to represeat deities of other cults. One such example is available at Dharpal (Bankura), where a Parsvanatha image was converted into that of Vippu. Cf. AK. Bandopadhyaya, Bankurdr Mandir, quoted by D.K. Chakravarti la Rabu Chhotakal Jain Smrk Grantha, Calcutta, 1967, p. 49. Chakravarti also points to the evolution of Saiva cults is Bengal from Jainism, ibid., p. 49. *S.C. Mukherji. "Cultural heritage of Bengal rodation to Jainism, Babu Chhotelal Jain Sar# Grantha pp. 145; B. Saraswati, Jaimien in Bengal, totd., pp. 141; K.S. Rebarn, 'A stote on Jainism in Orion', tbid., pp. 165. Page #182 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 [PART III Another important Jaina monument which flourished in the fifth century but eventually disappeared is known from the Paharpur copper-plate inscription of the (Gupta) year 159A.D. 479. This extensive Jaina monastic establishment was situated at Vata-Gohali and was presided over by the Nirgrantha preceptor (śramaṇācārya) Guhanandin, belonging to the Pañcastupa-nikaya of Käsi or Navyāvakasika. The vihara was subsequently enlarged and occupied by the great temple and monastic complex of the Buddhists. However, the excavations at the site have revealed that even as the monastery was enlarged, it retained the original Jaina plan conforming to the typical sarvatobhadra type. This plan is typically Jaina is evolution. During its heyday the vihara of Vata-Gohali was an active centre of Jaina religious pursuits, and when Hiuen Tsang visited the Pundravardhana region he saw some one hundred Deva temples where sectaries of different schools congregated. Amongst them the naked Nirgranthas were most numerous. REMAINS OF RAJGIR Located at Rajgir are the twin rock-cut Sonbhandar caves,' involving a different mode of workmanship than used in the structural edifices. These caves eastern and western (plates 51 and 52)-have been assigned to the third or fourth century A.D. Cunningham had identified the western cave with the famed Saptaparni cave where the first Buddhist Council was held. Subsequently, when the other cave was discovered, Beglar suggested that the two caves belonged to Buddha and his disciple Ananda. These suggestions should be 1 Dikshit, op. cit., pp. 59 ff. * Pañca-stüpänvaya, mentioned in the sixth and thirteenth lines of the inscription, was founded by Arhadbalaya Acarya of Pundravardhana, according to the Śrutavatara cf. Chhotelal Jain in Anekanta, Aug., 1966, p. 239; cf. also S.B. Deo, History of Jaina Monachism, Poona, 1956, p. 558, for the anvayas. J. Fergusson, History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, London, 1906, II, p. 28; Mukherji, op. cit., p. 149. This type of plan may have evolved out of the Jaina samavasaranas. For samavasaranas and their antiquity, see U.P. Shah, Studies in Jaina Art, Banaras, 1955, pp. 123 ff. Similar plan occurs later at Osia and Sadri in Rajasthan and at the ChausathYogini temple at Khajuraho. K. Fischer, Caves and Temples of the Jainas, Aliganj, Etah, 1957, p. 5. S. Beal, Buddhist Records of the Western World, London, 1906, II, p. 195. Kuraishi and Ghosh, op. cit., p. 26, plate VII A; M.H. Kuraishi, List of Ancient Monuments Protected under Act VII of 1904 in the Province of Bihar and Orissa, Archaeological Survey of India, New Imperial Series, LI, Calcutta, 1931, pp. 120 f., figs. 80-81. • Archaeological Survey of India Reports, III, Calcutta, 1873, pp. 140 ff; earlier he had identified it with Pippala cave (ibid., I, Simla, 1871), p. 24. Kuraishi, op. cit., 1931, p. 121. 118 Page #183 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 111 EAST INDIA discarded in view of the evidence provided by the inscription which came to light on the outer wall of western cave. This Sanskrit inscription declares that Muai Vairs (Vajra) causod to be made two caves worthy of ascetics, in which were installed the images of Arhats. Bloch assigned the inscription to the third or fourth century A.D. Konow pushed back the date of the cave by a century. Shah has supported Konow and identified Muni Vaira of the inscription with Vajra the great Svetambara Acarya who died in the 584th year of Mahavira's nirvana (A.D. 57)." Shah follows Saraswati (although on a different evidence), who says that the Sonbhandár cave agrees essentially with the Mauryan Barabar and Nagarjuni caves and perhaps belongs to a date not far removed from them. However, the date of the inscription, as suggested by Bloch, has been retained by Kuraishi and Ghosh, and the characters of the inscription as well as the six figures of Jaina Tirthankaras carved in relief on the southern wall of the eastern cave confirm this date. Close to the inscription in the western Sonbhandar cave there is a faintly perceptible outline of the lower half of a Jina figure.' Inside the cave there is another relief in outline depicting a seated Jina accompanied by an artistic female figure holding cauri. In those details the caves correspond to the details of the inscription. The association of Digambara Jaina sect with Vaibharagiri is confirmed by Hiuen Tsang, 11. Bloch in Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report, 1905-06, Calcutta, 1909, p. 98 Ibid., p. 106, Shah, op. cir., p. 14. Shah admits the existence of only two Jaina Acaryas of the Dame Vajra, the first of them mentioned in the Avasyaka-Niryukti and the second in the Triloka-Praffiapti. or there, the former, according to Shah, finds mention in the Sonbhandar inscription. As regards the chronological incompatibility involved in this identification, Shah says that the inscription may be posthumous. He does not accept the existence of any other Vaira (Vajca) then the two above, because, he says, 'had it been so, his name would not have passed unnoticed in any of the different Sthavirdvalis.' U.P. Shah, Journal of Bihar Research Society, XXXIX, 1953, pp. 410-12. [Dr Jyoti Prasad Jain, 10 personal communication, says : It no happens that a Digambarı saint of the name of Viradeva finds mention in a record from Karnataka, Epigraphia Carnatica, X, 1905 p. 73) of about the middle of the fourth century AD. Editor. Seo also chapter 8.-Bditor.) The plaiones of the caves cannot be doubted. But it is interesting that these Sonbhandar caves are similar to those at Udaigiri (Vidiša) in that they are not completely rook-cut. Tho sockets on the exterior of the Sonbhandar caves indicate that originally some kind of wooden extension was appended to them. A brick superstructure and verandah ta tront of the eastern Cave an also aatiootbleThese fostures are present in the Gapte caves At Vidalgui ało. .Cunaingham, Archanalogical Survey of India Reports, X, Cutoutta, 1880, p. 46. * Kuraishi, op. okt., 1934, p In Beel, y, ale, 1, 158, Page #184 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 (PART III who observed that the Digambaras lodged at the Pi-pu-lo (Vaibhara) mountain 'practised austerities, incessantly turning round with the sun.' So the evidence about the Svetämbara Muni Vajra seems to be dubious : Mani Vajra finding mention in the inscription of the third-fourth century A.D. cannot be the Svetambara Muni Vajra who had passed away in A.D. 57. Unless more is known to show the compatibility of the inscription and the Tirthaikara reliefs with the twin Sonbhapdār caves, the date held earlier should stand. There is nothing very particular about the architectural style of these caves. The first cave, i.e., the western one, measures 10-3x52 m. has a doorway about 2x1 m. and a window about 9x 76 m. The door has sloping jambs with a taper of about 15 cm. from the base to the top. The roof is cut into an arch, which has a rise of about 1:5 m. Inside, as outside, it has nothing of any aesthetic value, excepting the Jinas in low relief mentioned above (p. 119) and below (p. 122). There are, however, certain obliterated epigraphs and other shell-inscriptions on the inner walls, door-jamb and the front wall. The eastern cave, adjacent to the western one, stands on a lower level, and is contemporary with the latter.' When Cunningham saw it," its interior was filled with the debris of its toppled roof. This cave is oblong and is smaller than the western one and carried a superstructure of brick. The upper storey so made was approached by a rock-cut flight of irregular steps. From the débris of the toppled superstructure was obtained a Garudāsana-Vişnu image, which indicates that the cave was later on requisitioned by the Vaisnavas. Inside the cave, on the southern wall, are six small figures of the Jinas in relief. "Outside both the caves there was a roofed verandah ... as is indicated by beamholes on the outer wall (on the western cave), and a platform or courtyard in front of the eastern cave), the brick pavement of which is still visible." The ruined shrine on the Vaibhāragiri 'consists of a central chamber facing east, surrounded by a court which again is flanked on all sides by rows of cells ... Adjoining the east wall of, and on a level lower than, the main building is another room with stairs on the north." This room contains some images of Jinas also, ascribable to this period." 1 Kuraisbi, op cit., 1931, p. 121-22; Kuraishi and Ghosb, pp. 24-26. . Mugi Vaira's inscription refers to two cayes. * Cunningham, op cit., 1871, p. 25. • Kuraishi and Ghosh, op. cit., p. 26. Ibid., p. 26. [On the date of this shrine, see below, chapter 15.-Editor.} Ramaprasad Chanda in Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report, 1925-26, Calcutta, 1928, pp. 125-26. 120 Page #185 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 11) EAST INDJA A. Rajgir : Sonbhandär, western cave, exterior B. Rajgir : Sonbhandär, eastern cave, reliefs of Tirthankaras on southern wall PLATE 51 Page #186 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 Rajgir Sonbhandar, western cave, interior, with a later caumukhi on floor PLATE 52 [PART III Page #187 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 11) EAST INDIA Rajgir : Tirthankara Nominatha in a shrine on Vaibhāra hill PLATE 53 Page #188 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 A. Chausa bronze Tirthankara Candraprabha (Patna Museum) B. Chausa bronze Tirthankara Candraprabha (Patna Museum) PLATE 54 [PART III Page #189 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 11] B. Chausa: bronze Tirthankara Pārsvanatha (Patna Museum) A. Chausa bronze Tirthankara Rabhanatha (Patna Museum) PLATE 55 EAST INDIA Page #190 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 (PART III Chausa : bronze Tirthankara Rşbbanátha (Patna Museum) PLATE 56 Page #191 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ RAST INDIA SCULPTURAL ART STONE IMAGES The eastern region has bequeathed to us images in stone and metal and a few terracotta figurines of the period. The stond images come mainly from Rajgir, while Chausa (District Bhojpur) has supplied sixteen metal images, six of them belonging to this period. The excavations conducted at Kumrahare and Vaišali have yielded a few terracotta figurines of Harinaigamena which, in style and artistry, reflect only a contimation of the Kushan archaic mode. Two more images of this period have been reported; one from the ruins of Paharpurs and the other from Mainamati, both in Bangladesh." Altogether, these finds make up a complete repertoire of the Jaina art-remains of this period in eastern India. Besides, a few Nági images have also been reported from Maniyar-Math at Rajgir." Although Nāgas are grouped under the category of the demi-gods of the vyantara region in Jaina cosmology, the evidence from Maniyar-Math suggests no Jaina affiliation of these objects and indicates, on the other hand, the existence of some kind of "Pantheon of Rajagtha", representing serpent deities popularly worshipped in the surrounding localities.'' 1 Ibid. Patra Nusan Catalogue of Antiquities, od. Parameswari Lal Gupta, Patna, 1965, pp116-17; H.K. Prasad, Jajna bronzes la the Patna Museum', Shri Mahavira Jaina Vidyalaya Golden Jubilee Volume, I, Bombay, 1968, pp. 275-83. A.S. Altzkar and Vijayakanth Mishra, Keport on Kumrakar Excavations 1951-55, Patpa, 1959, pp. 109-11. Krishna Deva aad Vijayakanta Mister, Vaidat Excavation 1990, Vwbar, 1981, p. 91; RP. Sila and Sita Ram Rok, Vadat Bxcavations 1958-62, Patna, 1960. pp. 169-43. Dilahi, op. a., Shopok., p. 15. This image representa un ding on a lot and Hanked by a figure of Yaksa (? srivaka) on each side of. Amekinta Aug 1966 p. 236. 1.N. Remcbaadran, 'Rocent archacological discoveries along the Maidamati and Laluairages, Tippers District, Eux Bengal", B.C. Law Volme, ed D.R. Bhandarkar and others II, Poona, pp. 218-19. Bloch, op. at., p. 104. Cunningham reported a standing image of Parivandtha from Maniyar-Math, when he dy a chadrical structure thers, Kurishi, op. ch., 1931,p. 132. But Bloch found many more such sculptures and his laterpretation, as above, appears plausible. One call the earlipat images of Pada in, however, a to ajett, Archorological Survey of India. Annual Report, 1930-34, Dthk 1936 16 276. LXVHI b; also P.K. Maity. Hluorten Studiar Hong the Cult of Gadduur Manard, Calcettu, 1968.' • Blochte op. alt., 104; Anual Report Archological Survey of Indian Bawera Circle, 1903-06, Olott, 1901 PR. I . 4 Page #192 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 (Part II Barring the terracotta figurines, the other specimens of Jaina art reflect the aesthetic consciousness of the times and form a part of the universally prevalent idiom of Gupta art. Although conceived in the stereotyped sitting or standing postures, the Jina images now exhibit a major advance over the preceding tradition. The overpowering solidity is no longer present in them. On the other hand, they exhibit the endeavour of the artist to mellow down the stiffness of pose by rendering the solidity of volume with a smooth curve and a rhythm of continuously easy moving line. The awareness towards realizing the animated form is seen in all the images, however the degree of achievement might vary. Generally, the images in stone are artistically superior to those in bronze, and wherever archaism has stayed it is probably due to the failure of the artist to break away from the Kushan idiom of the Mathura school. Taken as a whole, these images compare well with the similar creations of art in the other regions of north and central India. The stylistic features of these icons reveal the idioms which materialized at Sarnath and Deogarh and influenced the iconoplastic activity in eastern India. In the Jaina art at Rajgir, at least two distinct stylistic categories are clearly recognizable. The first category is represented by the image of Neminătha from the ruined temple on the Vaibhāragiri and six other Jina reliefs in the eastern Sonbhandar cave. These specimens reveal greater elegance and better organic interrelationship of the body-structure than those of the other category, which consists of the three images found along with that of Neminätha in the same cell of the ruined temple. These latter are characterized by a stiffer torso, columnar feet and an 'accentuated roll of flesh beneath the navel with a deeply incised line below, which sharply cuts the figure.' Similar treatment is observed on the neck also. The treatment of hands in the standing Jina images of both the categories is incorrect in that the 'frontal arms are joined to profile hands'. Again, in both the categories the feet are columnar and the legs are summarily treated. These images thus reveal a new plastic diction which was gaining ground then. Besides portraying a sophistication, they exhibit the cognizances of the Tirthankaras which Cf. Sheila L. Weiner, 'From Gupta to Päla sculpture', Artibus Asiae, XXV, 1962, pp. 167 ff. Klaus, Bruhn The Jing Images of Deogarh, Leiden, 1969, ln his system of classification, Bruhn includes one of these images under Uncouth Class' (Motif I) and assign it to the carly medieval period, pp. 115-16, 222-24, fig. 76. In this feature these images compare well with the other images of the Sarpath school of the later half of the fifth century. Cf. Weiner, op. cit., p. 168. 122 Page #193 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ EAST INDIA were being accepted in the iconography and whioh help in fixing the identity of the differcut Jinas. The earliest Jina image of this period known so far from eastern India represents the twenty-second Tirthadkara Neminátha in the ruinod temple on the Vaibhåra hill of Rajgir (plate 53). This black-basalt image (79x68 cm.) carried a mutilated inscription reoording the name of (Mahārājādbirāja) SriCandragupta I (Vikramaditya). The head of the Jina figure is badly mutilated; otherwise the image is a perfect specimen of Gupta art. The Jina is shown seated in the dhyana-mudra on a simhasand. The pedestal has the figures of rampant lions on its extreme ends and a princely figure standing inside the periphery of an oblong and spoked cakra. On his either side are the reliefs of two Jinas with shaven heads, sitting in the dhydna-mudra. The princely figure in the cakra was identified by Chanda with Aristancmi (Neminātha as a young prince), but according to Shah the figure represents the cakra-purusa." Coeval with this image in style are the six other Jina figures carved on the southern wall inside the eastern Sonbhandar cave.' Of these six reliefs, five are carved on one side of the entrance to the cave (plate 51B) and the sixth stands in isolation on the other side. The first five empanelled figures are carved in a row in which the first two represent Padmaprabha, the sixth Jina, the third Pärsvanátha, the twenty-third Jina, and the last two Mahāvira. The whole composition highlights a contrast in portraying the static and stereotyped Jina figures seated or standing juxtaposed to the frolicking figures of attendants caught in various stances of movement. The whole composition is laid out symmetrically; the different Jina figures are properly framed and combine to make a frieze in the form of an extended panel. The symmetry of this panel is broken only by the two diminutive lotuses below the first two figures of Padmaprabha, but this does not have any adverse effect on the total artistry of the composition. These reliefs have an almost identical scheme of presentation as regards the accossory details, and the deviation manifests itself only in the presentation of the individual cognizances of the different Jinas. So the Jinas are either standing or seated and in all the cases accompanied in tiers from top to bottom by (a) flying figures on either side holding garlands or simply folding the hands in adoration, (b) attendant figures standing on each side, holding cauri (c) two seated Finas, one cach on either side, in wthyana-mudra. Between the niched figures of these seated Jinas below, the * Chanda, op. cit., pp. 125-26. Shah, op. cit., 1955, p. 14. • Kutaishi and Obork, op. cit., p. 26, pl. VII B. 23 Page #194 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 (PART III pedestals carry some more details. The reliefs of Padmaprabha have lotuses, that of Parsvanatha has two elephants facing opposite directions and separated by a beautifully-carved cakra; Mahavira, on the other hand, has lions flanking similar cakras. The lonely sixth relief on the other side of the entrance is larger but badly mutilated. Even so, it presents the same breadth of style as seen in the other figures. It has certain elaborations in that a kalpa-kpa is carved on the top of the Jina's halo and the asana has a well-spread dstaraka. The tree has the distinctive bunches of asoka-flower and leaves. On the other hand, the three standing sculptures of Jinas in the cell containing the Neminatha image on the Vaibhara hill mentioned above (p. 123) seem to belong to a different tradition. Among these, one image has a depiction of conches flanking a lotus and thus represents Neminatha; the other, though smaller and less articulate in accessory details, is nevertheless similar to the preceding. These two Jina images exhibit a configuration of oval face, neatly arranged hair in spirals, the kayotsarga-mudra and an enriched ornamentation of halo throughout the course of its circular sweep. The parikara of these images has cauri and garland-bearing figures in both the sides of the Jinas. The third image of this group is the smallest and simplest and shows the Jina standing along with the cauri-bearers under a parasol consisting of triple layers of inverted lotus. This image is corroded and its finer details have disappeared. Yet another image of this class, with the same refrain of style, is now in the Gopikrishna Kanoria collection at Patna. This image represents Parsvanatha and in the details of parikara is typically Gupta in style. However the delineation of the face is at variance in style with the rest of the figure. This might have been due to a recutting of the image at some later date. BRONZES Next to these are the six metal images of Jinas from Chausa, now in the Patna Museum, displaying a simple charm and felicity of expression and different as a class from those found in the western India. Among these, two 1 These images have been usually assigned to the Gupta period, of. Chanda, op. cit., p. 126, Kuraishi and Ghosh, op. cit, p. 26; Shah, op. cit., p. 14. Bruhn, op. cit., pp. 222-23, puts one of them under the category of medieval sculptures. The flattened terao, the sharp joints and a less subtle transition from one plane to the other indicate that the images have to some degree the rudiments of stylistic features which encumbered the att of the transitional period'. For the western Indian bronzes, see Shah, op. cit., 1955, p. 16; also chapter 13 below. 124 Page #195 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ Cuke 113 EAST INDIA (plate 54) represent the eighth Jina Candraprabha, as is clear from his cognizance-crescent-shown at the top middle of the siras-cakra. The other two (plates 55A and 56) represent the first Jina Rjabhadeva, so identified on account of the locks of hair falling down on his shoulders. The remaining two (onie illustrated, plato 55B) remain unidentified due to corrosion and the consequent lack of details. All the Jinas are shown scated in dhyana-mudra an a podestal and uniformly have the frivatsa-symbol in the middle of their chest and a fras-cakra at the back. Where the firas-cakra has now disappeared the tenon at the back of the image signifies its original presence. The images of Raabhadeva are perfectly proportioned and show an ovoid and robust face, cars with lengthened lobes, neck with regular striations and a masterly coalescence of planes from the shoulder to the waist and below, with every plane distinctly defined yet smoothly merging into cach other. In these features they appear to be superior to the images of Candraprabha in spite of the greater ornateness of the latter. However, the palms in the Rşabhadeva images are disproportionately large and the toes are spiayed. The hair is shown flowing sideways and has a parting at the middle of the scalp; locks of hair are shown falling on the shoulder in ripples. One of the images of Candraprabha (plate 54A) has certain elaborations in its cast. The Jina is seated in dhyana-mudrà on a rectangular double-tiered pedestal, between two ornamental pillars forming a niche. The tops of the pillars carry grotesquely-designed makara-mukhas, with their tongues sticking out in a loop. Behind his head there is a semicircular siras-cakra with pellets on its rim, a halo-formation consisting of lotus-petals and a crescent at the top. The Jina has a cranial bump (uşnişa), long ear-lobes and, curiously, the keśa-vallari falling on the shoulders as on the Rşabhadeva's images. The face of Candraprabha is round, the torso diminutive and shoulders and arms a little drawn. The portion below the waist, i.e. the turning and intertwining of the legs and hands in the lap, is not sharply defined. The other image of Candraprabha (plate 54B) is smaller but is similar to the preceding one. One of the unidentified images (plate 55B) also appears similar to this class in the details of the pedestal rising in two tiors and in the delineation of the lower parts of tho body. Taken together, these bronzes display stylistic differences, particularly in delineating facial features as well as the body as a whole. And the images of Candraprabha appear to be later than those of Rsabhadeva. 1 Cr. Slimh, op. dt., 1955, p. 13, for his opinion some of the Chausa bronzes. Page #196 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 TERRACOTTAS In relation to these sculptures, the terracottas lack in artistry and seem to repeat an archaism which they had inherited. Among those from Vaisal there are about a dozen figurines identified with Naigamega, the Jaina deity of child-birth. They are characterized by an animal-face with goat-like features and long dangling ears having either pierced holes or slitmarks. Generally the mouth is indicated by a deep-cut slit just below a hooked nose. Three types are evident in the Vaisali terracottas of Naigameşa viz., female, male and couples, either with a child or without it; among these the female type is predominant. In the similar figurines of Kushan period horns over ears are an added feature. The excavations at sites IV and V of Kumrahar have supplied a dozen of such figurines belonging to Period IV (circa A.D. 300-450) and Period V (circa A.D. 450-600). They represent the male and female varieties and are similar in style to the Vaisali specimens. All these terracotta figurines are hand-made and have nothing like the sweeping charm of Ahicchatra Naigameşa figures. Cursorily hand-modelled, archaic and crude, they appear to belong to some hieratical tradition which had not been transformed by the touch of the classical plasticity and sophistication. There is, however, a suggestion that among the Paharpur terracottas some 'older panels might have been readjusted when the Jaina monastery was reshaped during the eighth century." Paharpur, it is said, witnessed a transformation of art-idiom from Gupta to medieval," but the extant finds fail to reveal Jaina affiliations of any such art-activity. [PART III Pp. 229-34. "Stella Kramarisch, Indian Sculptures, London, p. 216. 