Ayag Patta and the beginning of Jain Cult Workship

Author(s): A L Srivastava
Publisher: Z_Vijyanandsuri_Swargarohan_Shatabdi_Granth_012023.pdf

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Mathura. Both the names of wife and her husband could not be restored. The inscription is as follows
"Arahata Mahavirasa Mathuraka..... lavadasa bhayaye...... va............itaye (ayagapato)"."
Another ayagapatta (AMM, 48. 3426, size 1-3 1/4") of the Kusana times representing the Tirthankara and other human figures is reported to have been discovered from Chaubiapada (Mathura).28 On this ayagapatta, the upper part of all the four nandyavartas have been formed of a pair of makaras holding aloft a lotus with their proboscis as is seen in a Bharhut panel, now in the Allahabad Museum (No. Am. 30.).50
Both the sides of a fragment of another ayagapatta (No. AMM, O. Q. 3) have been published by N.P. Joshi. The upper right corner of the obverse represents a border with floral patterns and within the broad border there are again two thin borders with twisted floral designs. The interior corner represents two maladhari flying Vidyadharas. Other depictions in the centre cannot be ascertained. But between the broad outer and the two thin inner borders there is a pillar with an elephant capital as is found on some other ayagapattas The reverse of this ayagapatta is also decorated with half rosette design but it has no other representation within the border except a two-line inscription in Brahmi characters of early first century A.D.
The fragment of another ayagapatta of which more than half including the central object has been lost, represents on its remaining parts the lucky fish and beautifully executed flower and scroll designs. The inscription at the base is in archaic characters apparently anterior to the Kusana period, and thus adds one more to the many proofs of antiquity of the Jaina worship at Mathura. The record, though incomplete, is sufficiently intelligible. It records the setting up of an ayagapatta by Sivamitra of Kausika family and wife of Gotiputra, a black serpent for the Pothayas and Sakas. The inscription reads
1. Namo arahato Vardhamanasya Gotiputrasa Pothaya....Saka... 2. Katavalasa 3. ...........Kosikeye Simitraye ayagapato prati. 94
Thus, we have seen that on some ayagapattas there are only symbols while on others besides symbols a Jaina Tirthankara image,
Ayagapattas And The Beginnig Of Jaina Cult Worship