Jain Rup Mandan

SR No.: 001961
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Umakant P Shah
Publisher: Abhinav Publications
Publication Year: 1987
Total Pages: 466
Language: English
Classification: Book_English & Art
File Size: 27 MB

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88
Jaina-Rupa-Manḍana
with his Kevalajñāna. But it seems that, when the asta-mahapratihāryas common to all Tirthankaras were fixed, it was the Aśoka-tree which came to be represented as the Caitya-vṛksa over the heads of all the Jinas, so far as image worship is concerned. We must confess, however, that we have not tried to verify in cases of several old Tirthankara sculptures from north and south whether specific Caitya-vrkṣas were ever carved associated with different Jinas.
Tree-worship, popular in ancient times, noticed in the Vedas, found to have existed in the Chalcolithic period (as can be seen from representations on some of the Indus-Valley seals), formed an important part of the religious beliefs and practices of the masses with whom Buddha and Mahavira were mainly concerned in their opposition to the Vedic priestly class and its rituals involving animal-slaughter. The spirits dwelling in the trees were Nagas, Yaksas, Gandharvas, Bhutas etc.,38 easily approachable without undertaking complex sacrificial rituals. It is the Caityas, with udyānas (parks and forest-groves) having Caitya-vykṣas in them, that Mahavira is generally reported to have visited and stayed in during his wanderings. People used to sit in meditation under such trees and in such moments Buddha and Mahāvīra are said to have obtained enlightenment.39
Since the Buddha was not represented in human form in early Buddhist worship, Rodhi-Tree attained greater importance in Buddhist art, while the Jainas were more or less satisfed with recording of the Caitya-trees of different Tirthankaras and giving them only a secondary importance in art. Possibly on account of its age-long existence as an object of worship (not only in India but even amongst other countries and cultures-cf., for example, the tradition of the Christmas Tree), the Caitya-vrksa was introduced in relief sculptures of Tirthankaras, sometimes by showing well spread full foliage and at other times by showing a couple of twigs or branches with a few leaves. Also perhaps because of the intimate association of Yakṣas etc. with trees and because the followers of Mahavira were mainly from his audience of masses worshipping the Yaksa-Caityas or Yakṣa-ayatanas, Caitya-vrksas were introduced in sculptures of the Devadhideva-Tirthankara. But the Jainas and the Buddhists gave a new meaning to the Tree-Worship. Trees were worshipped, not because they were haunted by spirits, but specially because their patriarchs obtained enlightenment under shades of such trees.
That the Caitya-tree was given importance due to the ancient and primitive Tree-Cult of the masses is proved by the fact that even now, in the villages and towns of India, trees like the Asvattha tree or the Vata tree are held very sacred and worshipped. Often, as of old, there is a wide big platform constructed around it which is used by villagers as a meeting place. Also, in both north and south of India one finds small idols or figures of horses etc. placed under such trees near the trunks. As already noted, in some relief sculptures of Tirthankaras, Caitya-trees under which they sit are prominently depicted. Compare, for example, the beautiful rock-cut relief of a Jina sitting under a big Caitya-vrkṣa, at Kalugumalai, illustrated by this writer in his Studies in Jaina Art, figure 72; figure 73 (in the same book) is another similar example, from Patan, North Gujarat, of a big Caitya-tree, while figure 75 is another such evidence from Surat.
With the introduction of the lañchanas on pedestals of sculptures of different Jinas the Caitya-vykṣas have lost much of their value in identifying images of different Tirthankaras. A list of Caitya-trees of the 24 Tirthankaras of this avasarpiņi ārā in the Bharata Kṣetra is given below.
41.
The parikara or the paraphernalia of a Jina or the group of attendant figures on a Jina image was evolved gradually. No. J.60 in the Lucknow Museum, originally from Kankali Tila, Mathura, shows on each side of the Jina an attendant with folded hands and not a flywhisk-bearer (camaradhara) yakṣa. No. J.7, Lucknow Museum, representing a standing Jina from Kankali Tila, Mathura, and dating from the Kuşaṇa period, has a big tree carved on the back and, on four sides below, near the legs, we find figures of a monk, a nun, a male worshipper (śrävaka) and a female worshipper (śrävika) with a child. No. 161 in the Bharata Kala Bhavana, representing Mahavira, from Varanasi, is a beautiful Jaina sculpture of the Gupta period, which again does not show the triple umbrella, or the heavenly music, the devadundubhi, etc. Such examples demonstrate the gradual introduction of the various members of the parikara on a Jina image. Perhaps the parikara with aṣṭamahapratihāryas was evolved in about sixth century A.D., as is suggested by a beautiful sculpture of Pārsvanatha from Gyaraspur in Madhya Pradesh, now preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.40