1 Krishna Deva and Mishra, op. cit., p. 51, plate XII C 7: Sinha and Roy, op. cit., pp. 162-63, pl. LII, figs. 1-9. Sinha and Roy classify Period IV of Vaišäll, to which these terracottas belong, as chronologically covering circa A.D. 200-600. For Harinegameşa, see U.P. Shah in Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art, XIX, 1952-53, pp. 19 ff. V.S. Agrawala in Ancient India, 4, 1947-48, p. 134. Krishna Deva and Mishra, op. cit., p. 51. Agrawala, op. cit., pp. 134-37, plate XLVIII A. C.C. Dasgupta, Origin and Development of Glay Sculptures in India, Calcutta 1961, 126 R.N. MISRA Page #197 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 12 CENTRAL INDIA THREE INSCRIBED MAGES OF TIRTHANKARAS, FOUND IN A VILLAGE CALLED Durjanpur in Vidisha District of Madhya Pradesh and now in the local museum at Vidisa, have recently been brought to light. The inscriptions appear on the pedestals of the Tirthankaras who are scated in padmasana and dhyana-mudra; the pedestals have a winged lion at each end and a dharmacakra, with the rim facing, in the centre. Two of the images (plates 57 and 58) have their faces mutilated, but they have a male standing cauri-bearer on each side and a halo behind the head. The haloes have a scalloped border on the outer edge and a beautiful open multipetalled lotus in the centre. The halo of the third image (plate '59) is almost ruined, and it is not certain whether there were standing attendants on the sides. But the smiling face of the Jina is partly preserved. The head, with the nose, eye and forehead mutilated, shows ears with long pierced lobes. The Srivatsa-mark is clearly visible on the chest of all the three images. The torso of each Jina shows a well-developed healthy chest which is characteristic of Gupta sculpture. The position of the elbow and arm, held farther away on cach side from the torso, is peculiar and makes a sort of triangle of the whole image, with the head as the apex and the hands as the two sides of a triangle. This seems to be the ideal mode of yogic padmasana posture in this period, at least in Jaina meditations. These sculptures are especially significant not only of the history of the Jaina church and iconography but also for the history of Gupta art. The inscription of the image on plate 57A is better preserved (plate 57B) than those on the other two. According to this inscription, Maharajadhiraja Råmagupta got these images prepared (and set up) on the advice of CeluKsamapa, the good son of Golakyantyd, and pupil Acarya Sarppasena Ksamana, the grand-pupil of Candra Kyam&carya-Kramana-Sramana, who was a pariptrtka, i... one who used the hollows of his palms as alms-and drinkingbowl. 10. Cat, Three Inscription of Rimagepts, Journal of the Oriental Institute, Baroda, Xvat, 1969, pp. 347.51; also GaiThree muoriptions of RimapexApgraphie Indica, XXXVII, 1970, pp. 46-49. Page #198 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 (PART Obviously Acārya Candra was a Digambara, perhaps of the Yápaniya sarigha, since we know that Sivarya, the author of the Digambara Bhagavatidradhand, calls himself panidalabhoi, i.e. one who eats from the palms of his hands. Sarppasena may be a variant of Nāgasena, since the practice of using synonyms in names is not unknown to ancient literature. Since Rämagupta is here called Maharajadhiraja, it is obvious that he was not a small feudatory chief. Copper coins of a Rāmagupta have been found in the Vidita region. The palaeography of the three inscriptions, all referring to Mahārājādhiraja Rāmagupta, suggests a fourth-century date, which makes probable the identification of the ruler with the Gupta ruler Råmagupta, referred to in the Devi-Candragupta of Višākhadatta as the elder brother of Candragupta II. The pedestals show only the Dharma-cakra in the centre, without the two deer flanking its sides. Plate 58 represents the dharma-cakra only in the centre of pedestal. No lanchang or recognizing symbol of a Jina is shown on the pedestals. The rendering of the attendant figures, with the ekávali in their necks, is well-done. The two attendants on plate 57A show the typical Kushan headdress with the cũd amani-motif in the centre, while the attendant on plate 58 shows a sort of conical cap reminiscent of Saka caps. These figures, which should be dated to circa A.D. 370, within the short rule of Rāmagupta, offer a definite proof that the various lanchanas (cognizances) of the Jinas, even if they were evolved in this period, had not as yet secured any place on the sculptures of the Tirthařkaras. In one of the Udaigiri caves (Cave 20) near Vidika is found an inscription of the Gupta year 106 (reign of Kumaragupta I). Tefering to the making of a figure of Pārsvanátha, 'awe-inspiring on account of the horrible fangs of a snake carved over his head'. The relief-sculpture is now regarded as lost, the sculpture now existing in the cave being of a much later date. However, it is 1 Tho two deer flanking the sides of dharma-cakra do pat appear on Jaipa images of the Kushan period a Mathura nor on the pedestal of the Nomináths image installed in the age of Candragupta at Rajgir (above, plate 53). The motif seems to have been introduced bter under Buddhist influence. For inscribed Jaina sculptures of the Gupta age, see J. F. Fleet, Inscriptions of the Early Gupta Kings, Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, 111, Calcutta, 1888, pp. 258 £; RD Bunerji, Age of the Imperial Gupras, Banares, 1933., pp, 104, 106, 108, 129, . iiUR haben Studies in Jaina Art, Banaras, 1956, pp. 14-15. Page #199 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 12) CENTRAL INDIA A. Durjanpur : a Tirthankara (Vidisha Museum) B. Durjanpur : inscription on pedestal of above PLATE 57 Page #200 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE AD 300 TO 600 (PART III Durjanpur: a Tirthankara (Vidisha Museum) PLATE 58 Page #201 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 12) CENTRAL INDIA Durjanpur : & Tirthankara (Vidisha Museum) PLATE 59 Page #202 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 A. Udaigiri Tirthankara reliefs on cave-wall and loose (later) Tirthankara Pärsvanatha B. Gwalior rock-cut Tirthankaras [PART III PLATE 60 Page #203 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 12) CENTRAL INDIA Vidisă : a Tirthankara (Gwalior Museum) PLATE 61 Page #204 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ [PART III MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A D. 300 TO 600 Sira Pahari : Tirthankara Mahavira PLATE 62 Page #205 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 12] CENTRAL INDIA Sira Pabari : Tirthankara Rşabbanatha PLATE 63 Page #206 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 (PART III Sira Pahari : Tirthadkara Parbvanatha PLATE 64 Page #207 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 12] CENTRAL INDIA not quite clear from the text of the inscription if the image of Pärévanatha was a loose image in the cave, since the word used is acikarat, i.e., caused to be made, the sense of setting up or installing an image being not there. The inscription might have referred to the now partly-defaced wall-relief of Pärsvanatha (plate 60A).1 1 An interesting sculpture of a standing Tirthankara, having two flying garland-bearers near the head, in front of the circular halo with a lotus in the centre and a border of small rosettes on the outer edge, and two half-seated devotees (heads lost) near the legs, was discovered at Besnagar (Vidišā). It is now preserved in the Gwalior Museum. The very long arms reaching the knees, broad and somewhat rounded shoulders, the modelling of the torso, etc., suggest a date of circa late sixth century. The date is further suggested by the classical hair-dress and treatment of the flying garland-bearers in front of the halo, on two sides of the Jina's head (plate 61). At Sira Pahari, a hill near Nachna, the site of a famous Siva shrine of the Gupta period in Panna District, Madhya Pradesh, is found a group of Jaina sculptures of the Gupta age, along with a few later ones. Plate 62 illustrates a seated Tirthankara with a large halo behind the head and a pair of flying Gandharvas on each side near the top of the halo. On each side of the Tirthankara is a standing camara-dhara (flywhisk-bearer) Yakşa with a crown having a front-ornament reminiscent of the typical Kushan head-dress from which it is evolved. The treatment of the bodies of these two Yaksas, the ekavali neck-ornaments of the Gandharvas and Yaksas, the vigorous treatment of the Gandharvas, reminiscent of those from Sondni, Aihole, etc., suggest an early Gupta age for this sculpture, circa late fourth or early fifth century. A similar treatment of the motif on the crown is found on the head-dress of the Naga and two or three small standing figures in the famous Varaha-panel in one of the caves at Udaigiri. The treatment of the head and body of the Jina himself, allied to that of Mathură sculptures of circa fourth century, further supports 1 Sec Hiralal Jain, Bharatiya Samskṛti men Jaina-Dharma kå Yoga-ddna, Bhopal, 1962, p. 391; Klaus Fischer, Cares and Temples of the Jains, Aliganj, 1956, p. 6 and plate. 1 Shah, op. cit., fig. 24; negative 786 of the Department of Archaeology, old Gwalior State. These negatives are now with the Department of Archaeology, Madhya Pradesh. possibly stored in the Gwalior Musrum. ⚫ Vikrama-Sert-Grastha (Hindi), Gwalior, vs. 2000 (a.b. 1944-45), plate facing p. 703. • These scalptures are described by Niraj Jain in Andkänta (Hindi), Delhi, XV, 19, pp. 222-23, with two plates. They are reported to be lying in two caves on a hill by the side of a lake Bear the Brahmagical shrines at Nacima. I have described here only those images whose photographs were available with the Archaeological Survey of India, Northern Circle, Agra. 129 Page #208 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 PART II this date. On the pedestal are shown miniature lions at the ends with a sharma cakra in the centre. On the analogy of the pedestal of a sculpture of a standing Rsabhapatha from this site, discussed below, one might suggest that this seated Tirthankara represents Mahavira with the lion-cognizance. On the pedestal of the standing Rşabhanātha from Sira Pahari (plate 63) we find a dharma-cakra and two worshippers on the two sides. The sacred wheel is shown with the rim facing us as on pedestals of Jaina sculptures of the Kushan period from Mathură. Again, at each end of the pedestal of this sculpture is shown the typical Indian bull, which is the cognizance of Rşabhanåtha. In later Jaina sculptures lions are shown at the two ends of pedestals, suggesting a simhasana, while dharma-cakras are flanked by two deer as in Buddhist sculptures. But in this sculpture the bull-cognizance is thus shown, while there are no deer flanking the dharma-cakra. This suggests clearly that this sculpture belongs to an early stage of introduction of cognizances, when the position of a cognizance of a Jina was not yet finally fixed. On this analogy the sculpture illustrated on plate 62 may be identified representing Mahăvira. The style of both these sculptures is that of transition from typical Kushan types of the classical Gupta idiom. But the Mahävira image is a beautiful specimen of art, the face especially being exquisitely modelled. Of the same period and perhaps only slightly earlier is another sculpture from the same site, that of a standing Parávanátha, without any drapery and having a huge serpent coiled behind the Jina's whole figure and making a canopy of snake-hoods over the Jina's head (plate 64). It seems that near the Brāhmaṇical centre at Nachna was a Jaina centre at Sira Pahari during the Gupta period. Further exploration may yield more Jaina vestiges not only at this place but also at other sites around. Joanna Williams has recently brought to light two beautiful Jina images of the Gupta age, now preserved in Rajendra Udyan, Panna, Madhya Pradesh, Cognizances of Tirthad karas are not found on sculptures of the Kusban period from Katkall-tila, Matbură. They do appear on the sculptures of the Gupta period at Rajgir, but their position was not finally fixed even in the fifth century, cf., for example, the image of Neminātha on the Vaibhara hill, Rajgir, Ramaprasad Chanda, Archonological Survey of India, Annual Report, 1925-26, Calcutta, 1928, pp. 125 ff,; Shah, op. cit., p. 14, fig. 18. (Also above, plate 53.-Editor.] Here two conchor are placed on each side of the dharme-cakra in the cantre of tho podestal. The conch is the cognizance of Nemindtha. 130 Page #209 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CAMPUR 123 CENTRAL INDIA but reported to have been brought from Nachna." Plate I of Williams shows & Jina sitting in padomdrana on a cushion placed on a pedestal. Near cach end of the pedestal is a lion, while in the centre is dharma-cakra with the rim facing us. On each side of the dharma-cakra is a knocling worshipper, perhaps a ganadhara (first disciple of a Jina) or a monk. The second figure shows in all four worshippers in front of the pedestal. The face and head are better preserved and the modelling of the shoulders and torso is in the best Gupta tradition. So far as the expression of the face is concerned, the image ranks amongst the best examples of Jina sculptures of the Gupta period, though the sculpture is perhaps slightly later than the one on plate I of Williams. The resemblance of these Jinas with the famous Sarnath Buddha has already been noted by Williams. There must have been many centres producing Jina images in the Gupta period, as is demonstrated by the Mathura Museum specimen B. 6,9 etc., by the Nachna-Sira Pahari Tirthankaras, the now-defaced Parsvanatha in the Udaigiri cave and the three images dedicated in the reign of Råmagupta near Vidišā. The Vidiša images are no doubt heavier and more muscular. It is not unlikely that the beginning of the Jaina settlement in Deogarh Fort, Jhansi District, was almost contemporaneous with the famous Dašavatāra temple of the Gupta age at Deogarh. In his study of the Jina images at Deogarh Klaus Bruhn has published at least two images (his fig. 20, image 8, and fig. 21, image 9)," which have been suspected by Williams to be early Gupta of the Mathură group. The affinity with the Mathura style is obvious, but whereas fig. 20 image 8) of Bruhn may date from the fifth century, his fig. 21 (image 9) is indeed later, as is clear from the rendering of the scarf and modelling of the figures of the attendant flywhisk-bearers. This figure may belong to the end of the sixth century. Even though the figure of the Tirthaikara is reminiscent of early Gupta Mathura traits, it is difficult to assign it to the carly Gupta age. Two rock-cut reliefs at Gwalior (plate 60B), one showing Tirthankara standing in meditation (küyotsarga-mudrd) and the other representing a Jina meditating in the padmasana-posture, seem to date from the very end of this 1 Joanna Williams, Two new Gupta Jina images', Orlental Art, XVIII, 4, Winter, 1972. Pp. 378-80. . (Above, chapter 10.-Editor) • Klaus Bruhn, The Jina Image of Decgark, Lolden, 1969, • Williams, op. cit., p. 380,8. 13. 131 Page #210 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 [PART WHI period. The attendants of the sitting Jina stand on full-blow, lotugas hoki by dwarfs (7) looking like thick stalks. Similar treatment of Yaksas stapding on lotudos with long stalks is found on two beautiful sculptures, B. 6 and 8. 7, in the Mathura Mercum. Tho troatment of the figure of the standing Jina is comparable with the treatment of two standing Jinas on the Vaibhira hill, Rajgir. Both these Tirthankara figures from Gwalior follow the Gupta idiom. The attendants wear decorated cap-like crowns and ekavalt nock-ornaments. The parikara of the Jinas is still simple and not olaborate as in post Chlupta sculptures. UMAKANT P. SHAR 1 Shah, op. cit., figs. 25 and 27. (Also mentioned above, chapter 10, and one illustrated, plate 46. Editor.) 132 Page #211 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 13 WEST INDLA EVEN THOUGH VERY FEW JAINA VESTIGES OF THE PERIOD UNDER consideration have been found, it is quite certain from the evidence of literature that there were many Jaina dentres both in central and western India during this period. The pakaity of Jaina finds of this period is not a phenomenon observed only in western India; even in Magadha, the land of Mahavira's birth, beyond a few sculptures from Rajgir hardly anything that can be definitely assigned to this period has been discoverod. The early Jaina tradition regarding the popularity of Jainism in central India (Ujjain) and western India (Sindhu-Sauvira) has already been dealt with in Chapter 8, where it has also been shown that Jaina monks seem to have lived in Saurāştra, near Girnar-Junagadh, during Kşatrapa rule. We shal, therefore, expect to discover in future Jaina relics of the third, fourth and later centuries from Rajasthan, Gujarat and the Deccan, especially Junagadh, Valabhi and Broach in Gujarat and from near Sürpdraka or modern Sopara near Bombay and from the site of Pratişthanapura. In the beginning of the fourth century A.D., we find two Jaina Councils meeting almost simultaneously, at Mathurd under Arya Skandila and at Valabbu in Saurastra under Arya Nagarjuna. The Svetambara canonical works, as available today, often prefer the textual readings of the Mathurt Council. Again, there was a second Council at Valabhi under the chairmanship of Devarddhi-gani Kşamáśramaņa to edit and preserve the Jaina canon. The present Svetămbara canon is supposed to follow this second Valabhi Council which met in the year 980 after Mahavira's nirvana, Le. in A.D. 453. The necessity for holding a second Council at Vałabhi within a couple of centuries when the canons had already been written in the fourth century, is still a problem of investigation. There can be one plausible solution to this problem. Already in A.D. 83 (according to the Svetämbaras), or in A.D. 80 (according to the Digambaras), the Digambara sect arose under the leadership of Śivabhūti, a disciple of Arya Krşpasramang. The Svetämbara-Digambara differences were formerly limited to a few problems, the principal onę being Page #212 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 (PART III the use of garments by Jaina monks. While a number of koulas and ganas found recorded in the Sthaviravali of the Svetāmbara Jaina canon Kalpa-satna and the Nandi-sätra (fifth century) are already mentioned in the inscriptions on the sculptures from Kankali-tila, Mathura, all the standing Tirthankara images bearing such inscriptions are carved nude. All the sitting images of the Kushan period from Mathura may also be supposed to be representing the Tirthankaras in the Digambara way, since there is no trace of any drapery on such images, even though the membrum virile is not clearly shown as in later Digambara sculptures. The quarrel about nudity or otherwise of Jaina monks was reflected in the worship of images also. When the Svetambara-Digambara differences became very acute, all references in the Jaina canon not convenient to either of these sects were omitted, in the new edition of the Jaina canon in the second Valabhi Council so far as the Svetambaras were concerned, and in the works taught by Bhūtaball in Saurastra so far as Digambaras were concerned. It seems that before the second Valabhi Council all Jaina Tirthankára sculptures were carved without any drapery. The beautiful sculpture of seated Neminātha carved in the age of Candragupta II in the Jaina shrine at Rajgirl does not seem to have any drapery; the same is the case with the standing images in the same shrine. The earliest image showing a dhoti worn by a Tirthankara is a standing bronze of Rşabhanatha from the Akota hoard in Gujarat (plates 65A and 66A). This is a very beautiful bronze, about 76 cm. in height, unfortunately partiy mutilated and with the pedestal lost. But the modelling is beautiful and in the chaste Gupta tradition, comparable with the exquisitely-cast copper Buddha from Sultanganj. In spite of the heavy damage, the image remains one of the finest Jaina bronzes from north India. The half-closed silver-inlaid eyes indicate the Jina in blissful meditation. The lower lip, which, according to a maha-purusa-laksana, should be coral in colour, is inlaid with copper. The badly damaged neck with three folds is again conch-shaped (kambu-griva), an ideal of personal beauty in the Gupta age. The beautifully-modelled torso (with broad rounded shoulders and thin waist (tanuvrita-madhya) also conforms to the Gupta ideals. Hair-locks falling on the shoulders help us to identify him as Rşabhanátha (Adinátha), the first Tirthankara. His hands reach the knees, and he is shown young and 1 U.P. Shah, 'The age of differentiation of Svetämbers and Digambara Jaina images, Bulletin of the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay, I, no. 1, 1950-51, pp. 30 F. f Above, chapter 11, plate 53 Editor.] 134 Page #213 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 13] WEST INDIA with a pleasing countenance as laid down by Vardhamihira. The hair on the head is in schematic curls and an unisa is also shown. Even according to the Digambara tradition noted in the Brkat-katha of Harisena, the use of drapery by some Jaina monks seems to have started in western India at a place called Kambalika-tirtha. It is, therefore, not surprising that the earliest Tirthankara image in the Svetambara fashion (i.e. with a lower garment, dhoti), known hitherto, hails from a site in western India, i.e. Akota." No Jaina antiquities of the third and fourth centuries are known as yet. Of the fifth century, only the bronze figure of Rsbhanatha described above has been found. Of the sixth century, some more Jaina figures are available. From Valabhi D.R. Bhandarkar discovered five bronze images of standing Tirthankaras (plate 67A), which are preserved in the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay. On the basis of the partly extant inscriptions on at least two of them, Bhandarkar assigned them to the sixth century A.D. Moreshwar Dikshit read saṁva 200(+)20(+) of the Valabhi era (A.D. 538-548) on one of them." The figures show somewhat small or stunted torsos and relatively bigger, heavier heads, which is a characteristic of the early west Indian school. As stated above (p. 133), already in the fourth century A.D. a Council of the Jainas met in Valabhi, ünder Arya Nagarjuna. Mallavadi, the great Jaina logician and author of the Dvadaśāra-Nayacakra, defeated the Buddhists in dispute at Valabhi in circa v.s. 414 (A.D. 357). The second Council at Valabhi met in A.D. 453-54. The Jainas grew stronger in western India during this period as is further indicated by the find of these Jaina bronzes from the site of Valabhi. It may be noted that Bhandarkar also discovered a number of coins of Kumaragupta I from the same site. 1 Cf. a-janu-lamba-bahuḥ śrivatsänkaḥ prasanta-mürtiś ca dig-vdsds taruno rūpavams ca karyo' rhatam devah. Brhat-sankhiid, Bangalore, 1947, LVIII, 45. The fact that Vardhamihira speaks of a Jina image without any drapery shows that the Svetämbara concept of a clothed Jina image had not become popular in his times, and thus was perhaps of a relatively late origin. U.P. Shah, Akota Bronzes, Bombay, 1959. pp. 26, figs. 8a and 8b; Brhat-katha kosa, ed. A.N. Upadhye, Singhi Jaina series, 17, 131. pp. 317 ff. and introduction, p. 118. Shah, op. cit., 1950-51, p. 36; Sculptures from Samalaji and Roda, Baroda, 1960, pp. 21-25; Studies in Jaina Art, Banaras, 1955, fig. 29. * Progress Report, Archacological Survey of Western India, 1914-15, p. 30; Moreshwar G. Dikshit, Historic and Economic Studies, p. 63; H.G. Shastri, Maitraka-kalina Gujarat, II, pp. 668-72, and p. 671, n. 168. 135 Page #214 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 PART Of these five bronzes the second image from the right on plate 67A as well as the one on the left end seem to be somewhat cruder. In the absence of any data for earlier bronzes in Gujarat, it is difficult to arrive at any certain conclusion regarding the age, on the evidence of style alone. Sankalia has suggested that a few Jaina rock-cut reliefs at Dhank in ujarat date from circa early fourth century A.D. Again, for want of sufficient data regarding sculptural art of the third or fourth century in western India. it is not easy to decide the age of these reliefs. But the figure of the Jina and his attendant Yakşi Ambikā should be assigned to the late sixth or the seventh century rather than the fourth. There is no literary or archaeological evidence so far known to prove the introduction of this Yakşi in Jaina worship before the sixth century A.D. Stylistically the figures are assignable to the seventh century. In the Akota hoard are found a few more bronzes which can be assigned to the later part of this period on the evidence of style and sometimes of the script of the inscriptions. Two bronzes of Jivantasvämin (one with an inscribed pedestal and the other with the pedestal missing) are of great significance in the history of Jaina art and iconography. Jivantasvāmi-pratima, as the name implies, was originally a portrait-sculpture fashioned when the Lord (svämin), i.e. Mahāvira, was alive (Jivanta). According to ancient Jaina traditions, such an image of sandalwood (goširşa-candana) was a portrait-statue of Mahāvira made when he was meditating in his palace, prior to renunciation, and as such Mahavira was shown with a crown and ornaments befitting a prince and with a lower garment. Like the Bodhisattva who is to reach Buddhahood, Jivantasvåmin represents a conception which may be called Jinasattva. Plate 65B illustrates the Akota Jivantasvāmin bronze whose pedestal is lost, and which is partly mutilated. However, the head with a completely preserved. The tall mukuta is cvolved from the cylindrical crown (Iranian cap!) of acolyte Vişnu (formerly identified as Indra) of the Kushan age at Mathură.' It is four-sided with a caitya-window ornament in front and 1 H.D. Sankalia in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1938, pp. 427 ff., plates III-IV, Archaeology of Gujarat, Bombay, 1941, pp. 160 ff.; Shah, op. cit., 1955, fig. 31. pp. 16-17. * For the origin and conception of the Stvantasvāmin image, so U.P. Shah, 'A unique Jaina image of Jivantasvami'. Journal of the Oriental insitute, Baroda, I, no. 1, pp. 72-79, and "Side-lights on the life-time sandalwood image of Mahavira'; d., I, bo. 4, pp. 358-68. Soe also "Some more images of Jivantasvami,' Journal of Indian Museums, XI, pp. 49-50. J. Pb. Vogel, La Sculpture de Mathurd, Paris and Bruxelles, 1930, 91. XXXIX 1 and b. p. 46; Shah, op. cit., 1959, figs. 9a, 96, pp. 26-27. 