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History of Jainism with Special Reference to Mathura
foundations.93 From available evidence it appears that there was a Jaina establishment at Kankali Tīlā; it grew up around this stupa, which was an object of supreme veneration for the Jainas.94
Jaina traditions are not unanimous regarding the origin of the stupa at Mathura. There are two principal accounts dealing with its origin. One of them is embodied in Somadeva's Yasastilakacampū, 'a Jaina romance composed in AD 959',95 and the other in Jinaprabha Suri's Vividha-Tirtha-Kalpa, 'a fourtheenth-century work made known by Buhler'. According to Jinaprabha Sūri, a golden stupa adorned with precious stones was erected at Mathurā in honour of Suparśvanatha, the seventh tirthamkara, by goddess Kubera at the desire of two ascetics named Dharmaruci and Dharmaghosa." In the time of Pārsvanatha, the twenty-third tirthamkara, the golden stupa was encased in bricks as a safeguard against pillage, and a stone sculpture of this jina was installed outside it.98 Thirteen hundred years after Mahāvīra's perfection,99 i.e., in the eighth century AD, 100 it was restored by Bappabhațți Sūri in honour of Pārsvanatha.101
But Somadeva, who lived about four hundred years earlier than Jinaprabha Sūri, has given a different account. According to him, this stupa was built by saint Vajrakumāra during the reign of Pūtikvāhana, and in his work Yasastilakacampū there is no mention that it was ever built of gold. 102 The accounts left behind by Somadeva and Jinaprabha Suri convey the impression that only one Jaina stupa was built at Mathura. But as per Digambara texts
93. MI, p. 41.
94.
JAA, I, p. 53.
95. Yasastilaka, Preface, vii.
96. Ibid., p. 432; JS, p. 13.
97. Vividha-Tirtha-Kalpa, Mathurapuri Kalpa, pp. 17 ff; JS, p. 13; Yassatilaka, p. 432.
98. Ibid., pp. 17 ff; JS, p. 13; SIJA, pp. 62-3.
99. Ibid., pp. 17 ff; JS, p. 13.
100. JS, p. 13; Yasastilaka, p. 432.
101.
Ibid.; Ibid.
102. Yasastilaka, pp. 432-3.
