Ambika on Jaina Art and Literature

Author(s): Maruti Nandan Prasad Tiwari
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

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images of all other Jaina deities. The Jina images denote bhāva worship (mental attitude) and not the dravya worship (physical or idol worship). Jina worship is regarded mainly a worship not of a deity but of a human being who has attained perfection and freedom from all bondage. The passionless Jinas or Arhats are vītarāgas and therefore neither favour nor frown upon anybody. Because of this only Jinas were always represented in the seated or standing attitude of meditation while Buddha, in due course of time, was represented with such different gestures as the abhaya-mudra, the varada-mudrā etc., which show his concern about the world. Moreover, none of the Jinas was ever credited with the performance of miracle while the case was vice-versa with Buddha. Thus it is apparent that the Jainas by strictly adhering to the dhyāna (seated crosslegged) and the kayotsarga (standing erect) mudras in respect of the Jinas have shown their unceasing respect for yogic postures of transcendental merlitation and bodily abandonment.
The list of the twenty-four Jinas was first found some time before the beginning of the Christian era. The earliest list occurs in the Samavāyāngasūtra, Bhagavatīsūtra, Kalpasūtra (c. third century A.D.) and Paumacariya. 24 As we know the concrete representation of the Jinas started in c. fourth-third century B.C. The Kalpasūtra describes at length only the lives of Rṣabhanatha, Neminatha, Pārsvanatha and Mahāvīra who were most popular among all the twentyfour Jinas. As a natural corollary the Yakṣa-Yaksi pairs of these Jinas enjoyed a very favoured position. Ajitanatha, Sambhavanatha, Supärśvanatha, Candraprabha, Santinātha and Munisuvratanatha happened to be the next favoured Jinas. The figures of the remaining Jinas are, however, very few in number.
Of all the Jinas, the iconographic features of Pārsvanatha were finalized first. The seven-hooded snake canopy was associated with Pārsvanatha in c. first century B.C. Thereafter, in c. first century A.D. Ṛṣabhanatha was endowed with flowing hair-locks, as is evident from the sculptures procured from Mathura and Chausā. Balarama and Krsna joined Neminatha as his cousin in the Kuṣāṇa period as is borne out by the Neminatha sculptures yielded by Kankali Ṭīlā, Mathura. During the Kuṣaṇa period, the images of Sambhavanatha, Munisuvratanatha and Mahāvīra were also carved but they are identified on the basis of the pedestal inscriptions, bearing their respective names. Of the aṣṭa-prātihāryas, only seven were finalized at Mathura by the end of Kuṣaṇa period; they are
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