136 Page #215 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ WEST INDIA CHAPTBR 13] A. Akota : bronze Tirthankara Rşabhanātha (Baroda Museum) B. Akota : bronze Jivantasvamin (Baroda Museum) PLATE 65 Page #216 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 (PART ITT A. Akota : head of Rşabhanåtha, see plate 65A (Baroda Museum) ALLA . te B. Akota : bronze head of a Tirthankara (Baroda Museum) PLATE 66 Page #217 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 13) WEST INDIA 3. T3 Oy A. Valabhi : group of bronze Tirthankaras (Prince of Wales Museum) Vsa B. Akota : bronze Tirthadkara Rşabbanatha with Yaksa and Yakşi (Baroda Museum) PLATE 67 Page #218 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ (PART III MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A D. 300 TO 600 A. Akota : bronze Jivantasvămin (Baroda Museum) B. Akots : bronze Yakşi Ambika (Baroda Museum) PLATE 68 Page #219 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 13) WEST INDIA the lotus-motif on the sides, back and top. Ringlets of hair fall in three tiers on the shoulders, and stylized curls are soen below the fillet (patta), which is possibly a part of the crown. The lower lip of the Jina is inlaid with copper to indicato coral-like lips; the half-open eyes inlaid with silver betray deep meditation. The broad forehead has a circular tilaka-mark. The full blooming young face radiant with spiritual contemplation and joy is perhaps the finest representation of Mahavtra so far discovered. The dhoti, held by a chain-girdle, teaches below the knees. A scarf is tied lower with a hanging loop in the centre. Such a loop is also seen on the figure of Anantaśāyin Vispu at Deogarh. From the central part of the dhoti is attached an ornamental scarf (paryasatka), one end of which falls in a zigzag pattern and the other end, which covers the left thigh, has peculiar semicircular folds depicting the vallt. This type of dhoti is an unmistakable peculiarity of the early western school of Indian sculpture. The neck with triple fold, the broad shoulders, long arms, gently swelling chest and slender waist are all characteristics of Gupta art. The armlet, placed near the shoulder rather than in the centre of the upper arm, and its motif of the beaded band with a circular gavaksa-motif above also suggest an early dating. The incised torque design is a characteristic of earlier Kushan sculpture from Mathură. The broad golden necklace is reminiscent of a similar ornament on the neck of Buddha figures from Gandhåra. The image, therefore, cannot be later than circa 500-25 and may be even somewhat earlier. The second image of Jivantasvámin (plate 68A) from Akota shows him standing in meditation on a high pedestal with an inscription in characters of circa A.D. 550. The record shows that this was the divine gift (devadharma), the image of Jivantasvamin, of the Jaina lady Nágióvart of Candra-kula.' The figure stands in kayotsarga pose and wears a crown, ear-rings, armlets, bracelets and a dhoti. The two ends of the dhoti are joined in the centre and fall down in a cursive, wavy line. The armlets consist of a beaded golden band, very much worn out. A circular pearl ring hangs from the right car-lobe, while the left shows what looks like a makana-kundala. The trikuga (threepeaked) crown is made up of a central larger leaf with double cudamani (crest-jewel) and two smaller side-leaves. There is a beautiful ekávali around the neck. The dow shuch-defaced inlaid silver of the eyes, the modelling of the body with broad shoulders, a well-developed chest, somewhat slim waist, beautiful face and the plain oblong balo with a beaded border, together with the palacography of the inscription, help us in assigning this bronzę to circa middle sixth century. 137 Page #220 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 [PART III Of special interest is another bronze from the Akota hoard representing the first Tirthankara (Rṣabhanatha) in kayotsarga-mudra. The Jina (height 25 cm.) stands in the centre of a rectangular broad pedestal (33 cm. long, 9 cm. wide); at the ends of the pedestal are attached two broad lotuses on which are figured a Yakşa and a Yaksi, one on each side (plate 67B). A back stele with other Tirthankaras, or with relief of back-seat halo or both had been originally fixed into the holes seen on the upper surface of the pedestal. The figure of Ṛsabhanätha, modelled in the round, was cast separately and attached to the centre above the figure of the dharma-cakra flanked by two beautiful deer. The Jina is identified as Ṛşabhanatha on account of the hair-locks falling on his shoulders. The schematically-arranged hair and the uşnisa may be noted. The elongated eyes, a broad forehead, a somewhat pointed nose, a plump face with a broad jaw and a short neck on a somewhat stunted torso are also characteristics which appear early in Gujarat and elsewhere in western India. They are local traits of the early western Indian school and need not indicate a later age. The dhoti on the person of the Jina is diaphanous, with the linga clearly suggested, and has a beautiful tie-dye of flower-design between parallel double lines-an early motif. The shoulders are broad and stiff, the waist slender, the legs and hands well-modelled, and there is a śrīvatsa-mark on the chest. All these characteristics suggest a late Gupta age, circa 540-50, which is supported by the characters of the inscription on the back which reads: 'Om, this is (the pious gift), in the Nivṛti-kula, of Jinabhadra Vacanācārya'. Jinabhadra Vacanācārya, who installed this bronze, is identified with Jinabhadra-gapi Kşamāśramana, the famous Jaina scholar and monk who lived long between 500 and 609.1 The Yaksa on the right end of the pedestal is identified as Sarvanubhūti, pot-bellied and two-armed, holding a fruit (citron) in the right hand and a money-bag in the left. The slightly oblong flamboyant halo with an inner beaded design is observed here for the first time in north Indian sculpture. Haloes were taking this shape towards the close of this period, as can also be observed at Ajanta, and the type is continued in the next four or five centuries during the rule of the Gurjara-Pratihāras of Broach, Mandor, Avanti and Kanauj. The ornaments show Gupta characteristics, and the modelling, especially of the broad shoulders, is noteworthy. The face, with large elongated eyes and a broad forehead, resembles the main figure and follows the early western Indian idiom. Shah, op. cit., 1959, figs. 10a, 10b, 11; pp. 28-29, p. 29, n. 7. 138 Page #221 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ Cuarta 133 WEST INDIA Ambika, the attendant Yakai, wears an ekavalt with an additional urahfiltra passing between ber well-formed full breasts and hanging in a beautiful curve. The child on her lap also wears an ekávali. Ambika's hair is worn in a chignon on the top of her head, and she carries a mango-bunch with her right hand. The modelling of the figure is typical of the works of this school. Both the Yakga and the Yaksi are the earliest known representations of their type so far discovered in Jaina art. The carlicst known literary reference to Ambikä as Amba-Kemandini also comes from contemporary gloss on a work of Jinabhadra-gani Kşamåśramapa, i.c. from the gloss on the Vibesăvas. yaka-Mahabhazya. It may also be incidentally noted that from circa late sixth century to circa ninth century this Yaksa pair of Sarvanubhuti (or Sarvāṇha) and Ambika was the only Yaksa pair attendant upon all the twentyfour Tirthankaras. In the Akota hoard there is one more figure of a standing Jina, with a big oval-shaped inscribed prabhavali behind, the inscription showing that the Jina image was the pious gift of Jinabhadra Vacanicărya rcferred to above A beautiful bronze image of Ambikā, also from the Akota hoard, has an inscription on its back which helps us to assign the figure to the latter half of the sixth century. Ambika (plate 68B) here sits in the lalita pose on a big couchant lion with bulging eyes and a lolling tongue. The whole figure and the halo at the back are attached on a pitha enriched by three bands of varied design and a lotus-pattern on the legs. The halo is made of lotus-petals or rays surrounded by a broad band of flames, on the top of which is a miniature figure of Pärsvanatha sitting in dhyana-mudra. The halo surmounts the cross-bar of the back-seat, also adorned with makara-heads at the junction of the halo and the cross-bar. The elaborate crown of Ambikā is made up of a three-peaked mukuta with a big gem.in the centre which is surmounted by a gavdkw-motif or a solar representation. The large chignon tied on the top of the head is visible from behind, Ambika shows a rather plump squarish face with broad jaws and long eyes. The two heavy ear-rings may be noted. The modelling of the female form is typical of the western Indian idiom. The torso is comparatively small and slender and can be compared with the Ambika of the Rsabhanātha * Viladratyakamandaya with author's own incomplete commentary completed by koyaryu, ad. D.D. Malvania, Ahmedabad, part 3, p. 711, comm. on dtd 3589. Kotykrya, who completed this commentary, left incomplete by Jirabhadr, but have been a junior contemporary of Jisabhadra gapl. Page #222 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600 [PART III image installed by Jinabhadra-gani noted above. The goddess wears an ekavali (?), a broad necklace and an uraḥ-sutra with a mangala-mala and a bell at its end. A lower garment worn in vikaccha-fashion has a design of broad bands intercepted with circular marks. The goddess has a mango-bunch in her right hand and a citron in the left. A small child sits on her left lap. Another son is shown standing beside her on the right. There is a damaged inscription on the back, engraved in characters assignable to the latter half of the sixth century A.D.1 A very beautiful head of a Jina image (plate 66B) is preserved in this hoard. The beautifully-modelled young face with a broad forehead, elongated eyes, a straight nose, small lips with the lower lip slightly extended and silver-studded eyes, is of excellent workmanship. The neck is of the kambu-grīvā type, a typically Gupta characteristic of a maha-puruşa and his ideal form. The head cannot be later than circa 600. UMAKANT P. SHAH 1 Shah, op. cit., 1959, fig. 14, also see fig. 74e for the inscription on the back. Ibid., figs. 16a, 16b. RELATIONS 140 Page #223 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ Part IV MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 Page #224 --------------------------------------------------------------------------  Page #225 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 14 NORTH INDIA TEMPLES OF THE BARLY MEDIEVAL PERIOD NOT MANY ARCHITECTURAL SPECIMENS HAVE survived in north India. Of the extant ones the chief are the temple at Ghanera District Pali, and the temple-group at Osia, District Jodhpur, which, in addition to temples of this period, contains later temples as well. MARĀVIRA TEMPLE, GRANERAO The temple of Mahävina at Ghanerao (plate 69), is a sandhara-prāsada comprising a sanctum with ambulatory, a gudha-mandapa, a trika-mand apa and a mukha-catuski (entrance-porch). Axially in front was built a rangamand apa with twenty-four deva-kulikas, the whole complex being enclosed within a high präkära (compound-wall). The sanctum of the temple has a simple plan comprising only two elements, viz. bhadra and karna. The bhadra-projections on the three sides of the ambulatory, like the two transepts of the gudha-mandapa, are decorated with grillod balconies which provide light through beautiful openings. The elevation of the temple (plate 70) rises above a pair of bhitfa-courses supporting bold pitha-mouldings of jdd ya-kumbha, kalaša and plain paffika. The pipha supports the usual vedibandha-mouldings, which, though plain, are equally bold. From the basement project niches in the middle of each balconied bhadra. Containing images of Padmavati, Cakrosvart, Brahma-Yakşa, Nirvani and Gomukha-Yakga, met with in the order of pradaksina from east to west. The jangha shown on the corners bold figures of two-armed dik-pdias, standing in clegant tri-bhastga and uplitted by kiatus. These are Hanked by vigorously carved figures of vyalas supported on brackets emulating clophantheads and crowned by lively figudes of Gandarvas and Apasarases in various enchanting poses Brahmi and Asanti, the ninth and tenth dk-palas, also Page #226 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 PART TV occur on the pilasters in the trika-mand apa adjoining the corners of the gudha-mandapa. In lieu of the fanghå the balconies (plate 71) show the mouldings of rajasenaka, vedika, asana-patra and kaksäsāna, decorated with carvings and vibrant figures at the extremities. The grills, which are embellished with rampant vyalas, support dramatic friezes of dance and music under the festoons of makara-torana, The entire superstructure occurring above the simple bold varand ikä atop the jangha is a modern restoration. The rajasenaka of the trika-mandapa displays a frieze of Vidya-devis and Gandharvas, besides a bold figure of kumbha-purusa each on the north and south flanks. All the six pillars and four pilasters of the trika are majestic and elegantly carved on the upper portions. The staircase of the mukha-catuski displays on either side figures of Vidya-devis and Yakşas including Gomukha and Brahma-Yakşas. The ceilings of the interior (plate 72) exhibit an interesting variety. The mukha-catuski has a lenticular kşipta-vitåna of the näbhicchanda order, which occurs on such early temples as Brāhmaṇasvamin temple of Varman, Kāmeśvara temple at Auwa and Mälädevi temple at Gyaraspur. The central ceiling of the trika-mand apa is a samatala-vitana showing compartments carved with a central medallion of danda-rāsa, enciosed by concentric rows of vyālas, dancers and acrobats and ornamental friezes. Its left and right bays carry ksipta-vitānas of the nabhicchanda order with linked gajatalus. The grandest ceiling, however, is that of the octagonal gūdha-mandapa which shows a large kşipta-vitāna of the sabhä-märga order with ten lavishly-carved concentric rings terminating in a padma-kesara. These rings include a row of dwarffigures from which project eight elephant-brackets carrying enchanting apsarases. The gūdha-mand apa has a doorway of five såkhas carved with patrašakhd, rūpasakha decorated on the flanks with vyalas and apsarases, padmapatreśākha and ratna-sakhd with Nāgas below. The architrave and the rupa-fakha together display in nichestwenty figures of Vidyadevis or Yaksis, of which Rohipl Prajñapati, Vajraśş khalā, Vajrankuša, Padmavati and Nirvani or Mahalaksm! can be recognized on the left side and Mähalaksmi, Månasi, Acchupta, Vairoty... Vajränkušā and Ambíká on the right. A figure of Parsvanátha in dhyadsang 144 Page #227 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 14) NORTH INDIA Ghanergo : Mahavira temple PLATE 69 Page #228 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 [PART IV 99 4352 ZUSAR ca CARO ! w . . .. WHO GRO WA TYLE . 22 . .. MAC Ghanerao : Mahavira temple, elevation PLATE 70 Page #229 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 14) NORTH INDIA MOR WWWww YX Ghancrao : Mahavira tomple, a balcony PLATE 71 Page #230 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 [PART IV WASTA hor . Ghanerao : Mahavira temple, part of ceiling PLATE 72 Page #231 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 14] Ghanerao Mahavira temple, sanctum.doorway PLATE 73 NORTH INDIA Page #232 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 Osia Mahavira temple PLATE 74 [PART IV Page #233 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 14) NORTH INDIA H 299 EM 2.1 AL Osia : Mabāvira temple, a balcony PLATE 75 Page #234 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 Nilakantba a Tirthankara PLATE 76 [PART IV Page #235 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 14) NORTH INDIA A. Nilakantha: a Tirtharikara B. Nilakantha : a Tirthankara PLATE 77 Page #236 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 [PART IV V Mathură Museum : Yakşi Cakreśvari PLATE 78 Page #237 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 14] NORTH INDIA i 2. Mathura Museum : Yakşi Ambika PLATE 79 Page #238 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 (PART IV . A. Lucknow Museum : Tirtbankara Suvidbinatha 2 AM .. B. Lucknow Museum : part of a torana-arcbitiave () PLATE 80 Page #239 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ NORTH INDIA appears as the lalata-lumba. The doorway is flanked on either side by an artistic that taka, carved with kloakas below and exquisite udgamas above. The sanctim-doorway (plate 73) resembles that of the gudha-mand apa and is curred with Vidya-dovis and Yakais riding their vahanas on the ripastambhas. Of these figures, Rohiol, Nirvani, Vajrankusi, Cakreśvari, Mabamions, Manasi, Vairotyd, Prajiapti and Mahajválæ can be recognized. Dhaky, who has studied this temple in great details, considers it to be a notable example of the Modapáta (Mewar) school of the Maru-Gurjara style of architecture and rightly assigns it to the mid-tenth century on grounds of its stylistic similarities with the Ambika temple at Jagat. This dating is confirmed by the reported presence here of an image-pedestal, bearing an inscription dated 954, which is now missing. TEMPLE GROUP, Osia Osia is a well-known site of early medieval art and architecture, having about a dozen temples of the early series dating from eighth-ninth centuries and about half a dozen temples of the later series dating from circa eleventh century. The main Jaina temple at the site, the Mahavira temple (plate 74), belongs to the early series and was built, according to an inscription, in the reign of Pratīhāra Vatsarāja (last quarter of the eighth century). The temple faces north and consists on plan of a sanctum enclosed by ambulatory, antarala, güdha-mand apa with lateral transepts, trika-mandapa and a mukha-catuski approached by a flight of steps. At some distance in front of the entranceporch, was built a forapa which, according to an inscription, was added in 1016, but earlier to it, axially in front, was constructed a vålanaka (covered stopped entrance) in 956. Along either side as well as the back side of the sanctum runs a cloisterod corridor, while a pair of deva-kulikās was added on either side in the space between the mukha-mand apa and the torana The sanctum is a square compartment of threo avigas, viz., bhadra, pratiratha and karna. In elevation, the pitha comprises a large bhitta, a wide antarampatra, followed by a kapota decorated with caitya-arches. Above the kapota occurs a vasanta-patrik embellished with vegetal scrolls marking the plinth-level. The püha supports the usual vedl-bandha-mouldings. The kumhbemoulding of the vedl-bandha is decorated with niches showing such divinities as 1 M.A. Dhaky in Shri Mahawira Jelna Vidyalaya Golden Jubilee Volume, Bombay, 1968, 1. p. 328-32 Page #240 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 [PART IV Kubera, Gaja-Laksmi, Vayu, etc. Above the ornate kapota of the vedi-bandha occur dik-palas, in niches surmounted by bold udgamas. The jangha terminates with a frieze of lotus-scrolls and supports the varandika comprising a recess between two kapotas, capped by a chadya. The bhadras of the sanctum are articulated by highly artistic grilled balconied windows standing on the usual mouldings of rajasenaka, vedikā, and asana-patta and cantoned by a pair of handsome square pilasters, tastefully decorated with lotuses, ghata-pallavas, kirtti-mukhas and scroll-designs and crowned by taranga-brackets. The grills of the balconied windows show a variety of pleasing patterns (plate 75). The Sikhara above the sanctum is not original and is substituted by a later one of the Maru-Gurjara style of the eleventh century, characterized by three rows of urah-irrigas and minor frigas showing developed karnas. The gudha-mand apa comprises only two elements on plan, viz. bhadra and karṇa, and shares the mouldings and decorations of the sanctum up to the varandika. Its jangha-façade is ornamented with figures of Yaksas, and Yaksis, and Vidya-devis. The front karna harbours figures of Sarasvati and Pārsva-Yaksa on the left and Acchuptā and Apraticakra on the right. The roof of the gudha-mandapa is a three-tiered phansand of remarkable beauty. The first tier starts with a rupa-kantha decorated with dancing figures of Vidyadharas and Gandharvas, followed by chadya and a recess carved with chequer-pattern. The four corners of the first tier are mounted by a graceful Sriga, while the bhadras project a rathika, containing figures of Kubera on the west and an unidentified Yakşa on the east. The second tier shows a simhakarna-design flanked on either side by half its replica. The four corners of this tier are decorated with beautiful karna-kutas. The last or the third tier has a simhakarna in the middle of each side crowned by a shapely bell-finial. The Sikhara over the trika-mandapa is of two-tiered phänsana type matching with that of the gudha-mandapa and shows three panels of simhakarna on each side. The shakarna on the north harbours figures of the Mahavidyas-Gauri, Vairotya and Manasi. The western phansand shows on the north face figures of Yakşi, Cakreśvari, Mahavidya Mahākāli and Väg-devi. The west face harbours Mahavidya Manavi, flanked on either side by a Yaksi. The two-tiered phansana-roof of the entrance-porch is capped by a ghania. The three panels of its pediments on each side harbour figures of divinities, the 146 Page #241 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 143 NORTH INDIA cast face showing Mahavidyas Kall Mahamanasi and Varupa Yaksa, the north face having Yaksa Sarvanubhati, Adinátha and Ambik), and the west face presenting Makävidya Rohini, flanked by a goddess on either side. The interior of the sanctum is plain but relieved by three large niches which are now vacant. The details of the doorway of the sanctum are concealed under the rocent layers of paint and glasswork. The four pillars of the sala are essentially square and are decorated with ghata-pallava (foliage), ndgdpasa-design and bold kirtti-mukhas. The ceiling above the sala is one of the ndbhicchanda-order formed by simple gajatalus. There are in all ten deep-sunk niches in the walls of the gudha-mand apa, two of them containing figures of Kubera and Vayu. The bold caitya-arch crowning each niche of the gūdha-mandapa harbours figures of Jaina divinities. In the pradaksina order from north-east to the north-west, those divinities represent Rohini. Vairotyä, Mahämānasi and Nirvani. The large panel above architrave in each bhadra shows an image of Parsvanātha with attendants. There are reasons to believe that a valanaka existed as an integral part of the original temple built by Vatsaraja during the eighth century and was renovated in 956 by the addition of a pillared hall." The original Mahävira temple is a dainty piece of carly Rajasthan architecture providing a phansand-roof over the mand apa of great artistic merit and the oldest example of trika-mandapa, so characteristic of Jaina architecture. The main temple and its deva-kulikäs are a treasure-house of early Jaina art and iconography and the latter indeed constitute little gems of architecture. SCULPTURES Loose sculptures of the period are numerous, but we have documentation of not many. Only the more important of them may be mentioned here, parti. cularly those which have found place in accessible collections. Mathură continued to be a centre of Jaina art and architecture during the carly medieval times, as is attested by the find of several Jaina images here in post-Gupta style. From the sixth to the twelfth centuries Matburt and the neighbouring region of Bharatpur, including Kaman and Bayana, were ruled by a feudatory Tac foranna, valdgata and deve-kulkas, being tator addition, are dealt with in the chapter covering the period A.D. 1000 to 1300,-Editor.] 147 Page #242 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 (PART TV dynasty known as the Sorasenes who were patrons of art and architecture, Under their benevolent rule both Brahmapism and Jainism flourished in this region, known anciently as Sarasena, after which the dynasty obviously took its name. In the old mosque known as Chausath-Khamba at Kaman may be soen numerous Brahmapical and some Jaina sculptures of the early medieval period, Kaman was a seat of Jainism of the Kämyaka-gaccha, and Jaina teachers of this gaccha, Vişnusuri and Mahesvarasori, are mentioned in the Bayana stone inscription of 1043. In 1032, during the rule of one Lakşminivasa, identifiable with the Sürasena chief Laksmana, the Jaina author Durgadeva wrote the Rsta-samuccaya in a templo of Santinātha at Kumbhanagara or Kaman! Another Surasena ruler called Kardama, who was initiated into Jaina order by Abhayadeva-suri and named Ghanesvara-suri, is said to have found the Raja-gaccha. Like Kaman, Bayana, anciently known as Santipura or Sripathă, was also a stronghold of Jainism and yielded an inscribed Jaina image, dated 994, recording that it was dedicated at the instance of one Sürasena of the Vågada-sangha.'. A fourteenth-century mosque known as the Ukhá-masjid and five other mosques at Bayana were built with the material obtained from the demolition of many Hindu and Jaina temples of the early medieval and later times, as is attested by the re-used old carved pillars and other architectural members. That Narhad (ancient Narabhata), situated near Pilani, was also included in the art-province of Sarasena is shown by the find of four highly artistic ninth-century images of standing Jinas, two of Neminatha and one cach of Sumatinatha and Santinātha, found at this placo. Nilakantha or Rajorgarh (or Garh), also called Paranagar after the colossal image of Pārsvanatha, is an old town of Matsyadesa, situated to the west of Sürasena, and is a reputed centre of early medieval and medieval sculptures and temples of the Jaina as well as Brahmapical, mainly Saiva, sects. An inscription dated 923 of the time of king Savata records the construction of a Santinātha temple and the installation of the main image therein at Rajyapura. The place is well-known for its colossal (4.95 m. high) image of Pārsvanátha locally called Naugajă, and three other large Jina figures (plates 76, 77A and 77B), and for the remains of recently discovered Jaina temples of circa tenth century, 1 Indian Antiquary, XIV, 1885, pp. 8 ff. ·K C. Jain, Ancient Cities and Towns of Rajasthan, Delhi, 1972, p. 150. Tbid., p. 153. Dashratha Sharma, Early Chauhan Dynasties, Delhi, 1959, plate facing p. 228; Indian Archaeology Review 1956-57, New Delhi, 1957, p. 43. Indian Archaeology Review 1961-62, New Delhi, 1962, p. 83. 148 Page #243 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ NORTH INDIA . Vorinadi has also yielded fine images including one of Ajitanatha, dating from chrom sixth and seventh centurice, now deposited in the Lucknow Mwoum. A handsome narratobhadra image of four standing Jinas, assignable to ctrar ninth century, comos from Sarayaghat," District Etah, attesting the vitality of the Jaina art in Madhya-dosa during the post-Gupta period. KRISHNA DEVA Rich in its sculptural wealth, the Archacological Museum at Mathura contains mostly images produced in the Mathuri region or the Braja-bhumi, the land sacred to the Jainas as well as Brahmapists. Of the period between sixth century and the tenth century the Mathura Museum has interesting collection of Jaina sculptures showing Jinas, Sasana-devis and secondary gods. Significant from the standpoint of art-history is a relief depicting seated Pārsvanātha assignable to the Pratthāra period. The meditating Jina sits on serpent-coils supported by a conventional sinhhasana. He is shaded by seven Näga-hoods and attended by his Sásada-devatás, viz. Dharanendra and Padmavati, both bearing a single naga-phana over their head. Towards the top are flying Vidyadharas within conventional frames representing clouds. The facial form, although mutilated, reminds one of the Gupta tradition. Another image of a seated Jina, showing more developed traits, appears be of a slightly later date. The Jina sits on lotus-flower placed above the lion-throne. Some of the attending deities of the central plane are also shown on lotus-flowers. The accessory divinities on the sides of the Tirthatikaras are in five tiers, the lowest one of which represents Yakşa and Yaksi and above them stand nimbate camara-holders. The three upper tiers perhaps represent the gods of the higher regions including the Vidyadharas. The central part of the pedestal is em horsed with the dharma-cakra and deer motif, which may be taken in this case as the lanchana of Santinátha, as has been suggested by Bhattacharya." Amongst the Devi icons a remarkable sculpture is that of ten-armed Cakreśvari standing on a lotus-flower supported by her vdhana Garuda (plate 78). She is flanked by two female attendants and Vidyadharas. The sculpture comes from Prakhara. The finest and most complor is a tenth-century relief representing Ambika with her partytrancheratas and a seated Jina on the top. The goddess sits in a Stori Materina Jatne Poldaya Golden Jubilee Volume, Bombay, 1968, I, pp. 143-55, . 