Encyclopaedia of Jaina Studies Vol 01 Jaina Art and Architecture

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

Page 375

Some Other Aspects of Jaina Art
353
respect by the followers of both the Jaina sects. The worship of the parents of the Jinas appears to be of ancient origin. They are invoked in various rites especially in Pratisthāvidhi, and it is interesting to note that even here the mothers are more frequently invoked than the fathers. In painting as well as sculpture, the mother is more often represented. Aryavati in the Amohini votive tablet from Mathura, dated in the 42nd year of Sodāsa, is one of the earliest such specimens. It belongs to the early Kuşāņa period and depicts a standing lady (Aryavati) adored by attendant figures one of whom holds a parasol over her. The lady most probably represents the mother of a Jina (probably Mahāvira by U.P. Shah). Several stone plaques representing in relief all the twenty-four mothers, each in a separate compartment and carrying the son in her lap, are known to have been installed in Jaina temples from the early medieval period. The earliest example is preserved in a Svetāmbara Jaina temple at Osian (A.D. 1018). Similar patas from Patan, Delvada, Mt. Girnar and many more places are found
Jaina temples.
The mothers of the Jaina saviours were widely worshipped both in group of twenty-four and singly. When single, the mother is normally shown reclining on a cot with the child lying beside her, both attended by maids or the Dikkumaris. Such representations form part of the numerous scenes depicting the entire life of a Jina as we find in the ceilings of Vimalavasahi, and Kumbharia Jaina temples (11th-13th centuries A.D.) (Pl. 222). On a pillar of the famous Dharana-vihāra shrine of Ranakpur is found a figure of a mother lying on a cot which represents the nativity of a Jina. An identical sculpture (A.D. 1020) is preserved in Temple No. 4 at Deogadh. The sculpture includes representations of the 24 Jinas on all the three sides of the mother.
It may be recalled that the nativity figures are known to other sects also. The nativity scenes of Buddha are found from Lumbini and Nalanda. Likewise the nativity of Krsna is represented on the wall of one of the pañcāyatana temple at Osian (8th century A.D.)
in
and also at Khajuraho.
The collective representation of the parents of the 24 Jinas along with their names are carved in the aisle ceilings of the Santinātha and Mahavīra temples (11th century A.D.) at Kumbharia. In these instances only the mother of each of the 24 Jinas is provided with a baby (would be Jina) in the lap. It is further interesting to note that the Mahavira temple at Kumbharia also preserves two independent slabs near the western and northern entrance which represent the mothers of 24 Jinas with a baby in the left lap supported by left hand while the right hand carries a fruit.
Another type of representation, most popular at the Digambara Jaina sites (Deogadh, Khajuraho, Rajgir. Gurgi, Chandapur etc., and also in Indian and Foreign museums) shows a male and a female figures carved mostly as sitting in lalitäsana (sometimes also as standing) under some tree (probably caitya tree related to the Jina) on a common seat suggesting that they are object of worship (Pl. 221). Sometimes, though rarely (at Khajuraho), such couples are also provided with the figures of Yakșa and Yaksi to suggest their position of high reverence. Such figures are provided mostly with fruit (sometimes lotus) in one hand while with the left they support the baby sitting in the lap. It is interesting to find that in most of the cases both male and female carry one baby each. These couples, so common at the Digambara Jaina sites, are usually identified as tutelary couples but it is befitting to identify them as parents of the Jinas, whose references and representations were found both in literature and art from about c. 7th-8th century A.D. In one example (now in Jardin Museum, Khajuraho, Acc. No. 1595) a bull is distinctly carved on the pedestal to suggest that the image represents the parent of Rşabhanātha. However, one could easily notice different types of trees with such couples at Digambara Jaina sites which may be the representation of different caitya-vrkņas associated with the Jinas, on the basis of which some efforts to identify the parents could be made in future.
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