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Post-Mahāvīra Period and the Contribution of Jainism
divine strength and lavish charm of the images of the Hindu gods.374 There is much truth in this criticism. But the iconography of the Jaina tirthamkaras should be judged in the light of the doctrines of Jainism.
The Jaina tīrthamkaras were great ascetics. In fact, the image of the tirthamkara is a vehicle of the ritual tradition of Jainism, 375 which prescribed his portrayal as an ascetic. It is because of this prescription that a cold and frozen atmosphere hovers around the images of the jinas.376 Nudity is a monastic rule for the Digambara Jaina ascetics. The Jaina sculpture is the only art in India in which absolutely unclothed figures are found. This nakedness represents a condition of absolute detachment from the world.377
But in the representation of lesser deities of the Jaina pantheon, and in carving secular scenes from contemporary life, the artist was not bound by any prescribed formulae, and enjoyed the freedom to display his artistic genius.378 The female figures carved on the pillars of the Jaina stūpa at Mathurā rank among the masterpieces of the Mathurā school of art. 379 The figures of lively and joyful women carved on these pillars bear testimony to the fact that in spite of its rigid course of discipline the Jaina community of Mathurā gave a free hand to the artist in the display of his artistic genius.380 Many Jaina sculptures discovered from Kankāli Țīlā, Mathurā possess artistic merit.381 The Jaina images of the first and the second century AD found from Mathurā are stiff in pose and lack expression and grace.382 But the tirthamkara figures of Mathurā belonging to the Gupta period are
374. H. Zimmer, op. cit., p. 151. 375. JSAI, p. 231; JAA, I, pp. 67-8; EWA, VIII, p. 786. 376. H. Zimmer, op. cit., p. 15. 377. Ibid. 378. JSAI, p. 231. 379. P.K. Agrawala, Mathura Railing Pillars, 1966, p. 2. 380. JAA, I, p. 59. 381. JS, Introduction, p.5. 382. JAA, I, p. 67.
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