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Jaina Art and Architecture at Mathurā
V.S. Agrawala“9 and Debala Mitra,50 a tympanum in the collection of National Museum, indicates that the āyāga-pattas were installed on high and solid platforms in slanting position in the premises of the stūpa. The āyāga-pattas were not mere ornamental slabs;52 they were objects of worship in themselves. 53 According to Debala Mitra, the manner in which sprinkling of flowers is depicted on two of the four āyāga-pattas in the tympanum in collection of National Museum, lends support to the presumption that āyāga-pattas were objects of worship in themselves. 54
V.S. Agrawala holds that the āyāga-pattas, perphaps sixteen in number, were originally objects of worship in themselves; but subsequently, they became a medium for worship of the stūpa, and flowers and other offerings were directly placed on them.55 N.P. Joshi offers a slightly different suggestion. He opines that some āyāga-pattas, i.e., SML No. J.248,56 SML No. J.25057 and NM. No. J.249 discovered at Mathurā are still in mint condition, and do not show any sign that flowers and other offerings were placed on them for centuries. In his opinion the āyāga-pattas were probably fixed at same high spot and were meant to be seen and adored from distance.59
Inscriptions and literature throw more light on this subject. A Jaina inscription discovered at Mathurā clearly states that a courtesan named Vāsu donated a silā-patta or stone slab for installation in arhatāyatana or the
49. V.S. Agrawala, Bhāratīya Kalā, 1966, pp. 280-1. 50. JAA, I, p. 63. 51. NM no. J.555; JAA, I, Plates 12, 13. 52. JAA, I, p. 64. 53. V.S. Agrawala, op. cit., pp. 280-1. 54. JAA, I, p. 64. 55. V.S. Agrawala, Bhāratīya Kală, op.cit., pp. 280-1. 56. JAA, I, Plate 16. 57. Ibid., Plate 14. 58. MCH, p. 333. 59. Ibid.
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