Jaina Art and Architecture Vol 03

SR No.: 011014
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: A Ghosh
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith
Publication Year: 1975
Total Pages: 403
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 25 MB

Page 184

CHAPTER 35)
ICONOGRAPHY
in the Bharata-kşetra. This last list, being common to both the Digambara and the Svetambara sects, was evolved before the Digambara-Svetämbara differences were aggravated in the fifth century.
The Jainas have assigned the spirits connected with the tree-worship to the class of Vyantara gods. The Vyantaras are subdivided into eight groups, Pisacas, Bhutas, Yaksas, Rākṣasas, Kinnaras, Kimpurusas, Mahoragas (Nagas) and Gandharvas. Each group has on its crest the symbol (of a tree) in the following order-the kadamba, sulasa, vata, khatvänga, aśoka, campaka, naga and tumburu according to the Svetambara tradition. The Digambara list substitutes the badari-tree for the khatvänga. Khatvanga alone does not seem to be a tree in the Svetämbara list.
The Sthananga-sütra gives a list of caitya-trees worshipped by the ten classes of Bhavanavasi gods; a different list is supplied by the Tiloya-pannatti. This signifies the association of caitya-tree or the tree-cult with the area of Jaina shrines.
Along with the conception of caitya-trees may be noted the conceptions of the Tree of Life and the Wish-fulfilling Tree (kalpa-druma) in Brahmanical and Buddhist texts. Jaina texts also speak of ten kalpa-drumas. These are described in detail in the Jambudvipa-prajñapti. Hemacandra describes ten kinds of kalpa-trees in the Uttarakurus as follows: The ten kinds of wishingtrees, madyangas, etc., always give to people whatever they desire without effort on their part. Among these, the madyangas give wine, the bhrigas dishes, the turyangas choice musical instruments... The dipa-fikhās and jyotiskas give wonderful light, the citrängas furnish ornaments, the citrarasas, in turn, food. The manyangas furnish ornaments, the gehakäras houses and the anangas various kinds of divine apparel."
1 Samavaydiga-sätra, 159, samavdya, p. 152. Also see Jivajivddhigama-sutra, sūtra 127, p. 125, and sutra 142, p. 251, for caltya-trees.
2 Ramachandran, op. cit., pp. 192 ff., gives a list of caitya-trees of all the Jinas of this age which seems to be incorrect. For Digambara lists, see Pratisthd-sároddhara, 4, 106, p. 101; Tiloya-pannatti, 4, 916-13, 1, p. 264.
• For lists of both the traditions with sources, see Kierfel, Die Kosmographie der Inder pp. 273 ff.
• Sthänänga-sütra, 10, 3, sutra 766, II, p. 487. The commentator says that these trees were worshipped near the Siddhayatanas.
Tiloya-pampatti, 3,136, I, p. 128.
• Especially see A.K. Coomaraswamy, Elements of Buddhist Iconography, Cambridge, Mass.,
1935.
• Jambudvipa-prajnapti, 20, pp. 99 ff; also see Pravacana-sároddhára, 1067-70, p. 314; Hari-vanda of Jinasena, I, pp. 146-47.
• Trisasti-baldka-purusa-carlid, I (Gaekwad Oriental Series), tr. Helen Johnson, pp. 29-30.
487,