Arhat Parshva and Dharnendra Nexus

SR No.: 002108
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: M A Dhaky
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1997
Total Pages: 204
Language: English, Hindi
Classification: Book_English, Articles, History, Art, E000, & E001
File Size: 8 MB

Page 119

Pārsvanātha images in Orissa and Bengal
101
Harmaśrā, Deulbhira (Plate 40), Dharapat, Biharinath and Barjorā (Plate 51) and an unspecified locality (Plate 13)21 in the Bankurā District, Sat Deuliyā (Plate 52) in the Burdwan District, and Pakbirrā (Plates 14, 15, 16, and 18),22 Anai-Jambad (Plate 48), Charrā and Purulia (Plate 50)23 in the Purulia District.
Images of Pārsvanātha, found in Bengal, are known either as seated in yogasana or standing in kāyotsarga. In both versions, the Jina has a lotus placed above the simhāsana. On the pedestal occur a worshipful nāga couple whose coils are often entwined with each other. With rare exceptions, they rise on their tails to flank the legs of the Tirthankara. The nāga holds a jar with his hands and the nägi a stafflike object which may be a musical instrument. By the sides of the nāga couple stand two cămara-bearers on lotus pedestals. On the stele of the Indian Museum image (Plate 44), collected from somewhere in the Bānkurā District, the någa is kneeling but the nägi is standing. The cámara-bearers appear above them. Again, above the camara-bearers are placed two seated worshipful figures. As in other areas, a serpent, with its coils carved on the back-slab, spreads its seven hoods over the head of every specimen of Pārsvanātha image in Bengal. Above the serpent hood is a canopy of tri-linear chatra. On one side of the chatra is depicted a pair of hands beating a drum and on the other another pair sounding cymbals. The corners of the upper part of the stele are occupied by garland-bearing vidyādbaras. The stele is also marked with the caityadruma and flowers. Sometimes a halo is shown behind the head of the Jina as well as those of his attendants. His image (Plate 40), discovered at Deulbhirā, is shown in yogasana on a pedestal which has a lotus marked in its centre. Apart from the two cămara-bearers and the sevenhooded serpent, the Jina is not accompanied by anything else. An unusual image, found at Daksin Barasāt, shows four snakes issuing out of the left and right shoulders of Pārsvanātha. The Jina is further adorned with a vanamālā. At Pakbirrā, a standing image of Pārsvanātha has on its either side two standing Tirthankaras. Placed one above the other, the Tirtharkaras remain unidentified on account of their indistinct cognizances. Occasionally, the planetary divinities were shown on the stele. Reference in this connection may be made to the image-stele (Plate 43) in the Siddheśvara temple at Bahulārā. Two examples, one from Pakbirrā (Plate 47) and the other from Beharasai (Plate 41), also give indications of the presence of the planets at the sides of Pārsvanātha. Cauvisi-stelae with Pārsvanātha as the mülanāyaka were also produced in Bengal. On three such stelae, one at Anai-Jambad (Plate 48), the second at Suisā, and the third, lying in three fragments, at Pāresnāth, the miniature figures of the standing Tirthankaras are arranged in two parallel rows on either side of the