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Jaina Art and Architecture at Mathurā
opines that the silā-pattas were placed on a small platform at the foot of the vrkņas sacred to the yakşas and the nāgas.70 Tree-worship was an ancient practice and it took the form of worship of the silā-pațțas in Jainism." U.P. Shah suggests that the stone slabs called the āyāga-patta in the Jaina inscriptions of Mathurā evolved from the stone slabs called the silā-patta in the Jaina canons.72
The foregoing discussion leads us to the conclusion that the stone slabs or tablets called the silä-patta in the Jaina canons and one of the Jaina inscriptions of Mathurā, and the āyāga-patta in many epigraphs of this city, were objects of worship in themselves. The āyāga-pattas were installed on high solid platforms near the main stūpa, probably in front of its four cardinal sides.73 They were also fixed at some high spot so as to be seen and adored from distance. 74 They were also installed in the temples, āyāga-sabhās, sacred gardens, and under trees considered sacred by the Jainas.
The āyāga-pattas excavated at Mathurā are splendid objects of the Jaina art of this city. These stone slabs depict beautiful carving. Except a few, the āyāga-pattas were carved on one side and not both.74 The carving on these stone slabs is luxuriant and bears testimony to the skill and zeal of the sculptors who carved them.75 The artists beautified the āyāga-pattas by compositions of rare excellence.76 From the point of view of art the āyāgapattas from Mathurā rank among some of the most beautiful specimens of the celebrated Mathurā school of sculpture; they are exceedingly well-conceived and the composition conveys the meaning of the symbolism they seek to represent.77
70. SIJA, pp. 69-70. 71. Ibid. 72. Ibid. 73. JAA, I, p. 63. 74. MCH, p. 333. 75. JAA, I, p. 64. 76. Ibid. 77. V.S. Agrawala, Studies ..., op. cit., pp. 178-9.
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