________________
148
History of Jainism with Special Reference to Mathurā
banker,208 wife of the village headman,209 worker in metal,210 wife of the perfumer,211 daughter of treasurer,212 daughter-in-law of the perfumer,213 son of a vāts7,214 the goldsmith,215 wife of the cotton dealer, 216 son of a gaupti,217 son of a maudgalī,218 wife of the dancer,219 son of a kausiki,220 the member of the committee (gosthi),221 the courtesan,222 etc.
The Jaina community was pious and affluent. The monuments built at Mathurā by the Jaina community provide ample evidence of its religious zeal and affluence.223 The Jainas loved to carve images and erect religious buildings. A Jaina text informs that the citizens of Mathurā and ninety-six villages adjoining this city installed Jaina idols in their houses and court-yards. 224 The Jaina community of Mathurā had a large number of female lay-worshippers who did not lag behind their male counterparts in religious fervour and passion for producing images and religious edifices. The inscriptions exacavated from Kankālī Tīlā are replete with the names of Jaina female lay-worshippers, who made donations in the form of images, devakulas, temples, reservoirs, stone slabs, etc.
208. EI, X, Appendix, no. 41. 209. Ibid., no. 48. 210. Ibid., no. 53. 211. Ibid., no. 68. 212. Ibid., no. 74. 213. Ibid., no. 76. 214. Ibid., no. 93. 215. Ibid., no. 95. 216. MI, p. 47 no. 15. 217. EI, X, Appendix, no. 96. 218. Ibid., no. 97. 219. Ibid., no. 100. 220. Ibid., no. 105. 221. Ibid., no. 53. 222. Ibid., no. 102. 223. JAA, I, p. 52. 224. LDJC, pp. 255, 309.
