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SOME NOTABLE ŚVETĀMBARA JAINA BRONZES
(Late) Umakant Premanand Shah
The first example to be discussed in this paper (Plate 1) is one of the most beautiful pre-medieval brass images of Jina Rşabha, sitting as the Jina does on a stuffed silverstudded masüraka-cushion placed above a lotus which in turn rests on a simhasana, all elegantly carved. It is in the Jaina temple at Gănghāni, situated about 45 km. from Jodhpur in Rajasthan. The cloth hanging in the centre of the image's simhāsana has lively figures of hamsas placed within small roundels, while the pedestal below has also boldly carved floral and creeper designs. Springing from the two sides of the simhasana are two open lotuses on which once were sitted figures of the Yaksa and the Yaksi which could not be recovered when this bronze was dug out from the site of the older Jaina shrine. The inscription on the back, dated in Samvat 937/A. D. 880, further informs that it was also embellished with a torana. The inscription' thus reads: line 1 . Om navasu sateşvabdānām saptatȚm(trim)
sadadhikesvatīteşu Śri-Vaccha-Längalībhyām jyesthāryābhyām line 2 - paramabhaktyā || Nābheya-Jinasyeşā || pratima" āsādhārdha-māsa
nispannā śrīma. line 3 - ttorana-kalita | moksārtham kāritā tābhyām ll jyeșthāryāpadam prāptau
dvāvapi Jinadharma-vacchalau khyātau | Udyotanasūre-stau! śisyau Śrī
Vaccha-Baladevau line 4 - Sam. 937 Aşādhārdhe 11 "Om. In the year nine hundered and thirty-seven, by Śrī Vatsa and Lāngalī, the two senior āryās (nuns), was this image of Nābheya Jina (Rsabha) made together with a torana (and) with deep devotion and for (attaining) liberation (from the transmigratory cycle). The two disciples of Udyotana sūri (who are) devoted to the jina-dharma, (by name) Śrī Vatsa and Paladeva, also obtained (the status of) senior monkhood. Sarvat 937, half of the month of Āsādha." The second illustration (Plate 2) represents an exquisite and an elaborately decorated bronze of an unidentified Tirtharkara which was in worship on Mt. Satruñjaya”. (For its safety, it has been, for some years past, kept locked in a safe). In the centre of the bronze is a larger figure of a Jina in padmasana, while above are three smaller Jina figures in padmāsana and in dhyāna-mudra. So, this represents a rare piece illustrating the depiction of four Tirthankara figures in the composition. The heavenly drumbeaters, other musicians, and garland-bearing vidyādharas are placed in a sort of an oval frame while the Jina sits under an undulating makara-torana. This torana and
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Vol. III, 1997-2002
Some Notable Svetāmbara Jaina Bronzes
67
the placing of the two standing camaradharas on lotuses suggest the influence of Karņāta, though the rendering of the Jina figures, and especially the figures of the Sarvāṇha Yakṣa and the Ambika Yakṣī, suggest that this is a bronze reflecting also the Gurjara-Pratīhāra art produced probably in Lāta or Southern Gujarat in c. ninth century A. D. (I am thankful to late Sheth Kasturbhai Laibhai for giving this photograph to me. [The photography was done by Shri Amritlal Trivedi-Editors.] A few years ago, a dated Jaina brass image (Plate 3) was dug out while carrying out reparation in the compound of the Pārsvanātha temple at Broach (ancient Bharukaccha, Bhrgukaccha) in the temple complex of the ancient Munisuvrata-svāmi temple. The image was kept in the adjoining temple of Munisuvrata, otherwise known as Sakunikāvihāra-tīrtha. Since the whole temple complex is currently being rebuilt from the foundation upwards, the bronze has been temporarily shifted and worshipped in the neighbourly Ajitanātha Jaina temple. The image, has an inscription at the back (Plate 4) which reads :
line 1. Om Nagendra kule Sri Vijayatungācā. line 2 - ryya gacche Acchuptā ganinya devadharmmoline 3 - yam Saka Samvat 930 || 0 || 1!
