________________
THE NANDA RULE IN KALINGA
145
Rishabhadeva, the first Tirthankara, has been most frequently represented in the Khaņdagiri caves at Bhuvaneśvara. The Jaina temple, standing at the highest point of that hill, has been dedicated to that Tīrthankara. Ajita nātha, the second Tīrthankara has elephant as his emblem represented in images. And, elephant is the most reputed animal for which the country of Kalinga was famous. Lord Śreyāmsanātha, the eleventh Tirthankara, 1 was born at Simhapura, which city is so often mentioned in the Mahāvastu and has been called the capital of the Kalinga country. But there is another identification suggested with Sarnath (near Varanasi) which is otherwise called Sāranganātha.' Reference to Lord Pārsvanātha, the twenty-third Tirthankara, in connection with Kalinga, has already been made.3 Lord Mahāvīra, the twenty-fourth Tīrthankara visited that country in the duration of his penances in the eleventh year and is believed to have suffered great pains there. Other Tirthankaras too have been represented in the Udayagiri-Khaņdagiri caves at Bhuvanesvara.
But Lord Mahāvīra was most prominently revered in the north-eastern Janapadas and also in Magadha. Memories of his visit to Orissa, prior to his Enlightenment (kevalin), may have been quite fresh in the minds of the people there, so that after his demise, the people of Kalinga probably made a lofty image of his for the purpose of worship. The same image was carried away by the Nanda king during his conquest of that country, and the same was brough back by Khāravela after having subdued the
1. Āvaśyak Niryukti, 313 ; Also mentioned in the Commentary on the Uttarādbyayana, 18, 239a.
2. J. C. Jain, L. A. I., p. 334 ; Prācbina Tirthamālā, p. 4; also Prāchina Jaina Tirtha.
3. See supra Ch. III. pp. 117 f.
19
Jain Education International
For Personal & Private Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
