Encyclopaedia of Jaina Studies Vol 01 Jaina Art and Architecture

SR No.: 006774
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Sagarmal Jain, Others
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith
Publication Year: 2010
Total Pages: 726
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 51 MB

Page 355

Other Jaina Gods and Goddesses
features of Kṣetrapala are enunciated mainly in the Śvetambara texts, yet his representations are found more at the Digambara Jaina sites, namely Deogadh, Khajuraho, Gandhavala, Gwalior (rock-cut Jaina caves of 14th 15th century A.D. It is interesting to find the rendering of the figures of Sarasvati and Kṣetrapala outside the Gwalior caves in majority of the caves.) and Ujjain, Jaina Archaeological Museum Jaisinghpur, (Acc. No. 36). In all the examples, Kṣetrapala, accompanied by dog mount, holds a chain to which the dog is fastened. In one example of Mahavira image from Ashavakhera (Etawa, U.P.), the figure of twoarmed naked Kṣetrapala is carved on the pedestal wherein he holds club and chain and is accompanied as usual by dog. The present figure of A.D. 1166 is now in the State Museum, Lucknow (Acc. No. 782). At Deogadh (six figures) and Khajuraho (four figures) Kṣetrapala is either four-armed or eight-armed. In one example of Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain Museum, Khajuraho he is ten armed. These figures, datable between 11th 12th century A.D., represent him both naked and drapped. The figure carved on the adhiṣṭhāna of the Adinatha temple of Khajuraho (11th century A.D.) depicts Kṣetrapala in lalitäsana with dog mount and as holding club, mongoose-skin purse (nakulaka), snake and fruit. In some examples from Khajuraho, the mount is a lion and Kṣetrapala, in place of frightful appearance, has a benign appearance. One figure carved in the Santinatha temple represents Kṣetrapāla as dancing and the inscription on the pedestal gives the name 'Candakama'.
The examples from Deogadh (Temple nos. 4 and 1) show the four-armed Kṣetrapala with dog as mount and chain, club, staff (or snake) and water-vessel (or damarü) as attributes (Pl. 231). An image of fourarmed Kṣetrapala standing nude is also carved in the Gwalior cave of c. 14th century A.D. The figure here shows mace, damaru, shield and chain. The mount dog as usual is fastened to the chain. The iconographic features both on the basis of the texts and the actual representations distinctly suggest the bearing of
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Brahamanical Bhairava and Niṛrtti on Jaina Kṣetrapala. HARINEGAMEŞI OR NAIGAMESA
Harinegameși or Naigameșa is represented in Jaina religious art as a male deity either with the head of a ram or a goat or even an antelope. In Jaina tradition Naigameșa is described as the divine Commander of the infantry of the army of Indra. He was called by Indra (Sakra) to make the transfer of the embryo of Mahāvīra from the womb of the Brahmani Devanandā to that of Kṣatriyani Trisala. Interestingly, a carved relief of Kuṣaṇa period has been procured from the Kankali Tīlā, Mathura, which has the inscription Bhagavā Nemeso (the worshipful Nemesa). It depicts on its obverse a goat-faced deity seated on a pedestal. On the left of the deity there are three female figures along with a nude boy (taken to would be Mahāvīra). Bühler has rightly suggested that the goat-faced figure was the deity called Harinegameși in the Kalpasutra, Naigameşin in the Neminathacaritra and Naigameya in other works (Epigraphia Indica, Vol. II, p. 134). The Kalpasūtra, Neminathacaritra and Antagadadasão entrust Harinegameşi with the power of granting the boon of child-birth. He is known to have two aspects, one benevolent and the other malevolent. It has been suggested that the conception of Naigameși was also related with the mythology of Dakṣa-Prajapati having goat-face and his association with the work of creation and procreation.
Besides narrative relief, the Kankali Tīlā has also yielded a number of other independent Kuṣāna sculptures which depict goat-faced male or female deity with the child on their shoulders or even in the arms. Surprisingly we do not find any sculpture of Naigameși datable to post-Kuṣaṇa period, which suggests that the popularity of Naigameși after the Kuṣaṇa period went into oblivion. AŞTADIKPALAS
The Dikpalas or Lokapālas, the guardian deities of the quarters, were held in veneration in Brahmanical as well as Jaina cults since remote past. In Puranic literature and other works their usual number is eight, hence they are called Aṣṭadikpälas. They, with their