Encyclopaedia of Jaina Studies Vol 01 Jaina Art and Architecture

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

Page 44

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Encyclopaedia of Jaina Studies
with the Suparna seated on or hovering above its bending branches nearest to the stūpa. Behind the scene are some more trees. The reverse depicts a procession of three horsemen, an elephant with two riders, two pedestrians, and a covered bullock-cart filled with males and females; possibly they are going to worship the stupa represented on the obverse. In the centre of the soffit is carved a full-blown lotus flower.
The later stupa, which was probably built in the 1" century A.D. when the region around Mathura came under the aegis of the Kuşāņa rulers, shows some change and advancement. This is evident from the āyāgapata (tablet of homage) of Lonaśobhikā datable to this time. From the carving of this tablet it appears that the stūpa was built on a high terrace surrounded by a railing with high gateway approachable from the ground by a stairway, also provided with railing. The hemispherical dome (anda) was comparatively short and was perched on an elongated lofty drum provided with two railings. The anda had a harmikā with railing and umbrella on its top.
The railing of the later stūpa is very similar to the early one, but it is lower in height and the front face of its upright posts is differently treated. Here the front face is square in section and is boldly relieved with a male or female figure standing under a tree. Of the five pillars displayed by Smith (Pls. LX-LXIV) four are occupied by women and one by man. The women stand on crouching grotesque dwarfs or on a carved pedestal and wear anklet, loin-girdle, necklace, earring, armlet and a series of bangles. They are shown holding sword, braiding hair with garlands, standing at ease with the right hand resting on the waist, or showing shyness for nudity. All these female figures have been wrought with utmost care, stand in handsome poses, and look perfect on aesthetic plane. Except for the loin-girdle they are quite naked, probably to emphasize their femininity. The male (Fig. 8) seems to be a royal person wearing a dhoti, shawl, beaded garland, heavy kundala
and crown. The trees under which these figures stand are in each case of a distinct type. The back face of the posts is three-faceted and depicts two lotus medallions in the middle and one half each below and above. These medallions are beautifully carved and show different varieties of lotuses.
The torana-gateway of the later stupa as evident from the Lonaśobhikā āyāgapata as well as from the āyagapata of Sivayaśā (Fig. 3) consists of three architraves put across two tall pillars and separated from one another by square blocks of stones placed right above the pillars. The gateway was probably reinforced by a series of small balusters inserted between the architraves and by two bracket figures of Salabhanjikās emerging from the upper section of the pillars and tenoned into the underside of the lower architrave. In the Sivayaśā āyāgapata the ends of the three architraves are incurved like the tail of a crocodile. The upper architrave has a honey-suckle pattern carrying Dharmacakra, now broken off, in the middle and a triratna symbol representing right perception (samyak-darśana), right knowledge (samyak-jñāna) and right conduct (samyak-cāritra), which are considered to be the true path of liberation in Jainism, on each side of it, while the lower carries a heavy wreath suspending from it. The various parts of the gateway have been put together, without any cementing material and iron clamp, on the principle of weight and balance as is found in the contemporary Buddhist stūpas of Bharhut and Sanchi. The entire gateway bears a wealth of carvings. REFERENCES
V.A. Smith, The Jaina Stūpa and Other Antiquities of Mathură, reprint, Varanasi, 1969; V.S. Agrawala, Indian Art, Varanasi, 1965; U.P. Shah, Studies in Jaina Art, Benaras, 1955; H. Singh, 'A Comparative Study of the Jaina and Buddhist Stupas', Bhārati, Vol. 23 (1996-97), Varanasi, pp. 125-32; Sagarmal Jain, 'Jaināgama Sāhitya meṁ Stūpa', Pt. Bechardas Doshi Commemorative Volume, Varanasi, 1987, pp. 132-40.
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