________________
136
History of Jainism with Special Reference to Mathura
dedicated to Supārsva.'11 In fact, Jinaprabha Sūri is the only writer to say that this stūpa was built in honour of Supārsva. 112 We agree with U.P. Shah's view that 'the Jaina stupa at Kankāli mound in Mathurā was dedicated to Pārsvanātha and not Supārsvanātha'. 113 This view is not without foundation, We find numerous references to this Jina in the Jaina inscriptions excavated from Kankālī Tīlā.114 Images of Pārsvanātha have also been unearthed from this mound.115 Even Jinaprabha Sūristates that a stone sculpture of Pārsvanātha was later installed in front of this stūpa.116 It appears that either the copyists of Jinaprabha Sūri's Vividha-Tīrtha-Kalpa or this author himself, who belonged to a much later period, committed the error of describing the stupa of Pārsvanātha as the stūpa dedicated to Supārsvanātha. But there is evidence of the existence of more than one Jaina stūpa at Mathura. In view of this it would not be unreasonable to presume that probably a stūpa dedicated to Supārsvanātha also existed in this city. 118
Opinions vary regarding the antiquity of the Jaina stūpa of Mathura. The exact date of its erection is difficult to ascertain. But it is certain that it was built many centuries before Christ. An inscription dated 79 (AD 157) or 49 (AD 127) on the pedestal of a missing image mentions the installation of an image of arhat Nandyāvarta at the so-called vodva stūpa built by gods, i.e., devanirmita.119 On the basis of this inscription some scholars have opined that this stūpa was built at a very early period; it was so old in the second century
111. SIJA, p. 63. 112. Ibid. 113. Ibid., pp. 12 fn 1, 63. 114. EI, II, No. 29 and Plate; EI, X, Appendix, No. 110. 115. MCH, Plate 34. III and 34.IVa; JPV, pp. 46-9; MS, pp. 22-4. 116. Vividha-Tirtha-Kalpa, pp. 17ff.; JS, p. 13; SIJA, pp. 62-3. 117. SIJA, p. 12 fn. 1. 118. Ibid. 119. EI, II, no. 20; EI, X, Lüders List, no. 47; JAA, I, p. 53; ASIAR, 1906-7, p. 141; MI, pp.
41-2; JS, p. 4 fn. 1, p. 12 Plate VI.
