Ancient Jaina Hymns

Author(s): Charlotte Krause
Publisher: SCIndia Oriental Institute Ujain

Page 58

ANCIENT JAINA HYMNS "Owing to her (i. e., Sudarsanā's) power, Broach cannot be destroyed by enemy action."
It is clear that these words could only have been written before the Musalman invaders had appeared on the scene, and at a time when Sakunikā-vihāra was still a Jaina Tirtha.
One year later, i. e., in V. S. 1335, the beautiful bas-relief representing Asvāvabodha as a pavilion with the foot-prints of the Lord, and Sakunikā-vihāra as a temple with a high spire, containing a statue of the Tirthankara, was installed on Mt. Abu, where it still adorns chapel No. 19 of the "Lūņavasahi” of the Delwara Temples'. This would likewise show that at that time, Asvāvabodha and Sakunikā-vihāra had not yet been desecrated and thus disproved their much boasted sanctity.
For, a few decades afterwards, the Musalmans, whom the two brothers had held back from Gujarat so bravely, flooded "Karaña Ghela's” kingdom (regnal years V. S. 1353-60) under Gyās-ud-din (regnal years A. H. 720-725=V. S. 1376-81), and destroyed many of those shrines which Ambağa and Vägbhata, as well as Vastupāla and Tejapāla had so lovingly restored, embellished, and endowed. Asvāvabodha-Sakunikāvihāra seems to have been among them. It is not known when and how it ended, but anyhow, from then onward, it is no longer heard of. Some scholars, think that the present Jami Mosque represents what is left of that ancient Jaina shrine. This seems possible in view of the situation of the mosque on the bank of the Narbada outside the city, and the remains of ancient
(1) Vide "Abu" by Muni Jayantavijaya, I V. S. 1990), p. 109 f. and II, (V. S. 1994), p. 124.
22