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History of Jainism with Special Reference to Mathurā
masterpieces of sculptural art. Serene spiritual beauty is writ large on the faces of these tīrthaṁkara figures.383 The Jaina āyāga-pattas or votive tablets (tablets of homage) found from Mathurā rank among the most beautiful specimens of the Mathurā school of sculpture; they are exceedingly wellconceived and the compositions convey the meaning of the symbolism they seek to represent.384
The Jainas produced a different type of sculpture at Gwalior. The most striking part of the Jaina remains of Gwalior are a series of caves or rock-cut sculptures that are excavated on the rock on all sides; some of these figures are colossal - greater in size than others found in north India.385 The gigantic colossi of Sravana Belgola and other places in south India are perhaps the most artistic of the Jaina sculptures.386 The colossal monolithic Jaina statues of the south are counted among the wonders of the world.387 The colossal Jaina statue at Sravana Belgola standing on top of a hill is 57 feet high and has been cut from a single block of gneiss.388 The aura of this statue has elicited high praise from art critics.389 There are similar colossi at Yenur and Karkala. V.A. Smith writes,
Undoubtedly the most remarkable of the Jaina statues are the celebrated colossi of southern India, the largest free-standing statues in Asia — at Sravana Belgola in Mysore, and at Karkala and Yenur or Venur in South Kanara. All three being set on the top of eminences are visible from miles around 390
383. State Museum, Lucknow no. J. 104; Mārg, Mathura No., p. 56; JAA, I, pp. 67-8; R.C.
Sharma, Jaina Sculptures of the Gupta Age in the State Museum, Lucknow, p. 152. 384. V.S. Agrawala, Studies in Indian Art, Vārāṇasī, 1965, pp. 178-9. 385. HIEA, pp. 243-5. 386. HOFA, Introduction, p. 11. 387. IGI, II, p. 122. 388. Ibid. 389. JAA, I, p. 37.
