Early History of Orissa

SR No.: 006922
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Amarchand Mittal
Publisher: Jain Cultural Research Society
Publication Year: 1957
Total Pages: 506
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 9 MB

Page 409

384
AN EARLY HISTORY OF ORISSA
and reflecting that Neminātha had taken the vow in early life, he also decided to abandon the world forthwith and became an ascetic. In the course of his preaching tour, he visited Pauņdra, Tāmralipta and Nāgpuri, where many became his disciples, and finally he attained nirvana on mount Sammeta-shikhara which has been identified with the modern Pārsvanātha hill in Bihar. The Kalpasútra, a work of about the fifth century A. D., contains no reference to the seige and relief of Kuśasthala or to the names of places visited by Pārsva, but otherwise it agrees with the mediaeval accounts. . .
The mediaeval Jaina legends thus connect Pārśva with Eastern India, including Kalinga. May we presume then that the reliefs in the Rāni Gumphā depict the episodes of Pārsvanātha's marriage and renunciation ? If so, the elephant scene would be associated with Orissa, the country of the Rājā of Kalinga, who, in the next scene, abducts the princess Prabhāvati ; in the fourth scene the princess is rescued by Pāráva while hunting in a forest ; the following scene depicts the wedding feast; the seventh, the consummation of marriage ; and the eighth, a march with elephants. Similarly, the friezes in the lower wing may represent Pārsva as a Tirthankara, his wanderings and the honours shown to him, for it is but natural that Jainas would have carved episodes of the life of their venerable saint in their caves.
The Ganesa Cave.
Other monasteries on this site, treated in much the same manner as the preceding but simpler in formation, are the Ganesa and the Jayavijaya. The former displays
1. The Editor of the Distt. Gaz., Puri, ascribes these episodes to the life of Rama, the hero of Rāmāyaṇa,