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Exemplars of Anekānta and Ahimsā: The Case of the Early Jains of Mathura
in Art and Epigraphy SONYA R. QUINTANILLA University of California, Irvine
The earliest surviving representations of Jain monks in art are found in the stone sculptures produced as early as the second century B.C.E. at Mathura, a city located about one hundred miles southeast of Delhi. The Jain monks depicted in these early works belonged to a special sect, whose members can be identified by the broad piece of pleated cloth draped over the left forearms of the otherwise nude monks. (See especially Figures 2, 4, 6, 10, 12, and 14)." In inscriptions carved on works of art in which these monks appear, they called themselves nirgranthas,' a term found
All figures referred to in the text appear at the end of the article, pp. 133-142. 'An example of an inscription in which the term Nirgrantha occurs is on a stone plaque carved with two flying Ardhaphalaka monks venerating a stupa (Figures 5 and 6). It reads as follows: 1. namo ārahato vardhamanasa ādave ganika2. ye lonasohhikaye dhitu śramanasdvikaye 3. nädaye ganikaye vasuye drahato deviksulla 4. ayāgasabha prapa śil[a]pato patisth[a]pito nigatha5. nasm) ārahatāyātane sah[a] malare bhaginiye dhitare putrena 6. sarvena ca parijanena arahata pujāve (Translation: “Adoration to the arhat Vardhamana! A shrine of the arhat (arahato devikula), an assembly hall for an object of worship (aydgasabha), a cistern (prapă), and a stone slab (silapuța) were established in the sanctuary of the Nirgrantha arhats by Vasu, a junior (?) courtesan. (who is the daughter of Lonaśobhika, the matron (?) courtesan, and the female disciple of the ascetics (śramanasdvika), with her mother, sister, daughter, son and her whole household, for the sake of honoring of the arhats.")
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