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Some unique architectural forms at Mathura are found belonging to Jainism. They are āyāgapaṭas, caturmukha and samavasaraṇa which are architectural characteristic features
found in Jainism. Åyāgapaṭas: Literally, it means "tablets of homage" dedicated by devout Jains, generally members of the laity, and apparently had some important ritual purpose.1 U.P. Shah developed the theory that they may have been silapatas, which were "placed on a simhasana under a the shade of the Aśoka-tree in the garden of a caitya."2 A laywoman, Vasu, daughter of the courtesan Loṇaśobhikā, who dedicated an āyāgapaţa depicting a stūpa flanked by columns, also set up a shrine to the Jinas, a hall of homage (āyāgasabhā), and a cistern (well). All of these elements could be seen as part of a large samavasaraṇa complex: the stepwell outside the entire structure, the assembly hall, the central shrine, and, at the very centre, the Jina seated beneath a tree, in the form of a 'silapaṭa'.
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Fig 1. Ayagapata of Sihanadika, ca. 22" square. From Kankali Tila, Mathura, ca. 1st-2nd c. C.E., Lucknow Museum. Smith, V.A., op.cit, Plate VII.
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