10-11 i mold., . 4 factor p. 217. · *B.C. Bhattacharya, other Jctive iconography, Lebore, 1994, p. 73 and plate IV. Page #244 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 {PART IV' ardhaparyanka-posture, holding a baby in her lap and another child standing close by and touching her right knee. Below her is also shown her mount lion. She is flanked on either side by a camara-dhara, Gapeba and Kubera. On the two sides of Jaina Neminātha on the top are reprosentod Krona (as Vispu) and Balarama, for all three, according to tradition, belonged to one and the same family. Besides these, the three are also included in Jainism amongst sixtythree salaka-purusas as a Tirthankara, a Balabhadra and Vasudeva. The upper part also shows four more divine figures in flying-posture. At the bottom are sculptured eight female devotees. The relief (plate 79) undoubtedly is the most significant amongst the medieval icons expressing a successful fusion of Jaina and Brahmanical mythological concepts. The State Museum at Lucknow has in its collection representative sculptures from almost all parts of Uttar Pradesh. While the Jaina images belonging to the post-Gupta and early medieval periods here are many, only a few of thom appear to be important. Of the Tirthankara icons a rare figure is of Suvidhinātha, as the pedestal bears a fish-symbol between two lions representing sinhhasana. The Jina is seated in the usual posture with tiny figures of Yakşa and Yakşi below, camara-dharas on the sides and Vidyadhara-yugalas on the top flanking the triple chatras. A drum above the chatras represents the devadundubhi. This image was found at Sråvasti (plate 80A). A valuable structural fragment, perhaps originally forming a part of some torana-architrave of Mathura, bears the relief of a deya-kulika with a figure of a Jina inside and the projecting face of a makara on one side (plate 80B). The sikhara of the deva-kulika, though crudely executed, has a tri-ratha form divided into bhūmis and a frontal pediment (sukanāsa) marked with a trefoil arch. Other interesting Jaina sculptures of Pratihāra period in the Lucknow Museum are a few Tirthankara figures in kayotsarga-posture and a Pärśvanātha image from Srāvasti and some from Bateshwar near Agra, including a few sarvatobhadrika pratimās, Jaina images of north India are not many in number in the Allahabad Museum, and most of them are from Kaušambi. An interesting example of early medieval Jaina iconography is the Jaina tutelary couple datable to circa eighth century from Lachhagir in District Allahabad. Carved on a sandstone slab, it represents seated male and female divinities in ardhaparyankdsana under an asoka-tree, which has a small Jina figure in the oentre just above the trunk. 1.50 Page #245 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 14] NORTH INDIA The right hand of the two deities is in abhaya-mudra, and they have usual ornaments on their bodies and a striped dhott in the lower part. The female, who also wears a yajilopavita, carries a child in her lap and above the basal band are depicted six figures. The sculpture which shows an impress of the Gupta art-tradition seems to have been modelled after Päficika and Härit! figures of the Buddhists. Other images comprise a few representations of Tirthankaras and a sarvatobhadrikā pratima. The finest of the Jina icons is the one depicting Candraprabha seated on a lotus-flower, resting on a conventional simhasana. He is flanked on the lower, middle and upper planes respectively by Yaksas and Yaksis and devotees, tallish camara-dharas and Vidyadharas flying against the clouds on the two sides decked with katila-patrāvalī, besides lotus-petals, and a rayed circle reminds of the ornate halo of the Gupta period. Another seated Tirthankara image may be of Santinatha as its pedestal centrally bears the traditional Buddhist emblem showing a cakra with a deer on either side. Attendant figures on the sides are of the camara-dharas, elephant-riders and flying Vidyadharas. The third Jina icon seems to represent Munisuvrata in seated position; just below the Tirthankara is carved the figure of a reclining lady. All these images can be stylistically dated to circa ninth century. The sarvatobhadrika and other Jina images have been dated to the tenth century. The sarvatobhadrikä-pratimă presents Jinas in a standing-posture." M. C. JOSHI For the reclining female figure below other Munisuvrata figures, ace Debala Mitra, 'Iconographic Notes', Journal of the Asiatic Society, I, 1958, pp. 38-39. * For details of the Allahabad Museum pieces, see Pramod Chandra, Stone Sculpture in the Allahabad Museum, Poona, 1971 (?). 151 Page #246 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 15 EAST INDIA WEST BENGAL JAINISM SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN POPULAR IN BENGAL IN THE EARLY MEDIEVAL period side by side with Buddhism and Brahmanism. Referring to Pundravardhana (north Bengal) and Samatata (south Bangladesh), the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang says that in both these regions the Digambaras (Nirgranthas) were numerous, though there were also many Buddhist sanghardmas and Deva temples. Though Jainism seems to have continued in popularity in Bengal even after Hiuen Tsang's time, not much Jaina activity is known from either literary or archaeological sources during the succeeding, eighth century. This has led some to believe that Jainism began to decline in Bengal after the seventh century with the rise of the Palas, who were strong champions of Buddhism. This presumption is not correct in view of the fact that during the ninth and tenth centuries a large number of Jaina shrines were built and many stone and bronze images made in different parts of Bengal, though Buddhism became the dominant religion of the state. In the ninth to eleventh centuries Jaina art in east India was as vigorous and varied as Buddhist and Brahmanical art. In the field of plastic art, the seated image of Rṣabhanatha from Surohor, District Dinajpur, stylistically attributable to the tenth century, has a unique place. It shows the lingering grace and charm of Gupta art (plate 81A). J.N. Banerjea describes the sculpture as follows: 'Shaped in the form of a miniature shrine, it contains the central figure of the Jina, with his characteristic lanchana (bull) below the pedestal on which he is seated in the vaddha-padmasana with his hands in dhyana-mudra and miniature figures of twenty-three other Jinas with their peculiar marks, seated inside small shrines in similar attitude 1 R.C. Majumdar, Jainism in Ancient Bengal', Shri Mahavira Jaina Vidyalaya Golden Jubilee Volume, Bombay, 1968, pp. 136-37; S. Beal, Buddhist Records of the Western World, II, London, 1884. 152 Page #247 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ i s EAST INDIA the central bgure. These are arranged in tiers, seven on either side of the main image, and nine in three parallel rows of three on the top. These last three rows are made to project a little forward, thus serving as a sort of canopy to the principal figure. Two chowry-bearing attendants stand in graceful pose, one on either side of it, and at a level with its jara-mukusa, are shown garland-bcaring Vidyadhara couples. Aying among the conventional representation of the clouds. The whole composition is carved with minute skill and refined delicacy and probably belongs to the early Pala period'. The northern part of Bangladesh has yielded several more interesting Jaina sculptures, including those which depict a seated couple with a child in their lap under a kalpa-voksa with spreading branches over these figures. They are the tutelary Yakça couple associated with the Jaina cult, representing the fertility aspects as Kubera and Hariti do in Mahāyāna Buddhism. An image of Rşabhanåtha (tenth century), now in the Asutosh Museum, University of Calcutta, is also from that region. It was collected by S.K. Saraswati from Mandol, District Rajshahi. An exquisitely-carved bronze figure of Ambika, the Yakşi of Neminátha, was found at Nalgora, 24-Parganas. The deity, in graceful moulding, stands on a lotus, holding with her left hand a child on her waist, under the bent bow of a tree. In the left hand is some flower. A nude child is shown standing on her right side. At the bottom of the tree is Ambikā's cognizance, the hon. On stylistic grounds the image can also be attributed to the tenth century (plate 81B). That Jainism was very popular in this area during the medieval period is attested by the Kantabenia figure of Jina Pārsvanátha, of the eleventh century, standing in käyotsarga-posture, accompanied by the miniature figures of twenty-three other Jinas. Jaina images are widely distributed also in many other districts of West Bengal. At Ujani in Burdwan, a rare image of Såntinätha, of the eleventhtwelfth century, was discovered; it is housed in the Vangiya Sahitya Parisad Museum in Calcutta. The back slab of the image shows the nine Grahas, 1 J.N. Banerjee in History of Bengal, ed. R.C. Majamdar, I, Dasca, 1942, p. 464 District Dinajpur has now been divided into West Dinajpur (West Bengal, India) and East Doelpur Bangladesh). It has not beco posible to ascertain from which of these two Districts the pricht valpture emneostes.Editor.) Page #248 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 (PART TV five on one side and four on the other. The lañchana, the antelope, of the Tirthankara is depicted on the pedestal From Sat-Deuliya, also in District Burdwan, were discovered a caumukhi with Rsabbadeva, Mahāvira, Pårsvanātha and Candraprabha, all in kdyotsarga-pose and with their respective lanchanas, and isolated sculptures of Rsabha. Päráva and Mahavira (?), lower part missing, with five extant miniature Jinas all round. From the same place was recently acquired a unique stone stele containing the seated figure of Rsabhanátha, with his lañchana, the bull, below, and seven rows of Tirtharkaras in kayotsarga-pose. Rsabhanātha is seated in padmasana beneath a three-tiered parasol. He is accompanied on either side by an attendant holding a flywhisk. At the top are shown hands playing on drums or cymbals. The seven terraces below the seated Rşabha contain in all figures of one hundred and forty-eight Tirtharkaras. The sculpture is perhaps, as P.C. Das Gupta suggests, a representation of the aştāpada-tirtha (plate 82A): The discovery of this stele lends support to the presumption that the temple at Sat-Deuliya (plate 82B) is also of Jaina origin.' The brick temple of Deuliya belongs to the rekha type of Orissan temples. It has a straight and perpendicular garbhagsha with a curvilinear sikhara. The amalaka and the usual finials are missing. 'A singular feature, worth noticing,' Saraswati remarks, 'is that towards the top, the cella of the garbha-gpha has several inverted offsets forming a projected cornice on the top of which the Sikh is placed. The facades of both the sanctum and the Sikhara are divided into sharp ridges, an arrangement that must have resulted from the division of the façades into rathas and pagas. The body of the sanctum is otherwise plain, but the Sikhara is profusely decorated with scroll-work and the 'caitya-window' Ibid. * P.C. Das Gupta, 'A rare Jaina icon from Sat-Deutiya', jain Journal, VII, 3 January 1973, pp. 130 ff. According to Jaina tradition, Bharata, sop of Rsabha, erected the first stūpa and shrine on the mountain where his father Rşabba obtained nirudpa. The shrine and stūpas crected, Bharata made eight terraces (asidpada) between the foot and the top of the mountain, hence the name astdpada given to the mount. Here also in the underlying conception of the first Jaina shrine, being an eight-terraced mountain, an eight-terraced Ziggurst, or an eight-terraced szupa." U.P. Shab, Studies in Jaina Art, Banaras, 1955, p. 128. of the Jaina imagen found in Burdwan, mention may be made of carbonich! with Rşabhanátha, Neminátha, Parsväpätha and Capdraprabba, and two Adinatha figures (circa tooth ovatury), now preserved in the Asutosh Museum of Indian Art, Calcutta. 154 Page #249 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 15] EAST INDIA. 17 pattern.. The corners are slightly chamfered in contrast to the ridge of the carlier group, but the sharp edges are retained." Jaina images of this period have also been found in Midnapur District. Of them mention may be made of the Pärsvandtha image found at Barabhum. This image, which is now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, shows miniature figures of the twenty-four Tirthankaras. The image shows excellent workmanship and may be dated to the tenth-eleventh century. Bankura seems to have been a most prolific centre of Jaina art in West Bengal. The image of Pärsvanatha from Deulbhira, District Bankura, seated in the usual yoga-posture, with seven hoods of a snake over his head, is a fine example of Jaina art and can be attributed to the tenth century on stylistic grounds. The image is preserved in the Indian Museum. Debala Mitra discovered many interesting Jaina relics of tenth-eleventh century in District Bankura, on the basis of which it can be said with certainty that this region was an important centre of the Digambara Jainas. The sites covered in her survey include the following villages: Ambikanagar on the confluence of the Kangsavati and Kumari; Chitgiri, opposite Ambikanagar; Barkola, 4 km. east of Ambikanagar; Pareshnath, 3 km. north-west of Ambikanagar; Chiada, opposite Pareshnath; and Kendua on the bank of the Kangsavati. Among the Jaina relics from Ambikanagar, the fragment of sculpture representing Ambika, the Sasana-devi of Neminatha, lying outside the village-temple (obviously the name of the village is derived from the deity), and a Ṛşabhanatha figure are important. The extant portion of the Ambika image is now being worshipped inside the temple as a Brahmanical goddess. The image of Rsbhanatha (plate 83A), lying by the side of the linga installed in a ruined temple at the back of the Ambikadevi temple, is of fine workmanship. This figure, with a beautiful facial expression and the jață-mukuta, stands in kayotsarga on a double-petalled lotus, below which is his bull. As usual, he is accompanied on either side by an attendant and over his head is a multi-tiered umbrella flanked by a flying couple holding garlands. Two pairs 1 S.K. Saraswati in Majumdar, op. cit., 1942, pp. 500-01. [The temple has been again brought to our notice by Mr S.N. Samanta, Curator, Museum and Art Gallery, University of Burdwan, who has also sent a few photographs, some of them reproduced here, of sculptures discovered by him at Sat-deuliya in 1957.-Editor.] * Banerjen, op. cit., p. 465. ⚫ fbid., p. 464. 1 Debala Mitra in Journal of the Asiatic Society (Letters), XXIV, 1958, pp. 131-34. 155 Page #250 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 [PART TW of hands playing on musical instruments are seen over the chara. On the back slab are shown twenty-four Tirthankaras in kayotsarga-posture arranged in two rows of twelve. About the temple (plate 83B) Mitra says: "Like the Orissan temples, its bada has different divisions pdbhaga, jantghd, and baranda. Built on a narrow platform (upána), the păbhaga consists of four lowermost mouldings, khurd, kumbha, khurd and inverted khura, the last two relieved at intervals, with heart-shaped motifs. The north-west and south sides of the janghd are relieved with with six pilasters, three on either side of the central projection, the last containing a niche, meant for the parsva-devatas (no longer existing). The pilasters are plain, except for the two mouldings, khurd and inverted khurd at the top. The baranda is a projected moulding, the recess over which demarcating the båda from the sikhara is crowned by a series of mouldings forming the sikhara of the temple. Five of these mouldings are now extant. “The central projection on the front (east) side is thicker than the rest and in it is provided the entrance. The door-opening is spanned at the top by five inconspicuous corbels, capped by a lintel, the last extending to the entire width of the central projection. "The temple is tri-ratha on plan, its inside 4' 21" (1.40 m.) square. The thickness of the walls is 2' 1' (63 cm.), so that the outer sides are exactly double the inner sides. The interior of the temple corbels inwards to the garbha-muda (the lowermost ceiling of the sanctum) which is formed of two stone slabs. There was at least one more cell over the garbha-muda, approach to which was provided by a narrow opening above the lintel of the door.' In addition to the above, the village contains some other mutilated Jaina images of the same period. At Chitgiri, opposite Ambikanagar, there are some relics including a figure of a Tirthankara in kdyotsarga-pose. The lanchana below the pedestal looks like a deer and the figure in question is therefore that of Santinätha. Barkola, about 4 km. east of Ambikanggar, was an important centre of Jainism as the extant remains from this place would show. Among the relics of interest from this place are an Ambika with her usual attributes and a .. child holding her hanging left hand, and two Tirtharkaras in kdyotsarga, with 156 Page #251 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 1SI . . EAST INDIA Indistiäct cognizances. One of them soms, however, to be Suvidhin&tha or Ajitanatha. Two miniature shrines, commonly known as caturmukha or carmukha, wote also noticed here. The better preserved of them contains on gach of four faces, within a trefoil arch, the figure of a Tirthankara in kdyotsarga; three of the Tirthadkaras identifiable through their cognizances, are Rabhanatha, Candraprabha and Santinátha, but the cognizance of the fourth is not clear. As Mitra observes, these monolithic shrines are important as they give an idea of the architectonic shape and features of the old templos of north-Indian rekha type, 'consisting of a perpendicular bada, tri-ratha on plan, with two mouldings for påbhaga, a panica-paga sikhara made of series of gradually diminishing khurd-shaped mouldings and a high cylindrical neck, over which rests a disproportionately broad Amalaka crowned by stúpa-shaped finial.' The village of Paroshinath, 3 km. north-west of Ambikanagar, had a shrine in honour of Parsvanātha (aftor whom this village is named), now reduced to a merc plinth. The image of Pärsvanátha, with a bold and graceful execution, is now shattered into several pieces. At Chiada, near Pareshnath, were also found some IIrthaákara images. Kendua, 11 km. north of Ambikanagar, was once a flourishing centre of Jaina art and religion with a Jaina establishment, now in ruins. The whole area is littered with architectural fragments, of a stone temple, perhaps erected for Pårsvanátha, as a beautiful image of that Tirthankara, broken at the top, lies near it. Jaina shrines, many of them now in ruins, have been located in the sites in districts bordering West Bengal and Bihar, especially Dhanbad and Purulia. Of these the following sites deserve special mention: Chara, Sanka, Senera, Boram, Balarampur, Palma, Arsa, Dcoli, Pakbira, Lathondungri and Dulmi. Jainism witnessed a great development in the valloys of the Damodar, the Kangasabati and the Suvarnarekha rivers, which have yielded images of many Tirthankaras and Sasana-devatás, besides containing ruins of many Jaina shrines. At Deoli, District Purulia, there was a pancayatana group of temples (plate 89A). From this area was discovered a life-size statue of Aranåtha. At Jorapaku, a place adjacent to Deoli; were also found many images of the Jaina pantheon. . . 8C Mukkerfl'la Bubu Chhote L. Jan Sw Grantha, Calcuttu, 1967pp. 150 1. Page #252 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 (PART IV Of all sites Pakbira, in the same District, seems to have been the most prolific in Jaina shrines and images. The images found here and now housed in a shed include those of Mahävira, Pärávanátha, Kunthunitha, Neminātha, Säntinătha and Rsabhanatba, mostly of the tenth-eleventh century, except one of Mahavira, with a short inscription of the ninth century. Another inscribed image from Pakbira is of Såntinātha (plate 84A), which can be attributed palacographically to the eleventh century. The. Tirthankara stands in käyotsarga-posture on a double-petalled lotus placed on a sapta-ratha pedestal bordered by two bands in relief. The lañchana, the antelope, is shown in the centre of the pedestal. Dey, who has described the sculpture, identifies among the miniature figures on the pedestal the goat-headed Naigamoşin, the presiding deity of children, and four female figures in añjali-mudra. At the bottom of the pedestal, Dey remarks, is a kalasa on the left side and a Saiva phallus on the right. The occurrence of the phallic symbol in a Jaina sculpture is of great significance. Again, a figure of Rşabhanātha standing on a double-lotus pedestal in kdyotsarga, is an exquisite specimen. The proportionate symmetry of the body with a severe face, the beautifully-arranged jata head-dress and other features reveal the grace of the figure. Equally well-carved are the attendant figures with cauris on either side. As often, at the top of the backslab there are twenty-four Tirthankaras, here arranged in twelve rows of two each on either side, and flying Gandharvas and hands playing on drums or cymbals. The ornaments and physical features of the attendant figures also show a high degree of skill of the artist, who could combine iconographical details with an aesthetic treatment of the figures. The artist's deft hand can be noticed also in the figure of Pārsvanātha (plate 84B), the lower part of which alone is now extant, of the ninth-tenth century. The cauri-bearers and the female snake-figures, with their tails inter-coiled, betray the height of perfection an artist could achieve in Tirthankara figures, reflecting the grace of Gupta art. Other interesting relics from Pakbira include the images of a standing Ambikā, a Yakşa and the lower part of Säntinátha, besides many Rşabhanātha images of the tenth and eleventh centuries. Early medieval Jaina images have been noticed in other districts of West Bengal as well. ORISSA While in the preceding period Jaina relics are rare in Orissa, they are profuse in the early medieval period. As to the popularity of the faith during this Sudhin Dey in Jaina Journal, V, 1, 1970, pp. 24-25. 