Page Text
________________
ध्वजा
closely associated with serpents. (Parshvanath's sign is a snake). Bhagavan Rishabhdev was the originator of farming and its techniques and bull is closely associated with farming. (Rishabhdev's symbol is bull). There is an incident from Bhagavan Neminath's life when he blew a famous conch-shell. (Neminath's symbol is conch-shell).
All the Tirthankars laid emphasis on equality of all life forms. They also practised and promoted compassion for all beings in the animal kingdom. This is reflected in the fact that seventeen out of the twenty four Tirthankars have animals or birds as their symbols.
In this context traditionally it is believed that at the time of annointing during the post-birth celebrations Indra looks for the birth-mark on the right toe of the new born and accordingly declares the symbol of the Tirthankar. There is a mention of this in "Trikalvarti Mahapurush".
In the early period of Jain sculpture these symbols were not carved on the idols. On the ancient sculptures of Maurya and Kushan era from Lohanipur these symbols are not found. This traditon appears to have started later when at some point these symbols began to be carved at the base of the statues. Still a systematic research is needed in this field in order to reveal the themes, and psychological background of these symbols and the virtues of Tirthankars they are related to. The January-February 1990 issue of
Tirthankar (a periodical published from Indore) provides a useful reading on the subject. We have included all these symbols in the page-border in this book.
पद्म सरोवर
WORD 'NATH': A STUDY
समुद्र
A misconception prevails that the suffix Nath' with the names of many Tirthankars is the influence of the Nath' sect of Yogis. It is baseless as the founder of the Nath sect, Matsyendranth belonged to the 800 A.D. The suffix Nath is found in much earlier Jain works like Bhagavati Sutra and Avashyak Sutra. Yati Vrishabhacharya in his Tiloyana Pannats has also used this suffix (400 A.D.). As such it appears that it was Matsyendra who was influenced by the popularity of Neminath and Parshvanath and started using the suffix Nath.
विमानभवन
राशि
निधूम अग्नि
परिशिष्ट ५
(888)
Appendix 5
d
ersomroserom
www.jamembrary.org
| SR No. | 002582 |
| Book Title | Sachitra Tirthankar Charitra |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Amarmuni, Shreechand Surana |
| Publisher | Padma Prakashan |
| Publication Year | 1995 |
| Total Pages | 292 |
| Language | Hindi |
| Classification | Book_Devnagari, History, & Story |
| File Size | 13 MB |