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NALINI BALBIR
tiers, on the top of which a small statue is placed.' In this case, and also if it is an independent stone-structure located inside the temple (e.g. at Abu, Vimalavasahi temple, cell 20; Kumbharia, Mahavir temple) or outside (e.g. at the entrance of the newly built Jaina temple in Leicester, U.K.), or if it is a bronze image (see below 2.1.4), it is a three-dimensional structure. If it is carved or painted on the ceiling of a temple (e.g. Shantinath temple, Kumbharia, North Gujarat; Tiruparuttikunram, Tamil Nadu3), or if it is a pata or a miniature-painting on a palm-leaf or paper manuscript, it has the appearance of a flat round mandala with three concentric circles, or, less often, it takes the shape of a square. There seems, anyway, to be such a basic connection between samavasarana and any type of representation that samavasaraṇa is mainly deemed as a topic belonging to the study of art, even if the authors do take into account the rich textual material on the subject which is available and start with it: see, for instance, the important ten pages in U.P. Shah's Studies in Jaina Art (1955), his further remarks in Jaina-rupa-maṇḍana (1987), or the analysis (by Gopilal Amar) based on Digambara sources in Jaina Art and Architecture (1975).' The problem is that these studies tend to lay too much emphasis on the architectural
See for instance J. Jain and E. Fischer, Jaina Iconography. Leiden: Brill 1978. Part One, plate XXXIIIa.
* See below 2.1.4.
* See J. Jain and E. Fischer, Jaina Iconography, Part One, plate XXXIIIb; T.N. Ramachandran, Tiruparuttikunram (Jina-Kanchi) and Its Temples. Madras 1934, p. 104-116.
6
For a cloth para containing a samavasarana in the central area, see W. Norman Brown, "A Painting of a Jaina Pilgrimage": Art and Thought. Essays in honour of A. Coomaraswamy, London 1947 = India and Indology. Delhi 1978, p. 256-258; Shridhar Andhare, "A Note on the Mahavira Samavasarana Pata", in Chhavi Golden Jubilee Volume. Banaras 1971, p. 343-345; and below (reference to a fairly modern para published in C. Caillat - Ravi Kumar, The Jain Cosmology. English rendering by K.R. Norman. Paris-Basel-New Delhi 1981: No. 5). For manuscripts see W. Norman Brown, Miniature Paintings of the Jaina Kaipasútra. Washington 1934, p. 38 and figs. 13, 80, 92, 99 (square), 113, 126; W. Hüttemann, "Miniaturen zum Jinacaritra". Bassler-Archiv Band IV, Heft 2. Leipzig-Berlin 1913, p. 74-75; J. Jain and E. Fischer, Jaina Iconography, Part One, plate XXXI; J. Deleu, Die Mythologie des Jinismus. Wörterbuch der Mythologie, hrsg. von H.W. Haussig. Stuttgart 1976, p. 219 and Abb. 8, Tafel VII (square); W. Norman Brown, Manuscript Illustrations of the Uttaradhyayanasutra. New Haven 1941, p. 5; the various publications of Sarabhai Nawab; etc. The depiction of samavasarana is a very common motif of Jaina painting. - The circular samavasarana seems to be a continuation of the old ayagapata.s evidenced at Mathura.
U. P. Shah, Studies in Jaina Art. Varanasi 1955, p. 85-95; Jaina-rupa-mandana (Jaina Iconography). Delhi: Abhinav Publications 1987, p. 23-26; Gopilal Amar, p. 529-533 in Jaina Art and Architecture. Published on the Occasion of the 2500th Nirvana Anniversary of Tirthankara Mahavira, Ed. by A. Ghosh. New Delhi: Bharatiya Jnanpith 1975, vol. III, Part IX "Canons and Symbolism".
AN INVESTIGATION OF TEXTUAL SOURCES ON THE SAMAVASARANA
aspect of the samavasarana and to consider all the written sources on the same level, which leads us to think that the samavasarana was always a full-fledged entity that underwent no change. The aim of this paper, which in no way pretends to exhaust the subject, is to examine the textual material in all its variety in an attempt at understanding the Jaina concept of samavasarana and, more generally, the classical Indian conception of "sacred space". Like other cognate Indian forms (e.g. stupa and mandala), samavasarana belongs to the field of the history of religions. If for no other reason, the investigation of the written sources may be justified by the fact that the first texts (however vague their dates may be) probably much antedate any of the representations of the samavasarana available to us. Moreover we have no right to neglect the written sources, since we are lucky enough to have them: those who study the stupa could rightly be envious. Although the Digambara sources cannot be omitted in an attempt towards a comprehensive understanding of the samavasaraṇa, they will remain in the background and will not be studied so intensively as their Śvetămbara counterparts which present a "less complex" picture. The Digambara data would deserve a full-fledged investigation which goes far beyond the scope of the present paper.
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0.2. In the early scriptures (Angas and Upangas) of the Svetämbaras, the substantive samosarana is not as frequent as the verb which is almost exclusively used as a past participle, AMg. samosadhe (v.1. samosarie) in two kinds of stereotype formulas:10
(a) samane Bhagavam Mahavire...gămânugamam düijjamane iham agae, iha sampatte, iha samosadhe, iha Campãe nayarie bahim Punnabhadde ceie aha-paḍiruvam oggaham oginhittä samjameņam tavasā appāṇam bhāvemāṇe viharai (Aupapātikasūtra § 38; etc.).
See, for instance, M. Bénisti, "Etude sur le stúpa dans l'Inde ancienne", Bull. de l'Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient, L, 1 (1960) p. 89: "Les textes sanskrits décrivant le stupa sont des plus rares". This remains partly true although new documents have come to light since then: see, for instance, G. Roth's contribution to The stupa, its religious, historical and architectural significance, ed. by A.L. Dallapicolla. Wiesbaden 1980, p. 183ff. (see below 2.2.2).
See K. Bruhn, "Repetition in Jaina narrative literature, Indologica Taurinensia 11 (1983) p.
48.
10 Results based on the examination of all occurrences given in the Agamasabdakosa (Ladnun). The use of the substantive (in the plural) to designate various non-orthodox doctrines (cf. Sūtrakṛtānga 1,12 and Bhagavati XXX) is not considered here."
