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66 JAINA ARCHAEOLOGICAL HERITAGE OF TAMILNADU
increase in the number of bronzes after 16th cent. A.D. Though, Tirthankaras are mostly depicted in seated form in stone; the bronze images portray them always in standing posture.
The study unfolds, that the earliest known bronze image of Tirthankara in Tamilnadu is that of Parsvanatha dated to 8th cent.A.D., now under display in the Madras Museum. Among the Tirthankaras, Rishabanatha was often illustrated on bronze. This indirectly shows the popularity of the worship of Rishabanatha among the Jains. Similarly, among the yakshas, Dharanendra was most popular; likewise, among the yakshis, the worship of Padmavati, Ambika and Jvalamalini was very common in Tamilnadu. The earliest known yaksha in the form of a bronze image is that of Sarvahna dated to 13th cent.A.D. found at Tirunarungondai. From the same place, we have the earliest known metal cast of Ambika yakshi dated to 10th cent.A.D. It may not be out of context to mention here, that the occurrence of numerous bronze images of yakshis reveals the wide popularity of their cults in late medieval times, similar to the proliferation of Amman cult in Brahmanical religion. Very likely, the yakshi cult served as a catalyst to the growth of Jainism in Tamilnadu.
REFERENCES
1. P.B. Desai, Jainism in South India and Some Jaina Epigraphs, pp. 25-27.
2. ARE 388 - A of 1914; 297 of 1963-64
3. Ibid; I.Mahadevan, Corpus of the Tamil Brahmi Inscriptions, Mangulam, 1,2,3; Express Magazine 6-12-1961; T.V.Mahalingam, Early South Indian Palaeography, pp.288-289.
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