158 Page #253 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 151 EAST INDIA timc one may refer to Hiuen Tsang's account: Among the unbelievers, the most numerous are the Nirgranthas... The Nirgranthas and their followers used to go about without any clothing and so attract notice making it a meritorious act to pull out their hair by violence, with their skin dried up and their feet hard and in appearance like a decayed wood on the river-bank.': Almost contemporancously, the Banpur plato of the Sailodbhava king Dharmaraja (sixth-suventh century) records the gift by his queen Kalyaņadevi of some land to a Jaina monk called Ekasata Prabuddhacandra. Jainism in Orissa was of Digambara affiliation. Archacological remains are abundant to show the popularity of the Jaina faith, art and culture in different parts of Orissa during this period. Chronologically proceeding, Podasingidi was a very important Jaina centre during the eighth century. Situated in the forest of the Baula hill ranges in Anandpur Sub-division of Keonjhar District, it has yielded several Jaina images, brought to light by Joshi. Unique among these finds are inscribed seated and uninscribed standing images of Rşabhanatha, whose worship seems to have been popular in Orissa. The inscribed figure (plate 85A) is seated in meditative pose on a lotus-pedestal with a bull below. In front of the bull seems to be a lamp and two devotees knecling with their hands joined in adoration. On the top, at either side, is a flying Gandharva with a garland in his hand. There is a round halo behind the head of the Jina. The figure has a well-proportioned body, with half-closod eyes indicating meditation, curly hair, an uşnisa and elongated ears, in Gupta tradition. There is a short inscription in four lines near the right hand of the image, saying that the image of Rşabha-bhattaraka was donated by one Idhaka (?). Joshi thinks that the two devotees in front of the bull on the pedestal may represent Bharata and Bahubali. This is the earliest inscribed Jaina image discovered so far in Orissa. The other image of Rşabha stands in kdyotsarga-pose on a lotus-pedestal supported by two lions. Just below the pedestal is the larchand, a bull. Raabka is flanked on either side by a court-bearer, equally well carved, and two 18. Besi, ufe of Hime Trang, London, 1888, p. 162; Boul, op. cit., 1884, II, p. 208. Ks. Beden Batu Chhotelal Jai Smpri Grantha, p. 170. Adun Joshi, Audique &gabba, Image from Podaningidi', Orissa Historical Research Journal, X, 3, 1961, pp. 744Farthar lietot on the remains of Podusingdi, ibid., X, 4, 1962, pp. 30 1. Page #254 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 {PART N flying Gandharvas with garlands in their hands. Over the dead are the umbrella and a pair of hands playing on musical instruments. Behind the head is a round halo. The present figure also exhibits the characteristic features of Gupta tradition: half-closed eyes, elongated cars and a beautiful jatá as head-dress with some locks falling on the shoulders. The body is proportionate and graceful. On stylistic grounds, this figure also can be dated to the same period as the seated Rsabha described above, viz. the eighth century. At Podasingidi are still lying some other Jaina images, including those of Pārsvanátha, Ambikä, etc. Further, Srinivasan has also brought a few images, such as those of Pårsvanátha, Mahavira, Ambika, etc., from the same place and placed them on cement platforms in front of the Panch Bhawan at Anandpur. During the ninth-tenth century, another important centre of Jaina art and religion was Charampa some miles to the north of Bhadrak railway station, District Balasore, where several interesting Jaina images were noticed. Four of them, showing an individualistic style, are now housed in the State Museum, Bhubaneshwar, and have been published by Dash. One of them is a standing Rşabhanatha in kāyotsarga-pose, with a beautiful jata-bhara, some locks of which fall on the shoulders of the Tirtharkara. Bharata and Bāhubali flank him as in many other sculptures. Further, at the top behind his head are, as usual, the flying Gandharvas. The back-slab of the image is relieved with the figures of eight planets. Below the pedestal is the bull-cognizance. The remaining three images represent Ajitanātha, Santinātha (plate 85B) and Mahavira, all of whom are distinguished by deep cut-marks on the body. It is difficult to explain the significance of these marks, which do not seem to be accidental. It is quite possible that through these marks the artist has tried to indicate the rigours of the austerities which the Tirthankaras had to go through to attain knowledge and emancipation. The image of Ajitanatha is seated in a meditative pose, with hands placed on the legs. He has on either side a cauri-bearer at the bottom and a flying Gandharva with a garland at the top. Over the bead are the three-tiered umbrella and the kalpa-vrksa. The hair is arranged as a jad-knot at the top * Mahesh Dashi, Jaina antiquities from Journa, XI, 1, 1962, pp. 50 ff. Charampe, Orissa Historical Research 160 Page #255 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 15) EAST INDIA A. Surobor : Tirthadkara R$abbadātba *H A TAS. C . . B. Nalgora : bronze Yakşi Ambika PLATE 81 Page #256 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 [PART IV A. Sat-Deuliya : asfdpada-tirtha X B. Sat-Deuliya : temple PLATE 82 Page #257 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 15] B. Ambikanagar: temple EAST INDIA A. Ambikanagar: Tirthankara Rṣabhanatha PLATE 83 Page #258 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 [PART IV Y A. Pakbira : Tirthankara sāntinātha, lower part ev Suara B. Pakbira : Tirthankara Pärsvanátha, lower part PLATE 84 Page #259 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 15] B. Charampa Tirthankara Santinātha (Bhubaneswar Museum) : A. Podasingidi Tirthankara Ṛşabhanatha PLATE 85 EAST INDIA Page #260 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 (PART IV Khandagiri : Cave 8, Tirthankaras Parsvanātba and Neminātha with their Yakşts below PLATE 86 Page #261 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 15] EAST INDIA Khandagiri : Cave 8, Tirthadkaras Abhinandananātha and Sambhavanātha PLATE 87 Page #262 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 Mayurbhanj Tirthankara Rşabhanatha (National Museum) PLATE 88 [PART IV Page #263 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 15] A. Deoli pañcayatana temple B. Rajgir temple on Vaibhara hill PLATE 89 EAST INDIA Page #264 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 R B. Rajgir Tirthankara Munisuvrata with Yakşi Bahurupiņi A. Rajgir Tirthankara Rṣabhanatha on Vaibhara hill KERT PLATE 90 [PART IV Page #265 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 15] A. Bihar Yakşi Ambika (Nahar Collection) EAST INDIA B. Bihar bronze Yakş! (National Museum) PLATE 91 Page #266 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 (PART IV A. Bihar : Tirthankara Candraprabha (Indian Museum) ET ***** 319 2466 MAS - has B. Surajpahar : rock-cut Tirthad kara PLATE 92 Page #267 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ EAST INDIA of the head. The elephant-lanchone is carved below the pedestal. As pointed pret by Dach an couliar feature in this figure is that Aitanátha hae heen cha here in atyanchana, though according to Jaina tradition he, together with Sambhavanatha and Abhinandana, should be shown in khadgdsana. The image of Santinátha is also in dhyündsana. The couri-bearers and the Gandharvas are shown in the same way, as in the figure of Ajitanätha. The hair-style of both these Tirthankaras is also similar. Below the pedestal of Santinátha is carved his cognizance, the decr. The remaining image from Charampa is that of Mahāvira in kdyotsargapose. The face of the image is badly mutilated. The cognizance-mark, the lion, is carved at each corner of the pedestal. The couri-bearers flanking the Tirthankara stand on a lotus placed on the beads of the lanchanas. In the reserve-collection of the Orissa State Museum there are a few interesting stone Jaina images, of circa tenth century, from different places of the State. They include a Santinātha, & caumukha and a Supårsvanātha, all from Jaleswar, District Balasore, a fragmentary Mahāvira, from Tigiria, a Parsvanātha, findspot not known, and an Ambikā, from District Koraput. The distinguishing feature of Supărśvanātha is an emblem of five snake-hoods. and that of Pārsvanatha a seven-hooded snake. The Museum also houses a very important group of bronze images found in Banpur. They represent (1) seated Ambikā with a child in her lap under a mango-branch, (2) standing Ašokā or Månavi, holding the branch of a tree, a bear being shown on the pedestal, (3) seated Párśvanátha with seven hoods of a serpent, (4) standing Pārsvanátha with the snake-emblem shown on the pedestal, and (5) a beautiful image of Adinātha standing on a lotus-pedestal in kayotsarga-pose. The image of Adinátha in the group is an example of fine workmanship, with a beautiful jafd-bhara, a serene expression of the face and a graceful outinc of the body. It bears an inscription recording that it was the gift of one Srikara. , The Banpur bronzes show a skilful execution in a tradition comparable with that of Nalanda and Kurkihar. They do not seem to have been adequately noticed anywhere as yet. Unfortunately, good photographs have not been Available for illustration here During the medieval period Khandagiri was perhaps the most important centre of Jaina art in Orissa. Hleze a few caves which had been excavated 161 Page #268 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 (PART TV much earlier for the residence of monks (chapter 7) were converted into shrines with the addition of sculptures, either loose or cut in the rocky walls in relief. One such cave (Cave 7, Navamuni) has an inscribed record of the Somavamsin ruler Uddyotakesarin (eleventh century) on the inner side of the architrave of the verandah; it mentions a Jaina saint called Khalla Subhacandra, a disciple of Kulacandra, who belonged to Desi-gang. Much greater importance attaches to the cave because of its sculptural wealth. The images of seven Tirthankaras, carved in low relief on the back wall in a row, with their respective Sásana-devis in a lower row, are noteworthy for their artistic and iconographic features. The Tirthankaras and their Sasana-devis represented here are: Rsabhadeva and Cakreśvari; Ajitanātha and Rohini; Sambhavanätha and Prajāapti; Abhinandana and Vajraśnkhala; Väsupujya and Gāndhāri; Pārsva and Padmavati; and Neminātha and Amrå. It is remarkable that the row of Sāsana-devis is preceded by a figure of Gaņeśa. Again, on the right wall occur the nude figures of Rşabha and Pārsva, this time in high relief and without Så These Tirthankaras have their usual characteristics, such as three-tiered umbrellas, flanked by a pair of hands playing on cymbals and attendants with flywhisks. But none of them has a halo at the back or the Srivatsa-mark on the chest. The treatment of the coiffure is varied. The Såsana-devis, decked with elegant ornaments, wear dhotīs, and transparent scarves cover their upper bodies and left shoulders. Skilfully executed, the sculptures can be ascribed to the tenth-eleventh century. The adjacent Cave 8 (Bärabhuji) is a veritable treasure-house of sculptures, which may be of a date somewhat later than those of the preceding cave. The name Bārabhuji derives itself from two twelve-armed Säsana-devis carved on the side-walls of the verandah of the cave; they are Cakreśvari, of Rsabhanātha and Rohini, of Ajitanātha. On the walls of the cell are twenty-five figures of Tirthankaras, one of each Tirthankara with his Sasana-devi in a group, and an additional one of Pärávanātha on the back wall, this time without the Sasana-devi (plates 86 and 87). The larichanas of the Tirthankaras in the group differ from the canonical ones in some cases, and the fripatsa-mark does not appear on the chest of any. The richly-ornamented Sasana-devis 1 Debala Mitra, Udayagirt and Khandagirl, New Dolhi, 1960, pp. 53 ff.; Bebesa, op. cit., p. 170. 162 Page #269 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 151 EAST INDIA appear below the respective Tirthankaras, some of them on their animal-vehicles. It is of iconographic interest to note that Bahurupiņi, the Sasana-devi of Munisuvrata, the twentieth Tirthankara, reclines on a couch.1 Most of the Khandagiri caves beyond Cave 8, Caves 9 (variously called Trisula, Satbakhra or Mahavira), 10, 11 (Lalätendukesari with an inscription of Uddyotakesarin) and 12-15, have greatly suffered from large-scale quarrying, with the result that they have lost their original plan and the sculptures in some of them can now be seen from a much lower level. Belonging to the eleventhtwelfth century, the figures of the Jinas, and less frequently of the Sasana-devis, are of iconographic interest. In Cave 9 are three standing images of Rsabhanätha in chlorite, evidently brought from somewhere else and now installed on pedestals. They belong to the age when chlorite became a favourite medium of sculpture in Orissa. Attention may now be drawn to the Jaina image found in the Mayurbhanj area and a few other places, some of them in private collections. Recently a beautiful Tirthankara image from Mayurbhanj attributable to tenth-eleventh century, has been acquired by the National Museum (plate 88). R.P. Mahapatra published in the Matṛbhumi (a daily in Oriya), dated January 12, 1970, an image of Rşabhanatha from Hatadiha in Jeypore Sub-division of Cuttack District, The image, as the author suggests, belongs to the tenth century. The image has the usual characteristics of Rsabhanatha. The back slab is relieved with figures of twenty-four Tirthankaras arranged in two rows of twelve each. There are about twenty-five Jaina images mostly in stone, housed in the Digambara Jaina Mandir, Chaudhuri Bazar, Cuttack. Six of them have been published by Shabu. The images are mainly of the Tirthankaras, such as Rṣabhanatha, Candraprabha, Santinatha, Suparśvanatha and Parsvanatha, besides a few other panels. Some of them belong to the tenth-eleventh century, while others are of a later date, twelfth century or even later. Three images, one of Parsva and two of Rsabba, were found some years back in the bed of the river, Katjhuri, a tributary of the Mahanadi. Of them 1 For this and the subsequent caves, see Mitra, op. cit., 1960, pp. 54 ff. For reclining Bahurapini, see Mitra's article referred to on p. 165, n. 3, below. L.N. Shahu, Jainism in Orissa. When the present writer visited the Mandir on October 13, 1972, he had the good fortune of meeting the Digambara saint Nemichandraji, who had been spending his caturmäsa there. The saint took great interest in the writer's work and gave him full facilities for the study of the images. 163 Page #270 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 one is missing and the other two are in the custody of a local Babaji at Pratapnagar, some 10 km. from Cuttack. : The history of Jainism in Orissa, as revealed through sculptural art from early historical times to the late medieval period, is fascinating. Speaking of the early medieval period, covered in this chapter, one could say that stylistically Gupta idiom lingered and served as the basis for the Jaina sculptures, as for the sculptures of other denominations, till the eighth-ninth century. During the subsequent centuries local stylization set in, and this developed into stylistic degeneration from the thirteenth century. BIHAR When Hiuen Tsang visited Bihar in the seventh century, he found both Jainism and Buddhism flourishing at Rajgir. He further observed that many Digambaras who lived and practised austerities at Rajgir turned round with the sun, watching it from its rising to its setting.' One of the most sacred spots of the Jainas at Rajgir is the Vaibhāra hill, on the top of which are the remains of an ancient Jaina temple (plate 89B). The temple, as exposed, consists of a central chamber, surrounded by a court with rows of cells all around. The central chamber and the cells were provided with niches for containing images.' Besides the image of Neminātha of the period of Candragupta II (above, p. 123), a seated image of Rşabha deserves special mention (plate 90A). The Tirthankara is endowed with a jafd-mukuta. On the pedestal of the image are two bulls and a wheel. This image is very important inasmuch as it bears on the base an inscription the palaeography of which helps in fixing its date. The inscription, in nail-headed characters of the eighth century, reads: Acārya-Vasantanandir(no) dedharmo=yah (deya-dharmoyah), meaning that the image was the pious gift of the teacher Vasantanandin. Chanda observes: *This image, which may be assigned to the eighth century A.D., marks the transition from the Gupta art to the late medieval or Pála art in eastern India. A 1 The present writer gathered this information at the time of his stay in Cuttack. Beal, op. cit., 1884, p. 149. MH. Quaraishi and A. Ghosh, Rajgir, New Delhi, 1958, pp. 16-17. [The date of the temple is uncertain. Built of brick-bats, it was meant to home sculptures of different periods, from the early Gupta (above, p. 124) to thc eighth century. -Editor.) Ramaprasad Chanda in Archaeological Survey of India, Ammual Report, 1923-26, Calcutta 1928, p. 126; M.H. Quaraishi and Ghosh, op. cit., p. 18. 164 Page #271 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 15] EAST INDIA very conspicuous transitional feature is its throne with a single row of lotuspetals pointing upwards on the throne. On the seated images of the Gupta period, the lotus has no place, while in the later medieval images the throne is decorated by two rows of lotus-petals, the upper pointing upward and the lower pointing downward. Certain features of this figure, such as the palm of the hand and the soles of the feet, indicate a tendency to fresh observation of nature. Though often anatomically more correct, the later medieval sculptures lack the breadth and the depth of feeling of the Gupta sculptures. The limbs of this image of Rsabha are stiff and the stiffness of modelling is emphasized by sharp angles made by the elbows.1 7 The cells round the central chamber of the temple contain sculptures representing Parsvanatha, Mahavira, a seated image with a horse on the pedestal, i.e. Sambhavanatha, a Jaina couple with a child under the branch of a tree, etc. In a modern Jaina temple on the Udayagiri hill was noticed by Chanda a seated image of Parsvanatha. Traces of letters on the lower part of the base make it attributable to the ninth century. This image,' says Chanda, 'has certain unique features. Though its beautifully modelled face shows the Yogin absorbed in meditation, the sturdy, thickset body better becomes an athlete than a Yogin. The disposition of the body of the seven-headed naga, the cognizance of Parsva coiling round the Jina seated on the lotus-throne, has a splendid decorative effect. The sculptor who modelled this image was a bold innovator." Another interesting image of about the same age, also from Rajgir, is that of Munisuvrata, with his Sasana-devi Bahurupiņi shown in a reclining position on a cot below the pedestal of the Jina (plate 90B). This image is enshrined in the Vaibhara temple. There are also a few other such images known to us. One of them belongs to the collection of Mr. Bijoy Singh Nahar, Calcutta, and another is in Cave 8 of Khandagiri, mentioned above (p. 162). It is, however, difficult to say, why Bahurupiņi is shown in a reclining position (which reminds us of almost the same position of Maya when she saw in dream the 1 Chanda, op. cit., p. 126. 1 Ibid., p. 127. • Debala Mitra in Journal of the Asiatic Society, 1, 1959, pp. 38-39. • The findspot of this image is not known, but stylistically it belongs to the Bihar school of art. I am deeply grateful to Mr Bijoy Singh Nahar who very kindly allowed me to study his collection of Jaina sculptures and also gave permission to have their photographs. 165 Page #272 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 [PART IV descent of the Bodhisattva in the form of a white elephant into her womb), while the other Sasana-devis are shown in a seated position." Also belonging to the Nahar colloction in Calcutta are a few other Jaina images from Bihar. One of thern shows a Tirthankara seated in meditation on the top, and below a scated couple under the spreading branches of a tree. A child is shown on the lap of the female figure. Another is the upper fragment of a Tirtharikara, ascribable to about the ninth century. A seated Ambika in the collection seems to be from Bihar and is stylistically attributable to the ninth-tenth century (plate 91A). The National Museum has recently acquired an excellent piece of bronze Ambikā image of Nalanda workmanship of comparable age (plate 91B). In March 1974 twenty-nine Jaina bronzes, of which twenty-seven are Tīrthankaras, were discovered at Aluara in District Dhanbad; they are now housed in the Patna Museum. Most of the Tirthankara images in the hoard have ürņā on their foreheads. The palms and fingers of all the standing Tīrthankaras touch their body. The pedestals on which the images stand are complex in design, with various tiers. Cognizances are present in all cases, and through them can be identified Rşabhadeva, Candraprabha, Ajitanātha, Säntinātha, Kunthunătha, Pārsvanátha, Neminātha, Mahävira and Ambikā. Some of them can be attributed, stylistically, to the early eleventh century. Noteworthy in this connexion is a bronze Adinātha figure from Manbhum, which is now preserved in the Asutosh Museum of Indian Art, Calcutta. Again, mention may be made here of a snake-hooded female figure in stone, housed in Archaeological Museum, Nālandā, which has been doubtfully identified as Jaina Yakşi Padmavati (whose Brāhmaṇical counterpart is Manasă), assignable to the ninth-tenth century.' Among the other interesting Jaina figures of the same period from Bihar is a Candraprabha figure in stone, now housed in the Indian Museum (plate 92A). p Mitra, op. cit., 1959, has given valid reasons, to show that the previous identification of the reclining lady as the mother of the Turtbankara is untepable. Editor.) The old District of Manbhum is now broken up into two Districts, Dhanbad (in Bihar) and Purulia (in West Bengal). It has not been possible to ascertain from which of these two Districts the bronze comes.Editor.) * Shah, op. cit., p. 17. Padmăvatl is a very important deity in the Jaina pantbcon. The development of her personality from her position as a Sasanadevi to that of an independent deity is interesting 166 Page #273 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ EAST INDIA During the period Jaina religion and art found an important centre also in the District of Singhbbum, as is evident from certain existing relics of Benisagar, ascribed by Beglar to the seventh century. The relics of Benisagar should however be subjected to a fresh enquiry. CHAPTER 15] '. ASSAM Jainism seems to have feebly penetrated into Assam during the medieval period, leaving only very few vestiges. The Jaina images in relief inside caves (plate 92B), at Surajpahar, District Goalpara, are, however, interesting in this regard. P. BANERJEE 1 J.D. Beglar, Archaeological Survey of India Reports, XIII, Calcutta, 1882, pp. 69-71. [When the present editor visited Benisagar in 1937, he found only a few Brahmanical sculptures. -Editor.] 167 Page #274 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 16 CENTRAL INDIA EXAMPLES OF EARLY MEDIEVAL ART IN CENTRAL INDIA THE UDAIGIRI JAINA CAVE WITH ITS TIRTHANKARA FIGURES, THE RECENTLYdiscovered inscribed Jaina images of the reign of Mahārājādhirāja Rāmagupta from Durjanpur near Vidisă, both of Gupta date, and the standing Jina figure from Vidisă of late Gupta age have been mentioned in chapter 12. The last shows a continuation of the classical plastic tradition of central India. Although no corresponding Jaina shrine has survived at Besnagar, we get a fair idea of such structures from the group of Jaina shrines at Kundalpur (District Damoh), which is not far from Vidiśa. They are plain flat-roofed shrines built of ashlar, continuing the tradition of the early-Gupta temple-type, comprising on plan just a square sanctum and an entrance-porch with a simple low moulded plinth (plate 93A). Unlike the classical examples, their porch has heavy square pillars, decorated with only ghata-pallava design at the base and the capital carrying brackets of a plain curved profile. With such plain pillars and equally plain door-frames, these shrines are datable to a period not earlier than the eighth century. In Bare Baba at Kundalpur there is a large number of loose sculptures representing Tirthankaras and Yaksis (plates 93B and 94), some of them of iconographic value but all with heavy and inelegant features. The Jaina shrine known as Pataini-Dei at Pithaora, District Satna, which is ascribable to circa 900, perpetuates the tradition of the flat-roofed shrine till a late period (plates 95A) .Its tri-sakha door-frame has stencilled lotus-scrolls on the stambha-sakhds, which support the architrave embellished with three niched figures of seated Jinas (plate 95B), and shows on the lower portion figures of Ganga and Yamuna in atibhanga-postures, flanked by Yaksa dvarapālas holding gada and serpent as principal attributes' (plate 96). [An elaborately-carved Ambika statue from Pataimi-Dei temple has found its way to the Allahabad Museum, Pramod Chandra, Stone Sculpture in the Allahabad Museum, Poona, 1971 (7), p. 162. The four-armed goddess, with a karanda-mukuja and a halo of stellate lotus, 168 Page #275 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAMA 16 CENTRAL INDIA Satna District has also yielded a scated image of Jina Parávanátha, flanked by Indra and Upendra, standing in elegant tri-bhanga and carrying caurl, which is now deposited in the Tulasi Ashram Museum at Ramban. The taut modelling of the Jina figure, with a face radiating meditative calm and spiritual effulgence, and the supple stance of the divine attendants suggest the proximity of the figure to the classical source of inspiration, indicating a date of circa seventh century. The Jaina sculptures from Sira Pahari have been mentioned in chapter 12. From the site of Nachna itself, ncar which Sira Pahari is situated, and which is well-known for its Gupta and early Pratthåra Brahmapical temples, come two seated images of Adinatha and a standing figure of Pärsvanátha of circa eighth century. The neighbouring region of Jabalpur and Tewar (ancient Tripurt) has yielded a number of Jaina images, dating from circa ninth to eleventh centuries. Of these, a seated image of Jina Dharmanatha with an elaborate parikara, now in the Central Museum, Nagpur, is a noteworthy Kalacuri sculpture of circa tenth century (plate 97A) and is similar in composition and artistic execution to a seated image of Adinatha from Tripuri, now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. (Still lying at Tripuri are a number of sculptures of Tirtharkaras (plate 97B) and Yaksis including a group of three, the pedestal of which bears the dedicatory inscription of one Viranandin, in characters of circa ninth century (plate 98A).- Editor.) The board of Jaina sculptures from Rajanpur-Khinkhini, exhibited in the Nagpur Museum, has a ninth-century image of Sarasvati with disproportionately large breasts and a peculiar metallic hardness. The same hoard includes two ninth-century sculptures of standing Jinas, Pārsvanátha and Santinatha, recalling marked influence of the Ganga school of art. Gandhawal, District Dewas in Malwa, is a prolific site for Jaina images of artistic excellence, assignable to circa ninth century (plate 98B). The site has yielded a colossal standing Jina image flanked by Indra and Upendra as has four broken) arms. Two youths flank her; at their feet are malo and a female devotee, Bazkod by two four-armed goddesacs. Those on the left are labelled Prajapati (Prejšapati?) and on the right Vajrasa khald (Vajrashkbaja 2). The compartmented flanking pilasters bave attendant gocderen, all labelled. The scalpture has been assigned to the eleventh century, Editor] * U.P. Shah, Saudies in Jaina Art, Banaras, 1955, fig. 42. 169 Page #276 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 (PART IV casuri-bearers, in addition to sculptures of other Jinas like Santinátha, Sumatinätha and Suvidhinatha and figures of Vidya-devis and Jaina Yaksas and Yaksis. In the Raipur Museum is an interesting representation of sahasta-kuta, with four faces and rising in five tiers, each with rows of seated and haloed Tirthankaras (plate 99). According to the Jaina Prabandhas, a king Ama, who ruled over Kanauj and Gwalior during the ninth century, built a temple at Kanauj, 100 cubits high, and erected a golden image of Mahavira. He also set up an image of Mahăvira at Gwalior, 23 cubits high, and is further said to have built Jaina temples at Mathura, Anahilavada, Modhera, etc. King Ama of the Jaina tradition is likely to be Prathāra Nagabhata II (died A.D. 883), who is known to have had Jaina leanings. The veracity of this tradition is attested by the early medieval Jaina remains encountered at these places. Gwalior Fort, which is known for the rock-cut Jaina colossi of the mara period, has a remarkable group of rock-sculptures of Ambika Yaksi and her consort seated in lalitäsana and flanked by female attendants, assignable to circa eighth century. These figures are distinguished by a soft supple modelling and a heavy build and are reminiscent of Påācika and Häriti figures of the Kushan and Gupta periods. Ambika has an oval face with half-closed eyes and an elaborate bun-shaped headdress, round tight-pressed breasts, with folds of skin on the neck and the abdomen, bulging belly and broad hips. The Yaksa has a corpulent figure with ampler dimensions and a pot-belly. Gwalior Fort has also yielded three loose Jaina sculptures of about ne time. one depicting standing Adinátha, surrounded by twenty-three Jinas in a seated posture, forming a caturvimsati-pajja, a second depicting Adinātha associated with the Nandiśvara-dvipa and a third representing Pärsvanätba standing under a canopy of serpent-hoods, being lustrated by a group of handsome half-human Nagas, wearing gorgeous wigs. The site of Amrol, situated some distance south-east of Gwalior and known for its early medieval Mahădeva temple, has also yielded contemporary sculptures of Pärávanátha and Adinátha, the latter sensitively modelled and surrounded by small figures · The Age of Imperial Kanauj, ed. by R.C. Majumdar and A.D. Pwalker, Bombay, 1955, P. 289. Klaus Bruba, The Nina Image of Deogarh, Leiden, 1969, figs. 18-18A. Michael W. Meister, "Ama, Amrol and Jainism in Gwalior Fort', Journal of the Oriental Institute, Baroda, XXII, pp. 354-58. 