Glimpses of Jaina Vestiges in Andhradesa

SR No.: 269020
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: H Sarkar
Publisher: Z_Nirgrantha_1_022701.pdf and Nirgrantha_2_022702.pdf and Nirgrantha_3_022703.pdf
Publication Year: 1996
Total Pages: 8
Language: English
Classification: Article & 0_not_categorized
File Size: 2 MB

Page 4

H. Sarkar
Nirgrantha
also, and here one finds rock shelters of the type common in the Coromondal coastal area. On the Guru-Bhatakonda (Gurubhakta hill), about a kilometer away from Råmatīrtham proper, a large boulder of overhanging rock forms a natural cave. A seated figure of Tirthańkara is carved on a slab, now broken into two pieces. Rea identifies it as the ninth Tirthankara Suvidhinātha or Puspadanta, because of the presence of makara carved on the pedestal"3. It is said that Gunaga Vijayaditya, the ruler of Vengī, was for some time a feudatory of the Răstrakūta monarch Amoghavarşa (814-878) and Jainism had received a strong fillip under his patronage. He treated all creeds with equal respect and he imbibed in himself what was best in Brahmanism and Jainism. Be that as may have been, apart from Jina figures standing in the käyotsarga pose, one of them being Pārsvanatha with the snake-hood over the head, there are seated Tirthankara images of Rrsabhanātha with bull as the insignia on the pedestal, next Padmaprabha and others. Most probably the Jaina establishment at Ramatirtham originally had the figures of all the 24 Tīrthankaras. Many Jaina sites in the coastal tracts were situated close to the deserted Buddhist establishments. Mutilated or discarded figures of Tirthankaras have been seen at Amarāvatī, Gudivāda, Bāptļă, Nāgārjunakonda, Tenali, Dharmavaram, and so forth. On the Nägarjunakonda hill there are two Jaina temples, the superstructures of which are now lost. Built of dry stone masonry they may be dated to circa the 14th century. Two mutilated figures of Tirthańkaras in black stone are also ascribable to the same period. One of the temples has a pedestal bearing the figures of two stylized lions, flanking a leonine figure; perhaps the pedestal belonged to Vardhamāna. Simultaneously, with the introduction of stone sculptures and Jaina shrines, one finds the use of metal sculptures as is attested by the discovery of hoards at Baptlā, in District Guntur, and Mediconda in District Mehboonagar. U.P. Shah has published photographs of several of the metal images including those from Lingasoor (Lingasūr) in District Raichur'. One of the bronzes from Lingasoor (no. 16 of Shah), has been dated by him to the sixth century; however, it will be safer to date it to the ninth on stylistic considerations. Shah dates some of the Bāpțlā images (his nos. 17-19) to the seventh or eighth century though they may in reality be ascribed to the tenth. Most of the Mediconda images (nos. 23, 3132, 45, 47-51 of Shah) are ascribable to the 12th century. The image from Buddhapāda, also published by Shah (his no. 62), is an example of the tenth or the 11th century. An interesting feature of these bronzes is their affinity with a strain of the northern tradition. One notices the same northern features in the rock carvings (Plate 5 and 6) from Hanamkonda (Anamkonda) in District Warangal. These rock-cut Tīrthankara figures may be dated to the 11th century and may have come into existence during the Later Cālukyan rule over the Warangal area. Kulpāk, ancient Kollipākkai, which