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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of joy and beauty with perfect workmanship. They reflect the skill of the artists in representing a number of auspicious symbols. The religious character of these ayagapattas is quite obvious not only by their inscriptions (referring to the setting up of ayagapattas for worship of the Arhats) but by the representation of the stupas, Tirthankaras, dharma-cakras and auspicious symbols, particularly the asta-mangalika cihnas which are sacred to the Jainas.
The representations of Jinas and stupas on the ayagapattas, according to Debala Mitra, 42 tend to prove that these slabs perched on the vedis or pithas did not serve merely as arghya-pattas or bali-pattas, where flowers and other offerings were deposited for worshipping the Jaina Tirthankaras and stupas, as in the case of the purely ornamental slabs. On the contrary, she believes, these representations would suggest that these ayagapattas were themselves, like the image of the Arhat at the deva-nirmita stupa, object of worship, a presumption supported by the manner in which the sprinkling of flowers is depicted on two of the ayagapattas in front of the stupa represented on the tympanum referred to above.
Installation of an ayagapatta was considered a pious dedication for earning religious merits which later on came to an end with the beginning of the carving of Tirthankara images and their installation in place of the ayagapattas.
Thus, the ayagapattas of Mathura indicate that the symbol-worship preceded the image-worship in Jainism. These ayagapattas belong to the period when symbol-worship was well-established and the image-worship was in offing. On certain ayagapattas, the transitory charactor of both the symbol-worship and image- worship is well-represented. They actually illustrate the continuity of symbol-worship amongst the Jainas and also the introduction of image-worship as combined with the symbols.
Acknowledgement
I am extremely grateful to the authorities of the American Institute of Indian Studies, Ramnagar, Varanasi, for kindly supplying photographs against Serial Numbers 4,6,7,8 and 10 to illustrate this paper.
Ayagapattas And The Beginnig Of Jaina Cult Worship