170 Page #277 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 16] CENTRAL INDIA of Yakpas seated in sukhasana on lotus-seats linked together by exquisitelycarved lotus-scrolls. Badoh in District Vidisha is a reputed site of early medieval (Pratihära) art and architecture, largely pertaining to the Brahmapical sects. The site also has a fairly large Jaina temple showing a quadrangular arrangement of devakulikas, cach with a square sanctum, roofed by a latina Nāgara fikhara of circa tenth century. Despite their poor preservation, enough remains to show that the deva-kulikas, numbered twenty-four, enshrining all the Jinas, and the central one with the tallest sikhara was probably dedicated to Rsabhanåtha. Gyaraspur in the same District is another well-known site abounding in remains of early medieval temples and sculptures of Brahmapical and Jaina religions. The site is dotted with scores of loose Jaina images of circa ninth century, representing standing or seated Jinas and supple figures of Jaina Yaksas and Yaksis shown seated in lalitasana or standing in elegant tri-bhanga (plate 100A). Of the old temples at the site the best preserved is the Jaina temple known as the Maladevi temple, which indeed constitutes a landmark in the development of the Pratthära architecture. TEMPLES MĀLĀDEVI TEMPLE, GYARASPUR Partly rock-cut and partly structural, this temple is a sandhara-prasada, consisting of a mukha-mand apa, a mand apa, an antarala, and a sanctum with ambulatory (plates 101 and 102). The sanctum is panca-ratha on plan and is crowned by a curvilinear Nagara Sikhara (plate 103). The pitha (basement) shows the usual mouldings, executed boldly, and supports the jarghā which is relieved by balconied windows or niches crowned by pediments of caitya-arches (plate 104). Each of its shorter sides shows two balconied windows, while the longer sides show three such windows each, two projecting from the mand apa and one from the sanctum. The windows, being mainly decorative, admit extremely inadequate light. There are six projections on the southern façade, three larger and three smaller, all embellished with niches on the langhd as well as the picha, Th figures carved on the niches of the largha comprise dik-palas and Jaina Yalgas and Yaksis, while the relief-panels on the pitha show human faces and rich scrolls. 171 Page #278 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 [PART IV The Sikhara is of the panca-ratha type and is squat with a marked triangular appearance, clustered by eight minor sikharas. The roofs of other compartments are damaged, but from what has survived there is no doubt that these were pyramidal, consisting of horizontal tiers, alternating with recessed courses carved with diamond-pattern. The base of the roof shows on the south façade a niche containing an image of eight-armed Cakreśvarl seated on Garuda. The goddess carries pāśa and vajra in the two surviving right hands, and vajra and cakra in the two surviving left hands and is flanked on each side by a female attendant. In the proper left niche occurs a seated Jina, while in the right niche occurs Yakşi Ambika seated in lalitasana and carrying a child. On the corresponding north side, the niches show Yaksi Cakreśvari flanked by female attendants. In the proper right niche appears a seated Jina, while in the left niche occurs Ambikā seated in lalitüsana. The niches of the jangha are described below from the south-east in the pradaksiņā order. Niche 1 on the south-east corner of the jangha shows an eight-armed goddess seated in lalitasana on a lotus with a bird-mount having two heads. The surviving right hands of the goddess carry a gada-like object, lotus-flower and cauri, while the left hands carry cauri, flag and bow. She may be Yakşi Padmavati riding kukkutähi. Niche 2 on the south face shows a four-armed goddess seated in lalitasana on a lotus, carrying sword, cakra, shield and sankha. The elephant-mount is depicted below the the lotus-seat. She may represent Puruşadatta, the Yakşi of the fifth Jina. The remaining six niches of the south façade (niches 3-8) are empty, but there were minor niches in the intervening recesses, flanking the projections of the sanctum. These invariably show representations of Yakşa Dharanendra and Yakşi Padmavati. The adjoining lateral faces of the recess also show figures in miniature niches. The western niche shows an image of a goddess seated in lalitäsana on a crocodile, carrying varada, abhaya, blue lotus and water-vessel, while the niche on the eastern face shows an eight-armed goddess seated in lalitasana on a lotus, carrying sword and chain in the two surviving right hands, and a bell, shield and net-like object in the three surviving left hands. A horse is depicted 172 Page #279 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 16] CENTRAL INDIA below the lotus-seat. The goddess may represent Manovega, the Yaksi of the sixth Tirthankara. The niche on the western recess of the southern bhadra shows two-armed Yaks! Padmavati standing under a canopy of serpent-hoods. The miniature niches on the adjoining lateral faces also show each an image of a goddess seated in lalitasana. Niche 9 on the west face is empty, while the only niche in the recess of the western bhadra shows an image of two-armed Padmavati standing under a canopy of serpent-hoods, carrying blue lotus in the right hand, the left hand resting over a staff. In the adjoining miniature niche is placed an image of a four-armed goddess seated in lalitäsana with a crocodile-mount below. She holds flower in the lower right hand, while her upper right hand is placed on the simanta, her upper left carries mirror and the lower left hand is kept over her lap. Niches 10-11 on the west face and 12-13 on the north face were never built since the north-west corner of the temple consisted of the rocky ledge of the hill. Niche 14 on the north projection of the antarala shows a standing image of two-armed Kubera carrying skull-cup and purse, the latter placed on a pair of jars representing nidhis. In the niche below niche 14 occurs a four-armed standing goddess carrying abhaya, lotus-flower, blue lotus and probably a mirror. Niche 15 below the north balcony of the maha-mandapa harbours the image of a twelve-armed goddess seated in lalitasana. She carries sword, mirror, flower, cakra and vajra in the five surviving right hands, while the two surviving left hands hold lotus-flower and fruit. A defaced animal resembling boar is depicted as mount. Niche 16 on the north projection of the mandapa shows a two-armed image of Indra seated in lalitäsana over an elephant-mount. He carries vajra in his left hand, while his right hand is broken. Below niche 16 the basement niche contains image of a twelve-armed goddess seated in lalitasana on a wheeled iron cart. She carries abhaya, trisula, cakra, shield, bow, toilet-box and fruit in the left hands. From the wheeled iron cart (lohasana), the goddess may be identified as Ajita or Rohini, the Yaksi of the second Tirthankara. 173 Page #280 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 (PART IV Niche 17 carries the image of a four-armed goddess scated in lalitasuna with the head and hands broken. Niche 18 on the eastern end of the north face contains the sculpture of a four-armed goddess seated in lalitasana over a fish. She holds varada, abhaya and net in the surviving hands and may be identified as Kandarpā, the Svetāmbara Yakpl of the fifteenth Tirthankara. Niche 19 on the north-east corner of the janghd shows the consort of Revanta seated in lalitasana. She is four-armed and carries vajra, khatvanga, net and umbrella. A horse is depicted below the seat. The mukha-mandapa of the temple is supported on four pillars. The ceiling is triangular with a lenticular compartment of cusped and coffered design of the samaksipta-variety. There is similar ceiling between the two inner pillars of the mukha-mand apa and the doorway of the mand apa The mand apa-doorway is of the panca-sakha variety, the sakhas showing respectively designs of scrolls, serpents, couples and two pilasters. The couples alternate with bhūtas or paša-like design. The lalafa-bimba shows an image of eight-armed Cakreśvari riding on Garuda. In three of the surviving left hands she holds lotus, cakra and fruit. In her only surviving right hand she holds lotus-stalk. The door-jambs show at the base figures of Ganga and Yamunā, each flanked by attendants and dvdra-palas. The mand apa is centrally supported on four pillars. Its ceiling is octagonal and probably; of the samaksipta-variety, consisting of four diminishing courses of gajatalus, which are only partly preserved. The lintels and architraves of the mand apa-ceiling are decorated with two rows of miniature shrines. Against the southern wall of the mand apa is placed a colossal standing image of Jina flanked by two male devotees. All the pillars of the interior are alike in shape and design and are heavily decorated. The shaft of the pillar is square at the lower and upper sections with a fluted sixteen-sided middle section decorated with chain-and-bell designs. The pillar-capital comprises a flattened circular cushion, a square abacus decorated with kirttimukha and scrolls, an amalaka and an upper abacus decorated with foliage and two square cushions of the ribbed pattern. The pillar-capitals are surmounted by brackets of curved profile decorated with Nagasin anjalimudra. Some charming decorative motifs include a peculiar variety of kirttimukha (plate 100B) and richly-carved ghata-pallava. 174 Page #281 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPIR 101 CENTRAL INDIA The sanctum is entered through an elaborate doorway generally resembling in appearance that of the mandapa. Of its two crowning architraves, the lower one shows a row of nine standing Finas in niches. The right extremity of the doorway-lintel shows mithuas bearing garlands and a standing four-armed Vidyl-devi holding varada, book and water-vessel. On the corresponding left extremity occurs a defaced image of four-armed standing Sarasvati carrying vind. On the door-jambs occur Gangi and Yamuna, each flanked by a pair of dvdra-palas. The dvåra-palas facing east carry gada in one of their hands. The ambulatory round the sanctum is entered from either side by a doorway, each decorated on the lintel and architrave with miniature shrines and figures. The southern doorway of the ambulatory shows on the architrave figures of nine Jinas on the lowest register, four Jinas in the middle register and seven Jinas in the uppermost register. The door-jambs are carved with rivergoddess flanked by dvåra-palas. The northern doorway of the ambulatory shows on the lintel the Sapta-matrkås, represented, as dancing, flanked by Ganeša and Virabhadra. The inner ambulatory has three major niches on each side. The main niche on the south shows a seated Jina, while a niche on the north shows Yakşi Cakreśvart. The mature decorative and architectural motifs, combined with the fairlydeveloped iconography of this temple, would indicate a late ninth-century date for this building, which marks the culmination of the Pratshāra architectural style of central India. GROUP OF TEMPLES, DBOGARH The eastern sector of the fort at Deogarh has a group of about thirty-one Jaina temples (fig. LX), dating from the ninth to the twelfth centuries and even later and is one of the notoworthy sites of central India for the study of the development of Jaina art and architecture during these centuries. That there also existed at the site a Jaina temple of circa seventh-eighth centuries is attested by the end of some architectural fragments and a Jina image in the postGupta style. Of the extant temples the majority belong to the tenth to twelfth centuries, specimens of the two oarlier centuries being indeed very few. With the exception This group also contains templos nad shrines of a period later than the one covered by in this Part, but it has been found convenient not to split up the group.-Bditor.] 175 Page #282 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 [PART IV of a few temples like Temples 11, 12 and 28, all of them are structurally unpretentious and small in size. They are either square or rectangular on plan and comprise a hall with or without a projecting cella at the back but normally containing a frontal verandah or portico. Mostly they have flat roofs and in some cases have crowning kiosks. While Temples 25 to 31 are situated in a close cluster, the remaining ones constitute a loose nebulous group, from which Temples 1, 2 and 10 are each scattered at some distance. To the ninth century belong Temples 12 and 15 and seven smaller shrines clustering around Temple 12, besides Temple 22 and 24(a). On the basis of SCALE OF SCALE OF 100 50 0 20 10 0 70 L 100 40 60 176 200 FEET METRES FIG. IX. Deogarh: layout of temples 22 20 19 272 15 12 18 17 16 15 === 493 בלוג XXX Page #283 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 16] CENTRAL INDIA formes A Kundalpur : temple CAS ******* ******* B. Kundalpur : two Tirthankaras PLATE 93 Page #284 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 B. Kundalpur Tirthankara Parsvanatha PLATE 94 [PART IV A. Kundalpur Tirthankara Abhinandananatha Page #285 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 16] CENTRAL INDIA 13 : . 0 * A. Pithaora : Pataini-dei temple • B. Pithaora : Pataini-dei temple, lintel PLATE 95 Page #286 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 [PART IV . Pithaora : Pataini-dei temple, dvdra pdlas PLATE 96 2. Page #287 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 161 CENTRAL INDIA A. Jabalpur : Tirthadkara Dharmanātha (Nagpur Museum) AYS . B. Tewar : a Tirthankara PLATE 97 Page #288 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 A. Tewar inscribed group of Yakşis B. Gandharwal Tirthankaras PLATE 98 [PART IV Page #289 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 16] Raipur Museum: sahasra-küta PLATE 99 .CENTRAL INDIA Page #290 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 (PART IV . . 22 V TV " . . A. Gyaraspur : Tirthankaras and Yaksis B. Gyaraspur : Maladevi temple, decorative motif PLATE 100 Page #291 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 16] CENTRAL INDIA We Gyaraspur : Malādevi temple PLATE 101 Page #292 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 Gyaraspur Mälädevi temple, mukha-mandapa PLATE 102 [PART IV Page #293 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 16] Gyaraspur Mälädevi temple, sikhara PLATE 103 CENTRAL INDIA Page #294 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 [PART IV 265 * . 1 w HOW ! Gyaraspur : Mālädevi temple, jangha PLATE 104 Page #295 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 16] Deogarh Temple 18 : PLATE 105 CENTRAL INDIA Page #296 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 Deogarh Temple 21, interior sculpture PLATE 106 [PART IV Page #297 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 16) CENTRAL INDIA SMS NOS 92 S2 ... Deogarh : Temple 12 (rigbt) within compound-wall with sculptures PLATE 107 Page #298 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 [PART IV Deogarh : Temple 12, śikhara and a later chatri PLATE 108 Page #299 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 16] CENTRAL INDÍA the inscription of the Vikrama year 919 (A.D. 862) on the portico pillar of Temple 12, these structures are referable to circa A.D. 850-900. Numerous architectural fragments and images fround at the site attest that more shrines of the ninth century existed at the site. To the tenth century belong hall-temples made of large blocks, viz. Temples 9, 13, 16 and 20, which contain early medieval images. Hall-temple 17 also contains early medieval images of the tenth century, though its walls have disappeared. To the tenth-eleventh centuries belong the four hall-temples, viz. Temples 2, 3, 11 and 19, the walls of which consist of slabs and which contain medieval images. The dates are supplied by the inscriptions of Temple 2 (Vikrama years 1023, 1051 and 1052) and Temple 11 (Vikrama years 1105 and 1129). These hall-temples are reminiscent of the monastic architecture, familiar from such central-Indian sites as Ranod, Kadwaha and Surwaya. Temples 5, with a peculiar fikhara and a large sahasra-küta inside, bearing inscription of the Vikrama year 1120, also falls in the same period, besides Temple 31. Several pillars and architectural fragments, some of them clustering around Temple 12, are also attributable to the tenth-eleventh centuries. To the twelfth century can be ascribed small temples built of smaller and thinner slabs. These are Temples 18 (plate 105), 21, 25, 26, 27(b) and 30. Temple 21 carries two inscriptions of the Gunanandin group, referable to the twelfth century, and has a few images inside (plate 106). The remaining temples, characterized by the use of brick-like smaller stones, generally employ mortar. Temples 4, 6, 8, 12(c) and 14 pertain to this phase which is assignable to a period later than the twelfth century. The blocktemples 9, 13, 15-18 and 20 were repaired during this phase and porches to Temples 4 and 15 were added during the same time. Further, there is no doubt that the additions of cupolas, pseudo-fikharas, pavilions of the Akbar style and parapets were made to many of the shrines during the Bundela period. Only two temples, viz. 10 and 15, both dating from the ninth century, show architectural embellishment. The remaining temples are largely plain except for their door-frames. Two temples, viz. Temples 12 and 28, carry curvilinear Bikharas; others are mostly flat-roofed hall-temples, or shrines with porches which are reminiscent of the flat-roofed Gupta temples comprising only sanctum and porch. Page #300 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 [PART IV Deogarh also abounds in sculptures and mana-stambhas and has a large number of inscriptions. The images in the temples or in the open area at this site number from one thousand to cleven hundred. Only one Jina image deftnitely belongs to the immodiately post-Gupta period (etrca seventh-eighth centuries), while about fifty images, including the original ones in Temples 12 and 15, are assignable to the ninth century. Nearly the same number pertains to the tenth century, while the remaining ones largely date from the eleventhtwelfth centuries. Separated by a modern compound-wall bearing ancient sculptures (plate 107), Temple 12 is a sandhara structure comprising a sanctum with ambulatory and antarala. The sanctum is panca-ratha on plan and carries a panca-ratha curvilinear sikhara of massive proportions (plate 108) with a conspicuous šukanása. Its outer decor is distinctive and shows on the jangha latticed windows alternating with pilasters. The latticed windows are inset with shallow niches, surmounted by tall and thin udgamas. The niches contain relief-figures of twenty-four labelled Yakşls with the respective Jinas around the jangha. The structure also shows doorway-designs on the three bhadraprojections of the jahgha. That this temple was dedicated to Jina Santinātha is attested by a number of inscriptions. The standing image of Jina Såntinătha, over 5 m. high, occupies the entire height of the sanctum and has a large parikara, flanked by smiling figures of câmara-bearers standing in elegant tri-bhanga. These figures, together with four independent images of Yakşi Ambikā similarly standing in suave tri-bharga, two placed inside and two just outside the sanctum, are sculptured in the high Prathāra style of the ninth century. Temple 15 is a tri-urusa-prasada (triplo-shrined structure) with the fikhara lost and now replaced by a flat roof with an incongruous Bundela cupola in the middle. It has #low. vedi-bandha and a plain fanghd relieved by shallow sculptured niches surmounted by udgamas. The temple consists on plan of three tiny sancta sharing a common nava-ranga-mandapa, which is entered from a porch through a doorway. The flat ceiling of the mandapa is supported on four central pillars and twelve pilasters. The pillars and pilasters carry typical Pratthåra ornaments, viz. designs of ghafa-pallava, lotus-medallions, palmyrabrackets and ribbed Amalakas. Similarly, the doorway bcars typical Pratthara ornaments which include the chain-and-bell design. The main image of this temple, a masterpiece of early medieval art, represents a scated figure of Jina, radiating spiritual bliss and effulgence and recalling in its sansitive modelling Page #301 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 16) CENTRAL INDIA and serene expression the famous Gupta image of Buddha from Sarnath. The other images in its niche-shrines on the bhadras, of both standing and seated varieties, are also typical of the ninth-century Pratfbära art. Stylistically, this temple is about two decades later than Temple 12. KRISHNA DEVA Page #302 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 17 WEST INDIA THE EARLIEST SPECIMENS OF JAINA ART IN WESTRRN INDIA ARB KNOWN from the hoardi found at Akota in the outskirts of the city of Baroda, which has yielded sixty-eight Jaina bronzes datable from the late fifth to the cleventh century. They represent figures of Jinas including Rşabhanátha, Parsvanātha and Ajitanätba, of Jivantasvāmin, Sarasvati, and Acchuptă and Yaksas and Yaksis, including numerous images of Ambika (plate 109). The Jina figures are depicted either standing or seated, flanked by Sarvanubhäti Yaksa and Ambika Yakşi and a few of them show elaborate composition representing tritirthika (plate 110), sat-tirthika and asta-tri-tirthika figures and a caturvinsatipatta (plate 111). Thirty out of the sixty-eight bronzes are inscribed and two of them provide definite dates, Saka year 691 and Vikrama year 1006. Not less than twenty-eight images are ascribable palaeographically and stylistically to a date anterior to A.D. 700, attesting brisk artistic activity during the sixth and seventh centuries. The bronzes representing Rşabhanātha and Jivantasvamin," referable to the close of the fifth century, and the figure of a cámara-dharini ascribable to the eighth century, are indeed masterpieces of west-Indian art. The bronze Jina figures from Vala (Valabh!), palaeographically assignable to the sixth century, are comparable with some of the coeval figures of the Akota hoard, though the former are a little cruder in workmanship and show heavy heads on relatively slim bodies. The treatment of the drapery on the Vala figures anticipates that on the fine bronze image of Jina, dated A.D. 687 from Vasantgarh, District Sirobi,' which also has yielded a small copper figure of standing Sarasvati of circa 700 and three elaborate tri-tirthika bronzes of artistic execution, assignable to circa 750. The treatment of drapery on the two standing bronze Jina figures from Bhinmal, ascribable to the eighth century, 1 U.P. Shah, Akold Bronres, Bombay, 1959. (The earlier bronzes have boen dealt with la Chapter 13 above.--Editor.] 1 lbid., figs. 8-9. (See ako Chapter 13.Editor.] Ibid., fig. 42-43. • Ibid.. p. 21, fig. 21. (See also Chapter 13.-Editor.) " Ibid., p. 22, figs. 19, 49 and 72. Ibid., p. 22, 358 and 3Sb. 180 Page #303 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 17] Akota bronze Yakşi Ambika (Baroda Museum) PLATE 109 WEST INDIA Page #304 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 [PART IV Akota : bronze Tirthankara Pārsvānatha (Baroda Museum) PLATE 110 Page #305 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 17) WEST INDIA . . . . Akota : bronze catur viršati-parfa (Baroda Museum) PLATE 111 Page #306 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 (PART IV Akota : bronze cámarandharini (Baroda Museum) PLATE 112 Page #307 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 17 WEST INDIA matches that of the Vasantgarh bronze Jina dated A.D. 687, though the former are somewhat clumsy, exhibiting inferior workmanship. A seated bronze figure of Rabbanitha from the same site and referable to the same age, however, shows superior workmanship and is comparable to the dated Vasantgarh Jina image. " 1 The stone sculptures from the eighth-century Mahavira temple at Osia generally share the modelling and the heavy physiognomy with the contemporary bronzes from Akota and Vasantgarh, referred to above, with some obvious divergence due to the difference of material. The stone sculpture of the camaradhari attendants from the Mahavira temple at Nandia, District Sirohi, of seventh-eight century, reveals suppler modelling. The image of Pärsvanatha from Bhatewar, now in the Jaina temple at Chansma in Gujarat, is stylistically of the same age. The elaborate bronze caturviśati-patta of Rsabhanatha from Chahardi,' District Dhulia, provides a good example of the Rästrakuta art of the ninth century with marked Karnataka influence in the rendering of the eyes and the treatment of the attendant figures. This image is recorded to have been installed by a disciple of Pradyumnacarya of the Candra-kula. A contemporary bronze tri-tirthika of Paravanatha flanked by a Yaksa (Matanga?) seated on elephant and Ambika Yakṣi seated on lion, dedicated by another disciple of the same acarya is now under worship in a Jaina shrine at Amarasagar near Jaisalmer. The Rāştrakūta plastic art at its most florid, however, is encountered in the sculptures of the Jaina caves at Ellora.' That Jaina temples existed at Akota, Valabhi, Vasantgarh and Bhinmal during the sixth-seventh centuries is inferred from the find of Jaina images at the sites. A seventh-century inscribed image of Parsvanatha found in the Akota hoard refers to the dedication of the image in the Ratha-vasatika, while an inscribed figure of Rsabhanatha of circa 1000 from the same hoard records its dedication by Dropacārya in the Ankottaka-vasatika. Thus, Ratha-vasatika and Ankottaka-vasatika are names of Jaina shrines existing at Akota where images are recorded to have been installed also by Jinabhadra Vacanacārya, an eminent Jaina celebrity of circa sixth century. 1 Ibid., fig. 298. * Stella Kramrisch, Art of India, fig. 54. ⚫U.P. Shah, op. cit., p. 24, fig. 7. • [Dealt with in chapter 18.-Editor.] 