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History of Jainism with Special Reference to Mathură
Vardhamana Mahāvīra131 and Nandyavarta.132 It is, thus, certain that the images of these seven jinas were carved at Mathura during this period. On the basis of his study of the early Jaina icons of Mathura, N.P. Joshi has opined that tīrthamkara Sumatinatha, too, was known to the sculptors of Mathura during the period under review. 133
Main characteristics of the tīrthamkara images of Mathurā: The Kuşāņa period
Available material indicates that the tirthamkara images of this period were of medium size. But colossal figures of the jinas were also produced. 134 There is very little difference between the seated and standing jina figures of Mathura of the Kuṣaṇa period in respect of arrangement of hair, depiction of auspicious marks on the body, carving of the neck, nimbus, etc. 135 The heads of the jinas in these figures are either bald136 or characterised by small curls.137 Facial expression is conspicuous by its absence in the tīrthamkara figures of this period. 138 Smile is the only expression manifest in these figures and, this too, is rare. 139 The earliest depiction of the śrīvatsa mark on the chest of the tirthamkara figure occurs on Mathurā āyāga-pattas of the first century BC.140 The śrīvatsa symbol became an inalienable part of the bulk of jina figures at Mathura during the Kuṣaṇa period. 141 The caduceus-like
131. EI, X, Appendix, no. 18.
132. Ibid., no. 47.
133. MCH, p. 357. 134.
Ibid., p. 339.
135. Ibid.
136. MS, p. 23.
137. MM no. 1531; JUPHS, III, p. 15.
138. MS, p. 23.
139. Ibid.; R.C. Sharma, Jaina Sculptures... op. cit., p. 144.
140.
JPV, p. 80 fn 1.
141. JUPHS, III, MM nos. B. 71, B. 70, B. 2, B. 3, etc.