line 4 - Govindena ghațiteyam In translation: "Om. This is the religious gift of Gaņinī Acchuptă of śri Vijayatungācārya-gaccha. Śaka Year 930 (A. D. 1008). The image has been fashioned by Govinda." In this example, we get the name of the artist who cast and fashioned this elegant bronze. The image shows a central contemplative Jina figure wearing a loin garment sitting in the padmasana on a silver studded cushion placed on a simhasana with an inverted viśva-padma on top. A standing Tirthankara wearing a dhoti flanks on either side of the central Jina. And flanking each of these two Jinas is a camaradhara standing on a lotus. On a lower level, but still placed on the pedestal, is the twoarmed Sarvānubhūti alias Sarvāṇha Yaksa sitting in front of the flywhisk-bearer on the right and a two-armed Yaksī Ambikā in front of the flywhisk-bearer on the left side. Celestial garland-bearers and other prātiharyas can be discerned at the top on the flanks of the decorated halo as well as the triple umbrella of the central Jina. The rendering of the elegantly postured camaradharas, standing as they do in tribhanga, the equipoised and well-proportioned body of the central Jina, the artistically rendered back-seat and the halo etc. consequence in an arresting composition and thus is a fine example of the art of metal sculpting. Very probably, the image was fashioned in Bharuch itself where it seems to have been originally installed. The image is well-preserved, excepting for a little minor damage. The faces of some of the figures are partially worn out due to daily lustral ceremony and cleansing
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68
Umakant Premanand Shah
Nirgrantha
during worship for the past several centuries before it was buried. From the upper part of the pedestal up to the top of the image, the various figures and decorative elements are so arranged that the total composition takes the shape of a triangle (Plate 3). Following this general pattern of composition, the artists who rendered similar other images have generated differing visual configurations with almost the same number of figures arranged, of course in a slightly differing manner. The Jainas of Western India, especially the Svetāmbaras, were fond of worshipping excellently wrought tritīrthika (jinatraya) brass images as is evidenced by the examples from the Vasantagadh hoard I published in the Lalit Kala Nos. 1-2 (here Plate 5) and from the Akotā hoard I published in the Akota Bronzes (here Plate 6, Fig. 25 from Akoţă hoards; Fig.4 there is dated in Kalacuri Samvat 426/.A. D. 704 according to D. C. Sircar and in V.S. 756/A. D. 699 according to another view). One other tritirthi from the Säntinātha temple, Aliāpādā, Cambay, is illustrated in Plate 7. The inscription at the back is largely defaced but the characters of the inscription can be recognized as Nāgarī of the 11th century A. D. In this case, too, on account of the daily lustral ceremony and the cleaning with hard metallic brush, the facial features of the figures are worn out; moreover, someone later has done incisions to create the eyes, nose, face etc. of various figures. (A similar instance of a brass image, this one is ekatirthika, much defaced and later retooled, is encountered in the Ghoghā hoard (Plate 8). It has a partly defaced inscription at the back, dated in the Samvat year 1010/A. D. 953, and reads ".....Viradevasya."*)
In ancient times, Bhrgukaccha was a flourishing port on the Narmadā river on the west coast. It was a centre of commerce, art, and culture and continued to be so for long centuries. In Śaka year 910, i.e. 20 years before the metal image just discussed, another equally beautiful metal sculpture was cast and installed there. The bronze was in a Jaina institution in Kadi, North Gujarat, when it was noticed by me in the Akotā Bronzes, and currently it is exhibited in the Los Angeles County Museum in U.S.A. The inscription at the back of that image reads :
line 1 . Om åsin Nāgendra-kule Lakşmaņasūri-rnitāntasäntaline 2 • matiḥ tadgacche gururabhavannämnăsīt silabhadraganih line 3 • śisyena Mūlavasatau Jinatrayam-akārayata Bhrguline 4 · kacche tadiyena Pārsvilla-ganiņā varaṁ Śaka Sam
line 5 . vat 910. "Om. In the Nägendra Kula flourished Laksmana sūri whose mind had attained profound peace. In his gaccha-lineage was a teacher named Silabhadra by whose disciple (called) Pārsvilla gani was got made this beautiful (varam) Jinatraya (image) (set up) in the (shrine called) Mūla-vasati (situated in the city of) Bhrgukaccha. Saka year 910/A. D. 988." In this brass image, instead of two standing camaradharas, we
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Pl. 1.
Gānghānī, Brass image of Jina Rsabha. S. 937/A. D. 881.
0
136
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Pl. 2.
Satruñjaya. Bronze image of an unidentified Tirthankara in padmāsana, c. 9th cent. A. D.
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Pl. 3.
Broach (Bharuch). Ajitanātha temple. A dated Jaina Brass image of Saka year 930/A. D. 1008, installed by Acchuptā ganini of the Vijayatungacārya-gaccha in Nāgendra kula.
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यामागेर कुलगलिगबगाराम शाजनमा तिमायवतमा शकर (३३॥
गधार
में पारित
Pl. 4.
Broach. Ajitnātha temple. same image, inscription at the back.
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8848
Oduso
G
MOM
Pl. 6. Akoṭā. Tri-Tirthi brass image of Pārsvanatha,
Jain Education errAionD. 699 or 704.
S
and Diature Collory
Paroda)
Pl. 5. Vasantagadh. Inscribed Jina bronze, c. 7th-8th cent. A. D.
www.brary.org
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Pl. 7.
Cambay. Tri-Tirthi, śāntinātha temple, Aliāpādā, c. 11th cent. A. D.
Ghoghā. Ekatīrthika Jina image, S. 1009/A. D. 953.
PL 8.
For Private
Personal Use Only
www.nelibrary.org
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________________ Vol. III, 1997-2002 Some Notable svetambara Jaina Bronzes 69 meet with two standing goddesses. The one on the left side of the Jinas is easily identified as Vidyadevi Vairoty, with a snake-hood over her crown and carrying the sword, the snake and the shield in her three hands. The symbol of the left lower hand is not clear. The goddess standing on the right side of the Jinas carries the lotus (?) in each of the two upper hands. The symbol held in her right lower hand looks like a cakra and it is possible that the symbols in the two upper hands were also meant to represent the cakras. In that case the goddess may be identified as Vidyadevi Apraticakra. (For illustrations of the bronze and its inscription, see my Akota Bronzes, Bombay 1959, plates 56 a and 77 c.) Annotations : 1. The inscription earlier was published by Puran Chandra Nahar in Jaina Inscriptions, Part II,, Calcutta 1927. 2. The image partially appears (as Fig.5) in Ambalal Premchand Shah, "Some Inscriptions and Images on Mount Satrunjaya," English Section, Shri Mahavir Jaina Vidyalaya Golden Jubilee Volume, Pt.1, Bombay 1968. 3. U. P. Shah, Akota Bronzes, Bombay 1955. * For the illustration, see Lalit Kumar, "Some Jaina Metal Images from an Unpublished Gogha Hoard," Nirgrantha, Vol II, Ahmedabad 1996, Plate 1. [Editors). 4. The inscription had been published and discussed by Pt. Lalchanda Gandhi : Cf. his "Sakasamvat 910-ni Gujarat-ni Manohara Jaina Pratima" (Gujarati), Aitihasika Lekha-sanigraha, Vadodara 1963, pp. 326-330.