Jain Darshan aur Sanskruti Parishad

SR No.: 010092
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Mohanlal Banthia
Publisher: Mohanlal Banthiya
Publication Year: 1964
Total Pages: 263
Language: Hindi
Classification: Book_Devnagari
File Size: 9 MB

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scholars take this figure as that of a Hindu God, Siva, also called 'Trimirti' (three-beaded), and 'Pasupati" (lord of beasts). It appears that there are not threo, but four faces of this Tapasvia or Sramaņa in samadhi, but only three are visible to us. The celebrated so-called "Lion Capital" (I say $o-called, because it is a Dharma Chakra Capital, and not a lion capital), which crowned the Sarnath copy of Asokan monolithic Pillar, and which now adorns the National Emblem of the Indian Republic, is an instance, where there are four lions facing the four cardinal directions, but only three are visible to the onlooker. There are not only four faces of this ancient Teacher of Ahimsă, if I may be allowed to use this word in that distant context, but there are four animals also, a lion, an elephant, a rhinoceros, and a buffalo. Thus the symbolism of the four faces becomes more intelligible. We see the four faces and four animals in this picture, and we recall the four cardinal directions, the four ethical precepts associated with Lord Pärsvanath and his predecessors, the four degrees of dhyānas, four categories of mabapuruşas, and etc. As if to negate its sivaite character, the artist of Mohenjodaro has not depicted nandi (bull), the dear and tradional mount and emblem of Siva. while all the animals pictured, have a manifest connection with the Jinas, The elephant, the buffalo, and the rhinoceros are, as noted above, the emblems of Ajitanäth, Vasupujya, and Sreyāņšapātha respectively; the lion has a very close relation with Jioas, especially with Mahavira as also with Buddha. But in symbolic scene under discussion, the presence of a lion is perhaps more than incidental. It seems to suggest that in the forest abode of that "Victor' who wears four faces, even a lion becomes affable and non-violent, and there is an ideal peace and co-existence, things which has become so urgent but so scarce in modern times. I venture to make one more suggestion ; the object on the breast of this figure, taken to be a kavacha by Sir Marshall, may be considered as an original form of Srivatsa, a mark traditionally associated with Sitalanath and wbich is usually placed at the breast in tradition.
There is yet another and more important figure, ia the