181 Page #308 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 [PART IV Jaina literature alludes to the existence of many Jaina temples which are now lost. Vanarāja Căpotkata is said to have founded Vanarija-vihdra in honour of Jina Parsvanåtha of Pancasara at Patan Anhilvad where his minister Ninnaya, an ancestor of governor Vimala, built a temple dedicated to Jina Reabha in circa 746. Ninnaya also founded a Jaina temple at Candravati. About the same time, a Rşabha temple was erected at Tharad in north-west Gujarat at the instance of Vatesvara-Ori. Jinasena wrote his Hartvarnt a-pwrāna in 783 in the Parávanátha temple (Nannaraja-vasatt) at Vardhamana (Wadhvan). The same work mentions the temples of Santinátha at Dostatikā and of Ambika on the Girnar hill. During the eighth century there were both Digambara and Svetämbara temples of Jina Candraprabha at Prabhas. The Digambara church founded a Pärsvanatha temple at Una and another Jina temple at Khambhat. Yakşadatta-gani, a predecessor of Udyotana-suri is said to have erected a number of shrines in western India, including Bhinmal. Udyotana-süri completed his Kuvalaya-mala in the Aştāpada-präsada of Adinātha at Jalor in 779. Jaina temples flourished at Chitor in the time of Haribhadra-suri (eighth century). According to Jayasitha-sūri (A.D. 859) Jaina temples existed at Nagaur. During the early medieval periods, the princes of western India belonging to the various dynasties mutually vied in extending patronage to the Jaina faith and in building or endowing Jaina shrines. Pratihāra Nagabhata I (circa 730-56) founded Yaksa-vasati at Jalor in honour of his guru Yaksadatta-gani. The celebrated Mahāvira temple of Sachor and that of Korta are also traditionally ascribed to the same teacher. The Mahåvira temple at Osia, described in chapter 14, was founded by Pratthara Vatsarāja (circa 772-93). His successor Nagabhata II (793-833) revered his teacher Bappabhatti-säri and founded Jaina temples at Kanauj and Gopagiri. The latter's disciples, Nanna-suri and Govinda-Büri, were favourably received by the Pratthåra emperor Mihirabhoja (circa 836-85). Pratthåra Kakkukarāja of ndor founded a Jina temple at Ghatiyala in 861. Guhila Bhartsbhata I of Mewar created Grubila-vihara at the town of Bhatewar, founded by him in circa 930. Of thc Rastrakutas of Hathundi, Vidagdharija built a Rşabha temple of Hathundi in 917, and his son and grandson, Mammata and Dhavala, gave grants for the upkeep and restoration of the temple. A prince Raghusena founded a Jina-bhavana at Ramsen in north-wem Gujarat during early tenth century. But more important were the foundations 182 Page #309 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHE 173" WEST INDIA of the imperial Caulukyas of Gujarat. Malarāja I (942-95) built Mula-vasatika for the Digambara church and a temple of Malanátha-Jinadeva for the Švetâmbara sect at Anhilvad Patan. Camurdaraja, as his heir-apparent, gave a grant to the Jaina temple at Vadasama in 977. The foundations of the succording Caulukya rulera will be noticed in a subsequent chapter. KRISHNA DEVA Page #310 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 18 THE DECCAN HISTORICAL BACKGROUND THE HALF MILLENNIUM BETWEEN THE MIDDLE OF THE SIXTH AND ELEVENTH centuries was the most eventful in the history of India south of the Vindhyas, bocause it marks a great era of the beginning and development to its meridian of temple-architecture and related sculpture, painting and allied arts. The area came under the hegemony of three rising empires--the Calukyas with their capital at Vätäpi (Badami), in the Deccan, the Pallavas with their capital at Kånci on the eastern littoral and the Påndyas with their capital at Madurai in the far south, who were all rivals alike in war and polity as in the patronage of arts like architecture, sculpture, painting, music, dance and literature. While the Calukyas under Pulakesin (609-42) could successfully hold Harşavardhana's southward expansion and contain him beyond the northern confines of the Vindhyas, Pallava Narasimhavarman | Māmalla (630-68) defeated Pulake in and occupied Vätāpi for gwelve years; the Pandyas of the far south were all the time holding up the southern expansion of the Pallavas on the Kāveri, while they themselves expanded into adjoining Ceylon. The lesser kingdoms of the Eastern Cāļukyas, the Răstrakūtas, the Gargas, the Muttaraiyars, the Nolambas, and the Irukkuvels were wedged in between the major states acting as buffers or political allies. These had their own share of contributions to the artistic and literary traditions and achievements of the times. While the Pallavas and the Pāndyas continued unabated in power till the middle of the ninth century in their respective regions, the Calukyas of Vätādi parted with their territories on the Andhra coast to the collateral line of the Eastern or Vergi Calukyas founded by Kubja Vişnuvardhana (624-41) in the last days of his brother Pulakesin II, and thereafter the main branch at Vätāpi was replaced by the Raştrakutas, with their capital at Mãnyakheta (Malkhed) by the middle of the eighth century. Both the Pallavas and Pandyas of the far south were ultimately replaced by the imperial Colas of Thanjavur in the middle of the ninth centuxy. By 1000 the two major empires contending for the hegemony of south India and its art and architectural 184 Page #311 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 18) THE DECCAN creations came to be the Rästrakata and the Cola, with the Vergi Cāļukya continuing in a comparatively subordinate position. This also marks the period when the ascendancy of Jainism was challenged, with considerable success, by the rising bhakti cults of the Saiva Nayanmårs and the Vaignava Alvärs-canonized saints and poet-musicians of Tamilnadu and its outlying areas. In the Kannada and Telugu countries, however, it had a firmer hold contending with the dying embers of Buddhism in those areas. Many of the kings of the ruling dynasties professed Jainism or even made it the state religion, while many others patronized it or were tolerant of its existence and activities. The producer-cum-craft and merchantguilds or samajas of cosmopolitan membership were, likewise, patrons of temples and religious institutions of all sects and their munificent offer exceeded, or even replaced, royal patronage whenever it was lacking. The main centre of Jainism was Sravanabelgola (the Bappăram and Arun-kulam of the Tamil Jainas), which, starting from its traditional association with Bhadrabahu, the last frutakevalin dating earlier than the Christian era, became the centre of the great Kunda-kundácārya and his lineage Kunda-kundānvaya in the beginning of the Christian era. Later, Arhadbali divided the müla-sargha into four sanghas, Nandi, Sena, Deva and Simha, each subdivided into ganas and further into gacchas. The period also witnessed the formation of the Dravidasangha by Vajranandin with branches all over Tamilnadu and affiliated to the müla-sarigha of Sravanabelgola. The main establishments of the Jaina teachers centred round the hills which invariably (as in the Tamil country) had natural caverns or shelters, often difficult of access, with an adjoining tarn or perennial spring (chapter 9). Many of them continued to be in use till the twelfth century. Parts of the caverns were often modified into shrines by construction in brick, often with distinct architectural components, and plastered overand painted. Such constructions, dating from the seventh-eighth centuries, have come to our notice in recent times, as ruins at Tirakkol and Armamalai, both in North Arcot District, the latter with remnants of paintings akin to and reminiscent of Sittannavasal on the one side and the Jaina paintings of Ellora on the other, Vallimalai, in Chingleput District, the cavern-temple in the Chandragiri hill at Sravanabelgola and many such in other Districts can be enumerated. The one at Tirumalai, North Arcot, is perhaps the largest, with structural elements incorporated in its make. up of Raptrakuta and Cola styles as also sculptures in both the styles and paintings. The natural caverns at Vallimalai, one with a Jaina Tirthankara 185 Page #312 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 [PART IV relief on the ceiling now converted into a Subrahmanya temple and the other with Jvälamalin! Yakal, are other notable examples. The last quarter of the sixth century was eventful in that it marked a new era when the concept of rock and stone as the main fabric in the make-up of the religious edifices of the non-Buddhist sects-Brahmanical and Jaina-set up a new milieu. This was initiated under royal patronage. In 578, Calukya Mangalesa excavated the first cave-temple for Visņu at Badami in the local soft sandstone rocks. CAVE-TEMPLES The cave-temples of the Calukyan vintage consist essentially of a rectangular pillared verandah or mukha-mandapa, a more or less square pillared hall or maha-mand apa and an almost square shrine-cell or garbha-gṛha, all in an axial plane, excavated into the prepared vertical rock-face and constituting the mandapa-type of temples. The last and topmost of the series of four such cavetemples excavated on the northern scarp of the Badami cliff is the solitary Jaina example, which is chronologically also the last, excavated in the middle of the seventh century (plate 113A). While essentially of the same plan as the other three Brahmaṇical ones on the cliff, it is the smallest and the most lavishly-embellished. The cut-back to the pillared façade provides a small platform below in front and the kapota or cornice above on the top of a rough exterior and finished and curved undersurface, with ribbings with a relief of Kubera at its centre. The façade of the mukha-mandapa has four pillars and two pilasters, one at either extreme, the central pair of pillars with greater intercolumniation as is characteristic of the Calukyan style and its derivatives. As against the other caves, the basal squares of the rather massively-shaped pillars have circular relief medallions variously carved as lotuses, mithunacouples, foliage-scrolls, makara-scolls and the like. The pillars have well-formed capitals with the kalasa, tadi and kumbha and, in this respect, resemble the Pallava forms. The kalasas are ornate with carvings of mithunas on the facets. and from their outer faces spring rampant vydla-caryatids butting against the ribbing of the cornice. The potikas or corbels are of the double or superposed type, as in the Călukyan forms, while the lower face is an extended doublevolute. A second set of four pillars and two pilasters separate the outer and the inner mandapas, and the ceiling of the front mand apa is divided into five bays by cross-rafters. The central bay of the ceiling of the outer mandapa has a large Vidyadhara couple in relief. The entrance-openings into the inner mand apa are reduced to three, the two extremes between the outer pillars and 186 Page #313 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 18) THE DECCAN piłapter on each side boing closed by a screon-wall. The ceiling of thret baye rendered so by cross-bearns has another Vidyadhara couple in its central bay. Thret rock-cut steps and a candra-fild or moon-stone tead up to the shrineentrance cut through the centre of the hind wall of the inner mandapa (plate 113B). The entrance is framed by an omate over-door of five variegated fakhas for its jambs as is characteristic of the Calukyan order, while over the flaxed kapota-architrave with kudw-ornaments is an uttaránga series of miniature shrine-models-salās and two-storeyed pavilions or affalakas, with Tirtbadkarareliefs on the sala-faces. The centre pioce is a pattern of a kudw-arch mounted by a semi-arch in udg ama-fashion, with three scated Tirtharkara images inside the upper loops and two camara-dharins, one on either side. At the base of the jambs of over-door frame are the drara-pata panels. The shrine-cell has a Mahāvira seated on a simhdsana, occupying more than the rear half of the cell. Carved in the scooped-in end-walls of the two mand apas are reliefs of Gommafeśvara (plate 114A) and of Tirthankaras such as Pårávanátha (plate 115) and Adinatha (plate 114B) surrounded by a prabhāvali containing reliefs of twenty-four Tirthankaras-four small and seated on top, eighteen distributed equally on either side, also small, and two, one at each base of the stambhatorana of the prabhāvali, larger and standing. The Yaksa and Yakşl, forming the säsäna-deyatās, also find a place on either side of the main figure. Later sculptures, carved by the counter-sunk or scooped-in method, mostly of standing Tirthankaras, have been carved on the sides of the pillars and pilasters, and, in some cases, the entire area of the capital-facets are studded cameo-like with rows of miniature Tirtharkaras with a slightly larger central Mahavira. These embellishments appear to be mostly secondary,though perhaps closely following the completion of the cave-temple. The Menābasti Jaina cave-temple (plate 116A) on the south-east face of the Meguti hill at Aihole, the mercantiše metropolis and main centre of the trado-guild 'the blameless 500', is slightly different on plan, belonging to the close of the seventh or the beginning of the eighth century. Like the Brāhmapical cave Ravulagudi at the same place, it has a narrow verandah behind the plain square-pillared façade with the bays, except the central one, walled up later by square ashlar blocks. The left-end wall of the verandah has a relief of Parsyanatba with his fasana deitiesDharanendra and Padmavati -and a host of other attendants. The inner mand wa is more a squarish hall with two sido-shrines cut into its lateral walls, the one on the left dedicated to Mahavira with his attendants, rather incompleto. Tho inner entrance to the shrine Page #314 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 [PART IV behind has three openings formed by two pillars, and there are two dvara-palas with high headgear, similar to those of the Elephanta prototypes, each attended by a male and female dwarf. The shrine has a seated Mahavtra similar to the one in the Badami cave-temple. Just below the brow of the same hill at Aihole, and close under the Meguti temple, is a two-storeyed cave-temple, partly structural and partly excavated (plate 116B), or rather a natural cavern so fashioned. It consists of two superposed structural verandahs, each with its facade of four pillars, and two pilasters of square sections and plain curved corbels. In relief, on the centre of the upper verandah-ceiling, is a small seated and clothed Jina with a triple umbrella over his head, while at one end of the same verandah is a long room with three partially rock-cut shrines; off the lower is another incipient shrinc. The door-frame, leading to the cella behind, of the lowor.storey is a florid over-door of the multi-Sakha pattern of the same, tyče almost as in the Menäbasti and profusely carved with animal, human and floral designs, and southern-type miniature shrine-models over the door-frame uttararga. The Kannada inscriptions on the pillars and rock outside, mostly names of persons, and the architectural patterns would indicate a seventh-century date for this cave-temple. The minor Jaina rock-cut temple on the western slope of the Meguti hill consists mainly of a sanctum and front mand apa, cut into the hill-side with a shrine-doorway of the tri-sakha type, leading in from the plain front mandapa into the shrine-chamber. The lion-emblem on the front face of the imagepedestal and other details would indicate that the enshrined deity, now lost, was a seated Mabăvira fixed into a socket. This temple, like the two-storeyed one, would belong to the seventh century. With the advent of the Råştrakūtas to power, the activity shifted to Elā. pura or Ellora, where, at the end of the Buddhist and Brahmapical excavations, there is a small series of Jaina rock-cut caves and a specimen of monolithic cut-out vimāna, the Chotå-Kailasa, on the model of the greater and earlier Brahmapical Kailäsa and the still smaller one in the Indra-sabhà court. These form 30 to 34 of the Ellora caves occupying the northern horn of the Elora ridge and about 1200 m. to the north of the large Brahmapical excavation called Dumarlena. They are found in various stages of completion, indicating, by their plans, styles and inscriptions, their commencement in the close of the eighth or the beginning of the ninth century and the continuation of the work lator. 188 Page #315 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ THE DECCAN 1.1 The so-called Indra-sabha (Cave 32) and the Jagannatha-sabha (Cave 33) and the most noteworthy and elaborate excavations in the Jaina series. The Indra-sabha (plate 117), the cartiest of the group, is a double-storeyed southfacing excavation and is the largest and the most important piece of rock-architecture forming a group rather than a single cave-temple. In front of the main two-storeyed cave is a courtyard containing a monolithic vimana with an elephant to its cast in front and a mina-stambha of the kumbha-mand ikalaša type on the -west carrying Brahma-Yakşa figures facing the four cardinals on its top-abacus. The courtyard is entered through a front screen-wall with a stunted gopuraentrance. The lateral walls of the entrenched open court have two smaller excavations of the type of a pillared mand apa on one side and an unfinished gallery on the other. They contain sculptures of Pårsvanātha (plate 118A), Gommata (plate 118B), Kubera, Ambikā, Sumatinatha and other Tirthankaras, Yakşas, etc. The three sides of the quadrangle are elaborately carved to produce a two-storey effect as on the façade. The lower-storey of the main excavation is unfinished and has a peculiar plan. It has a front verandah with four pillars and four pilasters of the square type, one of which has a nude Tirthankara carved with an inscription on it. Beyond is a two-pillared argana (plate 119) similar to the front verandah leading through a vestibule to the shrine-cell at the rear. The shrine is well-finished and contains a huge seated Tirtharkara. There are two more Tirthankaras, one of them Säntinātha, at the west end of the verandah. Beyond these images is a shrine with carvings of the usual images. At the eastern or right end of the verandah is the stairway leading up to the upper storey. The upper storey essentially consists of a central main ball, with two additional sanctuaries thrown forward on cach wing, with the balconies of all the three over-looking the open entrenched court. The front verandah has two composite pillars of the kumbhavalli-cum-recessed-kalasa-capital type. On the inside of its eastern wing are five small standing Jinas with Kubera and Ambika at either end. Larger and better-finished figures of Kubera and Ambikä, are however, to be seen at either end of the verandah. The hall proper has twelve pillars of four different types, and on its lateral walls are excavated five compartments each, the central one larger than the flapking four and containing a seated Jina Sumatinitha, as could be judged by the discus lafickana on its pedestal. The other four on each face enshrine similar Jina forms. The principal shrine cut into the rear wall of the mand apa is dedicated to Mahåvira. The entrance to the shrine has a shallow portico with a pair of finely-carved, slender, fluted and kalasa-topped pillars carrying an architrave, with kapota, surmounted by a row of five miniature shrine-models over the uttararga. The wall-space on Page #316 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 [PART IV either side of the door-opening has each a large standing Tirthankara, dvārapala-like while further beyond on the east face of the wall is a large panel of Pārsvanatha and another with pair of Sumatinathas whereas correspondingly, on the western extension is a panel of Gommata, and a pair of Sumatinathas. The ceiling and beams of the mandapa are painted, that of the verandah showing two layers of such paintings. Through the south-east corner of the mandapa is reached a cave-temple cut into the rock to the south on the east wall of the courtyard, with it principal shrine dedicated to Sumatinatha. The mandapa in front has four kalasatopped pillars and a lotus carved at the centre of its ceiling. The walls, ceilings and the shrine-interior are covered with exquisite paintings, fairly well-preserved Besides the flying Gandharvas or Vidyadhara couples, the most interesting painting is that of an eight-armed deity on the ceiling of the antarala in the catura-mode of dance. The absence of marks or attributes of Siva in the painting would distinguish it as obviously one of a deity of the Jaina pantheon, perhaps Indra. The south-west corner of the main hall leads into a similar cave-temple dedicated to Sumatinatha; this also is replete with paintings of exquisite quality but poorly preserved. The most striking feature of this excavation is the elaborately-carved kapota-entablatures of the façade one separating, as it were the lower from the upper storey, and the other topping the upper storey, the lower with a lion- and elephant-series in the frieze and the upper with a chain of miniature shrine-fronts enclosing Tirthankara forms. The monolithic vimana in a court will be considered in the sequel. The Jagannatha-sabha (Cave 33) (plate 120A) is essentially similar to the Indra-sabha but lacks the regularity of plan. The ground floor is a complex of three unsymmetrically-disposed sanctuaries, each a complete unit made up of agra and maha-mand apa and real shrine-opening into the entrenched courtyard which has crumbled away, leaving little of the traces of the central mandapa and front screen or prakara-wall with the entrance facing south. This floor has the usual front verandah with four pillars and with Kubera(?) (plate 121) and Ambika on lion (plate 122), one at either end. The hall behind is square, with a large niche on each of its lateral walls. These niches and the flanking wallspaces contain reliefs of Gommata, Parsvanatha, and of other Tirthankara (plate 123). The shrine at the rear, dedicated to Sumatinatha, has a shallow portico or vestibule. The pillars of this floor are of two types-the kalasa-topped and the kumbhavalli-cum-kalasa-topped types (plate 125). Their intricate carvings 190 Page #317 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 18) THE DECCAN and other features point to the relative latenoss of this cave. The other two sanctuaries of the floor, opening into the court, more or less follow a similar plan and decoration Access to the upper floor is provided through a passage cut through the south-east corner of the upper shrine on the lateral wall of the adjoining Indra sabha complex. The upper floor, more intact and finished, has nava-ranga ball with twelve massive pillars omtral four and peripheral eight as in the Indrasabhā—some with square bases and kalasa-capitals, but all of them very ornate. The shrine at the rear has an ornament entrance, danked by a Jina with Kubera and Ambika, beyond the Jina on either side. The lateral walls contain relie of other Tirthankaras, and there are also remnants of ancient paintings on the ceiling of the hall. It would appear that the centre of the mind apa-ceiling had a circular panel of painting depicting the samavasarna, of which only a fragment now remains. From the east corner of the mandapa and disposed at an angle is a smaller unit, similar in proportions and character to those of the ground floor but quite complete and richly carved. The rock-cut cave-shrine on the south wall of the court is the ChotăKailāsa (Cave 30), consisting of a shrine, antardla and front mand apa, dedicated to Sumatinatha. The antarala has sculptures of Pārsvanátha, Kubera and Ambikā, and the walls of the mand apa are replete with other sculptures. Another entrenched cave (Cave 30A) quite near this consists only of a long hall and a porch with pillars of the kumbha-valh-cum-kalasa-top type. The centre of the hall has a Jaina chaumukha stele. The cornices have flying Gandharvas and the porch has kakşdsanas on either side. Recent clearance has revealed a few unfinished cells to the east of this group. They contain small bas-reliefs of little interest-one of them depicting a standing Tirtharikara with a tiruvici (aureole) framing him and containing representations of the twenty-four Tirthankaras. The Jaina excavations on the soft trap-ridge of Ellora may be said to have been completed by the tenth century, though some of the embellishments could be of a slightly later date. With all their contents, they excel the rest of the caves at Ellora particularly in the perfection of their architectural mambers. Since beauties of ornamentation, drapery, graces, poses and stances could be introduced only in the sculptures of the attendant deities, their depiction were exploited with skill. The Tirthankara forms, which are to be in the prescribed 191 Page #318 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 (PART IY and conventionalized poses and styles, could not all be so well-oxocuted. They Jaina monuments were on the whole, excel in their richly-carved details, perfected finish, particularly in the variety of pillars, and indicate a greater procision and accuracy in the cutting, though the plan, in spite of the beauty of em. bellishment, lacks pre-determination and appears haphazard or improvised in nature. Yet, with their extant paintings of a classical nature they form an important group in the artistic heritage of India. ROCK-CUT TEMPLES Side by side with the cutting in of the cave-temples, which had nearly a millennium-old tradition in the Deccan and elsewhere and which would, at best, reproduce the interior and façade aspects of contemporary brick-and-timber structures, complete vimana-forms, exhibiting both the interior and exterior aspects, also came to be carved though not in such numbers as the cave-temples. It was Pallava Narasimhavarman I Mamalla (630-668) who initiated the mode of cutting out of live rock-temples forms of diverse plans and rise as exemplified by the so-called rathas of Mahabalipuram, all in the hard local granitic gneiss. The carving of such temple-forms proceeded from the top down to the base to reproduce all the external features of the original model and subsequently cut into for reproducing the aspects of the mandapa and shrine-interiors. In the Pallava country and farther south, this led ultimately to the construction of structural stone temples. The contemporary Badami Calukyas, however, skipped this stage of monolithic copies of brick-and-timber originals and produced structural temples by building up with sandstone blocks which could be easily quarried. But since this monolithic forms was quite a novel idea, it soon caught up with contemporary and later dynasties and regions and gave rise to such productions of the Pāndyas as the Vettuvankovil in Tirunelveli District, the Vengi CAļukyas and Telugu Colas in the Vijayawada, Undavalli and Bhairavakonda replicas and miniatures. It even travelled beyond to Dhamnar, District Mandasor, Masrur, District Kangra, Gwalior (Caturbhujaji temple) and Colgong, District Bhagalpur. The germ of the idea apparently lies in the carved-out stūpas inside the rock-cut Buddhist caitya-halls of western India and the imperfect vimäna-form found in the Tawā 'cave of Udaigiri, District Vidisha--a more or less circular monolithic temple-form of Gupta times, hewn out of an isolated sandstone rock-mass into a hemisphere on a base and surmounted by a large flat stone like a tawd or disc. In the Deccan it was the Rästraköțas, who, even after the inception of structural temples in stone by the Cāļukyas, their predecessors, and their own 192 Page #319 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 181, THE DECCAN A. Badami : Jain cave-temple, exterior ..357 ... A B. Badami : Jaina cave temple, interior PLATE 113 Page #320 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 PART IV A. Badami : Jaina cave temple, Gommateśvara B. Badami: Jaina cave-temple, Tirthankara Rşabhanatha PLATE 114 Page #321 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 18) THE DECCAN . M Badami : Jalpa cave-temple, Tirthankara Pārsvapătha PLATE 115 Page #322 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 A. Aihole Menābasti cave-temple, exterior B. Aihole Jaina cave-temple, exterior PLATE 116 [PART IV Page #323 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 18] Ellora Indra-sabha (Cave 32), exterior : PLATE 117 THE DECCAN Page #324 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 (PART IV A. Ellora : Indra-sabha (Cave 32), Tirtbankara Pårsvanātha . E B. Ellora : Cave 32, Gommateśvara PLATE 118 Page #325 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 18) THE DECCAN . BE1 Ellora : Cave 32, pillars PLATE 119 Page #326 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 [PART IV A. Ellora : Cave 33, exterior . - V . 