Encyclopaedia of Jaina Studies Vol 01 Jaina Art and Architecture

Author(s): Sagarmal Jain, Others
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 373

Some Other Aspects of Jaina Art
even painted on walls. Hemacandra mentions that the eight auspicious symbols were represented on Balipattas or offering stands. The offering-stand is a platter with low legs, made of wood or metal and is used to hold offering in temple worships. It has eight auspicious signs carved in high relief.
The earliest renderings of auspicious symbols are seen on some of the Jaina ayagapatas (square tablets) of the Pre-Kusana and Kuṣaṇa period, obtained from Kankali Ṭīlā, Mathura. The Tablet set up by Acala, for example, shows a line of four symbols in the upper most panel and others at base. In this lower panel, the first symbol from right end, partly mutilated, was probably the Śrīvatsa. The second is Svastika, third a lotus-bud half open, fourth a pair of fish, fifth a waterjar (with a handle) and sixth is either an offering of sweets or a crude representation of Ratna-rasi. The seventh is possibly the Sthapana (a cross stand with a manuscript on it) and the eighth is an inverted Triratna. The uppermost central rectangular panel, which contains four symbols, shows the Śrivatsa, another type of Svastika, and two more symbols which cannot be properly identified. Some of these symbols also occur on other ayagapatas. A much better preserved set of eight symbols is however obtained on the ayagapata set up by Sihanadikā (State Museum, Lucknow, J. 249), with the Kuṣaṇa inscription (Pl. 119). Here in the lower panel are shown the Triratna, the full-blown flower, the Sthapana (or the Bhadrasana) and the Mangala-kalasa (full vase), while the top panel shows a pair of fish, an unidentified symbol, the Śrīvatsa and the powderflask (Vardhamānaka).
It appears that in the Kuṣaṇa period, the set of the aştamangalas was not finally settled and that the earlier tradition as obtained on the ayagapatas, especially the ayagapata of Sihanädikā, shows a slightly different set from the one known to us. In this older tradition represented on the ayagapatas, the Nandyavarta and the Darpana are omitted and the full-blown lotus and another
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unidentified symbol are used. The Mathura ayagapatas represent a stage anterior to the tradition recorded in the available Jaina canons. The astamangalas are also represented in miniature manuscript paintings, or in paintings on canvas of different patas, and in scroll paintings of the Vijñaptipatras NANDISVARA-DVĪPA
Nandisvara-Dvipa, known to both the sects, is the last of the numerous concentric island-continents of Jaina Cosmography, the first or the central one being the Jambu-dvipa. The Nandiśvara is a land of delight of the gods with gardens of manifold designs, which are visited by the gods devoted to the worship of the Jinas.
The plaques or patas representing the 52 shrines on the Nandiśvara are very popular amongst both the sects. The Digambaras represent 52 small figures of the Jinas (suggesting 52 shrines) on a four-tiered platform or in a miniature shrine, both the types being four-faced, as illustrated by T.N. Ramachandran in his "Tiruparuttikugram and its Temples". (Pl. XXI, Figs. 3-4, p. 181). The Svetambaras represent 52 miniature shrines in four groups of thirteen each, carved in relief on a stone plaque and arranged in different artistic ways. A beautiful Svetambara plaque (c. 15th century A.D.) worshipped in the famous Caumukha shrine at Ranakpur (Pali, Rajasthan) is noteworthy. Here the Jinalayas are grouped in a beautiful geometric pattern while the intervening spaces at four ends are filled with representations of caitya-trees with worshippers nearby. Another pata of this dvipa, installed by one Dhandhala in V.S. 1287 (A.D. 1230) is preserved in a cell in the main shrine on Mt. Girnar, but the number of shrines on the plaque exceeds the usual figures of 52. Both the plaques however are not the correct representation of the Nandisvara-dvipa as such, but are rather patas of the Sasvata-Caityalayas only on the dvipa, and hence omit representations of lakes, palaces etc. on the island.