Jaina Iconography

SR No.: 011018
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: B Bhattacharya
Publisher: Motilal Banarasidas
Publication Year: 1974
Total Pages: 247
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 17 MB

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most of them bear inscriptions. On a few of these ārāgapallas, the figure of Tīrtharikara is shown in the centre. These stone tablets are assignable to a period between the 1st century B.C. and the 2nd century A.D.
The Jūnāgarh inscription of the grandson of Jayadāman datable to the middle of the 2nd century A.D., contains an important reference to Jaina monks who had attained perfect knowledge.
The widc popularity of Jainism during the reign of the Guptas is borne out by the discovery of several epigraphs and images. The Udaigiri cave inscription of the reign of Kunāragupta I refers to the construction of an image of Jineśvara Pāríva. nātha. The Kahaum stone pillar inscription of the time of Skandagupta mcntions an endowment in favour of Jainism, and the installation of five sculptures of the Tirthankaras in the niches of a pillar of stone. Several images of the Jaina divinities fashioned during the Gupta rulc, arc displayed in the State Museum, Lucknow, Mathura Museum and other museums of the country.
In the seventh century, Jainism was prevalent all over India as a fully developed religion. Bāṇabhatļa mentions the Jainas along with Ārhatas, Maskaris, Varņīs, Bhāgavatas, Pañcarātrikas, Lokāyatikas, Paurāņikas, adepts in grammar, ascetics who shaved their hair, ascctics who studied dhātuvāda, law books and sacrificial lore and ascetics who followed the tenets of Kapila, Kaņāda, Upanişads and Nyāya.' Yuan Chwang had seen the followers of both Diganbara and Svetāmbara sccts of Jainism at Taxilā in the west and at Vipula in the east.
An excellent image of Lord Pārsvanātha originally enshrined in a Jaina temple at Gyāraspur near Bhilsā is now displayed in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. The image shows the great master seated beneath the Dhālaki tree practising the 'exposure to all weathers' austerity when Meghakumāra (Cloud Prince) attacked him with a great storm. The serpent king, the Nāga Dharanendra, spreads his hoods above Pārsvanātha's head and his consort, the Nāgani Padmāvatī, holds an
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Harsacharita, VIII, pp. 236-37.