________________
152
@急 50.
History of Jainism with Special Reference to Mathura (arhatayatana) at Mathura 262 appears to have been a famous or important
shrine.
The Jaina stūpa at Kankali Tīlā was built many centuries before Christ. The natural inference is that stupa-worship was in vogue in this city even before the establishment of the Kuṣaṇa rule in the first century AD. The dedication of an image of arhat Nandyavarta (Aranatha) at the so-called vodva stūpa at Mathura by a female lay-worshipper named Dina (Datta) 263 provides evidence of stupa-worship among the Jainas in the Kuṣāna period also. Imageworship was in vogue among the Jainas at Mathura even before the commencement of the Christian era. The existence of a Jaina temple in this city in the second century BC provides unmistakable evidence of this practice. Worship of the jinas was an established practice among the Jainas at Mathura in the first and the second century AD. Donation of the images of arhats Rṣabha,264 Śantinātha,265 Ariṣṭanemi,266 Pārśvanātha,267 Mahāvīra,268 etc., by the Jaina lay-devotees during this period bears testimony to this fact. Male and female deities of the Jaina pantheon like Naigmeşa and Sarasvati were also worshipped during this period. A Jaina worker in metal at Mathura donated an image of Sarasvati,269 the goddess of learning in Hinduism and Jainism. This image of Sarasvati, which forms part of the collection of State Museum, Lucknow,270 is the oldest image of this goddess discovered in India.271 This discovery proves that worship of Sarasvati was also in vogue among the Jainas
262. EI, X, Appendix, no. 47. 263. Ibid.
264. Ibid., nos. 56, 117, 121, etc.
265. Ibid., no. 27.
266.
267.
268.
269.
270. 271.
Ibid., no. 26.
Ibid., no. 110.
Ibid., nos. 18, 28, 31, etc. Ibid., no. 54.
SML no. J.24; JAA, I, Plate 20. SIJA, p. 11; JAA, I, p. 67.
