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

Page 144

Iconography of 24 Tirtharkaras
131 on simhāsanas and identified as Ajitanåtha and Sambhavanātha on the basis of small figures of their lañchanas shown on the ends of decorated cloth hanging from the top of the simhāsanas.
For a Dvi-Tirthi of Ajita and Sambhava from Karitalai in Raipur Museum, Madhya Pradesh, see JAA, Vol. III, plate 373B.
In the Nagpur Museum is a stone sculpture with full parikara representing Ajitanätha sitting in padmāsana on a simhāsana. On the hanging end of the cloth on which the Jina is sitting is shown the gaja-lāñchana of Ajitanatha. On the right end of the simhäsana is a two-armed yakşi showing the abhaya mudrā with her right hand and carrying the kalasa in her left hand. On the corresponding left end is a two-armed pot-bellied yaksa with the citron in his right hand. The symbol of the left hand is mutilated. The sculpture dates from c. 10th cent. A.D. and hails from some part of Maharashtra.
In Gujarat and Rajasthan, Ajitanātha was also worshipped in stone and metal images. The National Museum, New Delhi, has a metal image, No. 48.4/19, which shows Ajitanātha sitting on a cushioned lion-throne mounted on a terraced pedestal. The deity is flanked by two seated and two standing Tirthankaras and an attendant on either side. The śāsana yakşa Mahāyakşa and the yaksi Ajitabalā are shown on the pedestal. The inscription on the back of the image is dated in Somyat 1471 -A.D. 1414.
However a bigger and beautiful earlier metal sculpture of Ajitanaca is preserved in a Svetāmbara Jaina shrine in Ahmedabad. The Jina stands under an arch supported by two long pillars. Near the legs of the Jina are the two camaradharas. The lanchana as well as the yakşa-yakşi are not shown but the inscription on the pedestal identifies the Jina as Ajitanatha, installed in Samvat 1110 A.D. 1053. First published by N.C. Mehta, 62 this beautiful brass or bronze image is a typical example of the metal art of the period.
In the Pārsvanātha temple at Kumbharia is a beautiful big stone sculpture of Ajitanātha standing on a pedestal with the elephant shown as his cognizance. No yakşa-yakşi are depicted but on the toranastambhas on two sides of the Jina are shown, in separate compartments, the Vidyādevis Apraticakra, Purusadatta. Mahäkāli, Vajraísokhala, Vajrānkuśā, Rohiņi and a goddess which looks like the Santi-devi but which may also be one of the Vidyadevis.
In the sanctum of Mahavira temple, Kumbharia, North Gujarat, are two large saparikara images of Tirthańkaras placed against the south wall; both are standing in the kāyotsarga mudra, one is Såntinātha with the deer lañchana while the other is Ajitanātha with the elephant as his cognizance. Both the images are dated in Samvat 1118=A.D. 1061.
According to inscription no. 8, published by Muni Viśālavijaya in his Gujarati book entitled Sri Kumbhariaji Tirtha, a pair of standing Ajitanätha images was installed in the Neminātha shrine at Kumbharia in Samvat 1314-A.D. 1257 (inscribed on the sculpture showing this pair).
In the devakulikā to the left as you enter the shrine of Neminätha at Kumbharia there is a saparikara image of Ajitanātha enshrined in v.s. 1335A.D. 1278 according to an inscription on the image (Inscr. no. 10 in Sri Kumbhāriäji Tirtha, p. 25).
In cell no. 37 of the Lunavasahikā, Delvada, Mt. Abu, was installed an image of Ajitanātha by merchant Khetala in v.s. 1287 = A.D. 1230 (Insc. no. 343 at Abu).03 According to Inscr. no. 142 at Abu, an image of Ajitanātha was installed in cell no. 42 of Vimala Vasahi, Abu, by Devacandra süri, pupil of Yaśodeva sūri in Samvat 1245=A.D. 1188.
Kumarapāla built a big shrine dedicated to Ajitanātha, on the Tarangā hill in Gujarat. The shrine is still standing though the main image in the sanctum was destroyed and later another image had to be installed. Inside the garbhagha of this temple is a colossal white marble image of Ajitanatha sitting in the padmāsana, dhyana mudrā; the image was consecrated in A.D. 1422 by one Govinda probably after the original was desecrated by Muslims. On two sides of the mūlanayaka and placed against the north and south walls are two images in white marble of standing Jinas, dated 1297 A.D., brought from a nearby village. The garbhagıha also contains two small images of Ajitanatha, one of 1247 A.D. and the other of 1248 A.D.
Ajitanātha was worshipped at Satrunjaya also. According to inscription no. 141, in deri (cell, devakulikā) no. 884/34, on the Mt. Satruñjaya,64 an image of Ajitanātha was installed in Samvat 1675=A.D.