38 B. Aihole : Meguti temple PLATE 120 Page #327 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 18] Ellora Cave 33, Kubera PLATE 121 THE DECCAN Page #328 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 [PART IV Ellora : Cave 33, Yakşi Ambika PLATE 122 Page #329 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 18) THE DECCAN . Ellora : Cave 33, Tirthankaras PLATE 123 Page #330 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 (PART IV d anie * ** YEN Ellora : Cave 33, interior PLATE 124 Page #331 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 18) - THE DECCAN achievements in built-up temples, made a very bold essay of this kind in the famous Kailäsa monolithic temple-complex at Ellora created by entrenching al round a central mass into the side of the rock and carving out of the central block a full temple with vimana, peripheral shrines, axial mandaras and gopura with prakara-flanks with an intervening sunk open courtyard. While this, attributed to Raştrakata Krsna III (757-83) and dedicated to Siva, is the largest available monolithic temple, the Jainas of the place created a lesser replica of the Kailasa, now called the Chotā-Kailasa, at the end of the ridge of Ellora. This and the Jaina cauumukha vimana in the Indrasabhā court mark the culmination of monolithic temples in south India. The Choța-Kailāsa (Cave 30) is about a quarter the size of the great Kailăsa; in the process of reduction, its superstructure has assumed stunted proportions and is also unfinished. It is hewn out of the central mass of rock resulting by entrenching on its four sides, the extent of the pit being 40x25 m. The temple faces west. The main vidna has two superposed storeys as many Jaina structural temples, and it is perhaps owing to this factor that the storeys appear stunted. The lower storey has a large Mahavira attended by Yaksas and Yaksts, enshrined in the sanctum, and the upper has what would appear to be Sumatinātha with attendants. The upper storeys with sanctum is surmounted by an octagonal grivd and Sikhara, denoting it to be of the Dravida order of southern vimanas. On the side-walls flanking the entrance into the lower shrine are other images of Jinās and also an eight-armed goddess on the north wall. The door-jambs are of the Cāļukya-Rastrakūta overdoor-pattern with sakhas, a northern inheritance from Gupta times and the uttaranga above the architrave is a row of two kufas or miniature square vimana-reliefs, one at either end, and a fala or miniature oblong vimana-relief with wagon-top roof in the middle. The shrine is preceded by a small antardla, and a large maha apa with sixteen pillars, of which some are of the kalasa-topped variety, while the others of the kumbha-valli type. The pillars are arranged in groups of four at the four corners of the hall which has three entrances on the west. north and south, with pillared porches fronting them as in the greater Kailasa. The porches have the characteristic kaksäsanas i.e., back bench like rests, on either side, as is characteristic of northern temples and those of Calukyan derivation in the south. The main entrance on the west is flanked by two dvarapalas, one on either side. Interestingly enough, on the wall-space on either side beyond the porch is carved a dancing Siva sculpture, and there is also a balf-finished relief of a goddess on the south wall. The sanctum of the upper tier is preceded by a Sukandsd, characteristic again of northern temples and those the Calukya Rastrakūta vintage, which comes over the antarala below Page #332 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 (PART IV and leads into the upper sanctum. In front of the court is a dvdro-mandapa standing for a gopura-entrance with many sculptures of Jaina Ththankara and other deities, including a six-açmed goddess. The monolithic Jaina caumukha or caturmukha-vimăna (plate 125) standing in the forecourt of the Indra-sabhā is a unique piece, combining in its essential southern vimüna-form some distinguishing features. It is vimina of three storcys, square on plan but with the crowning griya and Sikhara octagonal, making it a typical Dravida vimäna of the southern texts. The stupi, which must have been a separate piece from the monolith, is now detached. The ground floor is open on the four cardinal sides, with porches projected from their entrasces having flights of steps leading up in front to the top of the moulded adhisthana or plinth. The adhisthana is of the kapota-bandha type with spana kumuda, kanpha and kapota with the prati forming the floor of the cella on top. The projected porches have advanced pillars, each with square base, octagonal shaft, and capitals with the kumbha prominent but with the kalata or lasuna and tadi much fore-shortened. The prastara or architrave is marked by the prominent flexed kapota or cornice with kona-patta or scroll-markings at the real and projected corners. The sanctum contains a central stele with Jina sculptures on its four sides facing the four entrance. The architraves of the porch projections carry prominent panjara-like ndsika-fronts with simhamukhafinials. They are much projected from the middle of the wagon-top sala miniatures or bhadra-salas of the håra which has, at each of the four corners, a karna-kata or miniature square vimana-model with domical four-sided converg. ing roof or sikhara (küta) with a single stúpi at its apex as is the norm for southern vimånas. The second storey which is a lesser square of shorter height than the first has four cardinally-projected ndsikds, and no salas or kütas of a hära. The nåsika-arches are crowned by siihhamukha-finials. The third storey, a still smaller square much less height, is bereft of the hara-elementsküta, salas or panjara, but carries four lions at the four corners at the top-the Kanchana characteristic of Jaina temples and in consonance with the textu requirement that the top storey of the vimåna should have, at its corners, the lafchana or váhana appropriate to the deity enshrined in the main sanctum below. The octagonal griva-fikhara bas small mahd-ndsikas projected dormerlike, from their eight octant faces. The Chota-Kailāsa and the Caumukha present all the features of the southern vimana as crystallized in the eighth century as does the great Kailasa. The caumukha adopted suitably to its form and functions, is a more simple and elegant specimen of architectural model than the Chota-Kailase itself. 194 Page #333 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ THE DECCAN MASONRY TEMPLES Among the early casays in stone construction of the early Calukyas in their capitals Badami-Mahakuteswar and the twin citios of Aihole and Patadkal are some Jaina structures of which the Meguti temple (Melgudi) at Aihole stands as (plate 120B) the foremost landmark by virtue of its uniqueness and the epigraphical evidence of its foundation, which is a Sanskrit verse-inscription of no mean order and a fine example of the eulogistic compositions of the period. The inscription records the erection of the temple to the Jina in 634 in the reign of Pulakesin II and graphically recounts the exploits and territorial conquests of the famous ruler and praises the composer Ravikirtti as comparable with Kalidasa and Bharavi. The temple is essentially of the closed-mand apa type, square, with a central cella in the place of the four central pillars and an outer wall connecting the twelve peripheral pilasters, thus leaving a sandhära circumambulatory passage in between the outer and inner walls. The walled central bay forming the main sanctum carries another shrine over its roof. The lateral hind corner and rear bays are formed into compartments five in number of the three sides of the main central shrine, while the frontal and forecorner bays are continuous forming a transversely oblong hall or mand apa. The rear compartments on the two hind corners are square, like the main shrine, but smaller, and provide two lateral shrines not in a line with the central but at its two hind corners, with the two linear oblong compartments respectively lateral to the main sanctum, each forming the antardla-mand apa opening again in front into the main common-front mand apa. These two antarala-mand apas of the hind cornershrines in the transverse axial line of the main central cell have, like it, a flat roof, while the three rear bays, viz., the two square hind-corner subsidiary shrines and the intervening oblong passage behind the main cella, have a slopy roof as is also the case over the three corresponding bays of the common mand apa in front. Thus, the structure is a unique form of a tri-küta or tripleshrined model with the three shrines not in one line and of the same magnitude as usual but with the two lateral ones smaller and behind the hind-wall line of the large central shrine. The whole is raised over a moulded plinth or adhisthing laid on a straight mana-sutra line with four offset projections on each side. two at the corners and two in between, with the three intervening narrow roccoses. The kunuda or torus-moulding is of the tri-pasta type over the basal upana and jagati-mouldings, the kanske above the kumuda being prominent, with a series of sculpturos of ganas recalling those of the Badami caves. The kantha is surmounted by a kapota with kidu-like ornament at intervals, making Page #334 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 [PART IV the adhisthana of the kapota bandha type. The wall above is correspondingly relieved and recessed, the reliefs combined by flat uniformly tetragonal pilasters, carrying capitals of the order consisting of the kalasa (lasma), tddi, kumbha, palt and phalaka (abacus). The potikas (corbels) are elegant with curved profile and taranga (roll-markings) with a plain median band paffa. The prastara or architrave, likewise relieved and recessed on each side of the structure, is marked by a well-formed and flexed kapota or cornice, with kūd u-embellishments at intervals, coming over the uttira (beam) and valabhi and with dandikalike supports projected from the valabhi strutting up the forwardly-thrown cornice at intervals. The vestigial remains over the prastara would indicate the original presence of a hora of kūtas and salas, the former over the corner offsets of the wall and prastara, hence karna-küfas, and the latter over the two intervening cardinal offsets. The corner and intervening offsets from the wallface or the bhadras on each side carry plain niches or deva-kosthas for the reception of figure-sculpture, now missing. The central recess on the lateral and hind walls have perforated windows to light the two antaralas of the two side shrines and the intervening, but closed, passage at the rear of the central and between the two lateral shrines. Its outer pilasters and their forms, the bays with deva-kosthas and the recesses, its prastara or terrace-composition, the vestigial hdra of the anarpita-type standing away from the upper storey, the upper storey itself, though bereft of the crowning griva sikhara and stüpl (which, if present, would have been of octagonal plan), all strongly point to the southern vimana-model. It is to be pointed out in this context that all the CalukyanRastrakūta temples of Jaina dedication at Aibole and elsewhere in the Calukyan country are invariably of the southern order or storeyed vimana types, while the Brāhmanical ones include also the northern rekha-prdsada type. To this main structure is added a front ardha-mand apa of lesser sides and oblong with a flight of steps in front and with the same type of adhisthana and wall-pilasters and prastara. It is into its south wall that the slab with Pulakėsin's inscription is built and as such this would form part of the original temple. All these would emphasize the original scheme as a simple square principal part, with a central sanctum and sandhara passage between the inner and outer walls all round, with a lesser ardha-mandapa in front, and the walling of the passage into compartments forming the rear lateral subsidiary shrines with their antardias as afterthoughts. To tho whole complex is added a slightly later and larger mahd-mand apa of broadly the same style in front on the axial line. All original sculptures are lost, except for a large seated Jina (Vardhamana) on the back wall and that of his Yaks! Siddhāyikā now in the front corridor. 196 Page #335 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 18] THE DECCAN The Jaina temple locally called Megudi at Hallur which is 20 km. from Bhagalkot, is, both in its name and characteristics, analogous to the Meguti temple of Aihole. It is also most unlikely that this Hallur Megudi could have been very much separated in point of time from its Aihole counterpart. But for the tower-like superstructure on its first-storey shrine-chamber, it is certainly much better preserved. The use of the two torana-niches on either side of the ardha-mandapa-wall and the provision of a regular stone-cut monolithic stairway ladder to reach the roof are suggestive of earlier practices in vogue in the Calukyan region. This temple could be attributed to the second half of the seventh century. Coming back to Aihole, its other Jaina temples are the Yeniyavärgudi, the Yogi-Nārāyana group and the Cärant Math. Of the Yeniyavārgudi group of six shrines, the most interesting one, with a dhvaja-stambha in front, faces west, with its approach from the north through a pillared porch attached to its sabha-mand apa with its four pillars in the tenth century style. The lintels have Gaja-Lakşmi as the lalata-bimba. The adhisthana, which shows upâna, padma, kansha, tri-paffa-kumuda, another gala, and prati, is devoid of either the vedi or vyalavari on top. The walls are relieved and recessed alternately into karņa, central bhadra and the two intervening anuratha offset-bays which are adorned by vimăna-panjaras over close-set paired pilasters enclosing shallows and narrow blind niches. The prastara has a hamsa-valabhi over the uttira, slightly-projected kapota, with a vedi and vydlavari on top, carrying the elements of the håra. The vimana is two storeyed but the griva and sikhara with stapi on top are missing, But whatever remains strongly suggests the typical southern vimina-type as it had evolved in this region by the ninth-tenth centuries, which would ascribe an early or mid-tenth century date to this temple. The adjoining shrines, with sub-shrines, are of lesser interest, and all of them are empty and devoid of any characteristic sculpture. The innermost temple of this group facing south has a mandapa-structure, aligned in its front, rectangular and closed, having four free-standing pillars inside, of ornate type, the other pilasters on the walls being plain of tetragonal section carrying a tenon-corbel. The free-standing columns are simplified degenerations of the early Calukyan forms with a square Sadur am over the basal pitha, short duted shaft, carrying circular sectioned segments above up to the kumbha, and are devoid of the pali or padma and phalaka (abacus). Their corbels or potikds have bevel arms with taranga-reliefs and plain median band. The ceiling, as in the Megudi, is a raised central transverse clerestory with flat 197 Page #336 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D, 600 TO 1000 [PART IV roof, while the fore and aft bays have somewhat slopy roofs at a lower level indicating the continuance of this mandapa-type even as a mere hall, in combination with a regular southern vimåna-type shrine unit for a considerable time. The adhisthana is of a simple type with spana and pauma. The central temple of the other group is noted for its ornate door-frame, forming the overdoor of the entrance into the sanctum which now contains a small linga over a circular pitha. The ardha-mand apa in front is as wide as the sanctum. The nava-ranga preceding it has two small subshrine cells at its two inner corners, reminiscent of a similar arrangement in the famous Virupaksa and other temples of Patadkal. The pillars inside the nava-ranga, though having a sharpened or carinated kumbha, are not yet too much of the 'latheturned type, their corbels of the slightly concave level type, and the side-roofs are slopy with a central clerestory. The adhisthana is of the simple marca-type but raised over a series of plain basal courses forming foundation-offsets. The projected curved cornice terminates at the inner bay of the front hall to be continued as the subdued kapota of the shrine-part. The Yogi-Nārāyaṇa group near the Viräpåkpa mainly comprises a large temple aligned east-west and facing east. Its main part is a tri-küfa or triple shrine unit provided with a common vestibule leading out into a pillared outer mand apa which is also common to the shrine facing it. This latter shrine with a front mand apa having kakşasanas, narrow antarala and cella enshrined a Mahavira image with attendants and elaborate firuvdci as the extant pedestal and the lanchanas on it would show. The Mahävira is now replaced by a Kärttikeya. The triküidcala main shrine-part has a moulded adhisthāna with upăna, padma, karnika, kapota and vyälavari (hence kapota-bandha), and its weak bays and recesses tend to give an apparent curvature to its horizontal offsets. The walls above are plain and devoid of pilasters or kudya-stambhas. The prastara and the hära over it are of the true southern ytmåna-type. Even the topmost storey of the three storeyed vimana-part carries the hara of kūtas and salas, a primitive feature, with the flaring grhapindi on top. The griva and Sikhara are missing. Projected in front of the superstructure is the characteristic suka-năsā. The central cella of the triple unit enshrines a polished stone image of Pārsvanātha. This main temple appears to be much earlier than the shrine opposite, since its pilar-forms are different. The latter has pillars, not of the 'lathe-turned' black stone, but of sandstone of the early medieval type. The Kannada inscriptions in the common vestibule of the mam unit and the style and other features would make this a sequal to the Yonivavårgudi group. 198 Page #337 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000 (PART IV 4 . WS X SY LA DOS Patadkal : Jaina temple PLATE 126 Page #338 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 18) THE DECCAN . . . A 14 2 .224 4 . Ellora : Cave 33, vimana-shrine PLATE 125 Page #339 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ Cair, 18) THE DECCAN The Cirand Math group of Aiholo is close to the two other groups, the Maddinagndi and the Trayambakesvara. Of these, the Carant Math was obviously the nucleus of a prosperous Jaina establishment. The main structure facos north, with an entrance portico in the form of a pillared porch leading into a larger sabha-mand apa with four central pillars which is connected at its rear to the main vimana through a narrow antarala. The sanctum enshrines & scatod sculpture of Mahavira. The main shrine here, as has become typical of Jaina viminas, has an upper storey shrine above it forming the second storey of the rining proper. Access to this is by a monolithic stone ladder at the north-east corner of the sabha-mand apa , with an aperture opened on top in the ceiling leading to the terrace. The upper shrine too is provided with an inner hall and outer agra-mandapa. The adhisthana is moulded with updna, padma, kanpha, tri-parfa-kunuda, gala and kapota i.e. kapota-bandha, as in common in the Calukyan area. The walls are marked off at intervals by plain pilasters with bevel corbels on top. The vinyasa-sútra or outline of the plinth and the walls is straight on each side without projections or roccises, unlike that of Yeniyavargudi. The central and extreme sections of the walls are adorned by balustraded vimina-panjaras. The hdra over the prastara is more stylized than that of Yeniyavärgudi. The Sikhara is of the typical southern form. On either side of the sabha-mand apa and connected to it by short passages are two subshrines with cella and front mandapa in the case of the eastern and only the cella and antarala in the case of the western-both evidently a later addition. Both of these have Jina figures as lolata-bimba over the lintels, their cella being empty. A Kannada inscription built into the wall of the temple, dated A.D. 1119, in the reign of Tribhuvanamalla Vikramaditya VI of the Later Cāļukyan dynasty, referring to repairs and additions by a merchant of the '500 svämins of Ayyavole-the local merchant-guild-sets the latest date for the temple, of which the main part should have been much earlier. The subsidiary structure standing close to the entrance-porch along the northern fringe of the premises is a double unit with closed cross-wall but common hall and corridor and twin approach-steps. The door-frames both of the outer and inner, the drooping kapota on the facade of the corridor, the pillared vestibule and hall are lavishly sculptured, of which the most interesting are the two panels over the front door Architraves depicting the twenty-four Tl thankaras, The adjoining Math, with a rectangular corridor, has on the cornice over the door-frames vindra-modols, seemingly of the northern types and a stellate 199 Page #340 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ I MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A,D. 600 TO 1000 [PART IV plan, reproducing the contemporary and later forms in vogue in the Hoysala tract farther south. Other features are reminiscent of the early stages of Later Calukyan architecture as found in Gadag, Lakkundi, Dambal etc., of the eleventh century and after. The Jaina vimana (plate 126) on the outskirts of Patadkal, belonging to the Răştrakuta period and preceding or overlapping into the beginning of the Later Calukyan phase, is an outstanding monument. It is a three-storeyed sandhāra-vimāna, square on plan from base to fikhara with two lower storeys, which are functional. The adhisthana is of short height and is moulded with the usual parts of the kapota-banda variety, where the kūdu forms of the kapota have lost their original arched nasika-shape and become flat triangular reliefs, heralding the 'dentil'-shapes of the later Calukyan and Hoysala temples. The capitals of the pilasters have lost their original shape and robustness of parts. The vimana-part is connected to the nava-rangamandapa by an antarala, all on the same type of adhisthāna. The nava-rangawall on each side has seven bays with six intervening recesses, adorned by näsikä-front frames with seated Jina or other figures inside. The prastara of the mandapa of the lower storey and antarala carries a hara of kūtas at the corner, salās and panjara alternating in between. The presence of the panjara as the third hära-element in addition to the kutas and salas alone of earlier forms is a notable feature that would indicate an eighth-century or later date. Since the lowest storey is double-walled or sandhära the håra on top is anarpita or that which is not quite applique on the second-storey harmya. The upper shrine has its sanctum enclosed by the upper extension of the inner wall of the lowest storey and the wall of its antarala front is marked by the basal part of the suka-näsa projected in front of the superstructure, while the prastara of the upper storey on its other three sides carries four karna-kūtas at the four corners and three salds over the middle of the sides and rear, inbetween the karnakūtas there being no scope for a sala on the front side because of the suka-nāsā. The third storey, of lesser width and height, is relieved on all sides except the front, where it is extended into the upper tiers of the šukandsd. These relieved bays contain udgama-motifs as in northern temples. The square sikhara over the griva, following the same scheme of repeatedly-advanced offsetting, as in the storey below, comes to simulate a twelve-ribbed member heralding similar modifications characteristic of the Later Calukyan temples to come. In front of the closed nava-ranga is an open multi-pillared agra-mandapa, the peripheral row of pillars on all sides, except the entrance-bay, connected by kakasanas. Except the two innermost pillars of the peripheral series abutting the nava-ranga 200 Page #341 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CHAPTER 18] THE DECCAN front, all others as well as the four central ones, though of sandstone, are partially 'lathe-turned', anticipating the more completely 'lathe-turned' pillars of schist and soaptone of the Later Calukyas and Hoysalas. 201 K.R. SRINIVASAN Page #342 --------------------------------------------------------------------------  Page #343 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________ CORRIGENDA Oblow ornars have not been included here. Chata a Insert 'w' aftor 'many. Page 14, line 2. Page 64, line 29. Page 67, line 6. Chapter 6 Delete 'ward at the cod. For 'Naminlthy, road "Neminátha'. Chapter 7 Plate 24, caption. For '1', rond '9'. Chapter 8 Page 87, line 13. For 36A', road '37'. Page 89, line 14. For (38A', read '38'. Chapter 9 Page 96, line 27. For 'mentioned', road 'Ajiapandi'. Page 96, line 28. For 'Ajapandi', read mentionod'. Page 96, line 31. For 'Motur', read "Malur". Plate 39A, caption, and page 97, line 7. Por 'Maakulam', read 'Mangulam'. So also on page (xv), line 2. Page 99, line 10. For 'Trinmangalam', road "Tirumangalam'. Page 101, lino 17. Delete 'kaowe' and and insert 'known aa' after 'is'. Page 101, line 27. For 'Corikiyapan', read Codkäy pap'. Chapter 10 Page 116, caption of fig. VIII. lasert 4-6 after 'und'. Chapter 12 Insert "of" after 'pupil'. Page 127, line 27. Chapte 15 Plate 90. Transpose captions of A and B. Chapter 18 Pre 190, last line. For "128", read '124. Page #344 --------------------------------------------------------------------------  Page #345 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- _