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Jaina Art and Architecture at Mathura
period. 262 The sculptors of Mathura also initiated the practice of depicting the pratihäryas, the dharma-cakra and other symbols on tīrthamkara figures during the period under review. 263
The lanchanas of various jinas had not evolved by this time, but some distinctive features were introduced in the figures of Rṣabha, Neminatha and Pārsvanatha. The sculptors of Mathura depicted a single caitya-vrkṣa, i.e., the aśoka tree in all jina figures of this period.264 Male and female adorers, too, made appearance in some jina figures of this period.265 This period further witnessed the depiction of some subordinate male and female deities of the pantheon of Jainism.266 The sculptor of Mathura was bound by the religious traditions of Jainism in the production of the images of the tīrthamkaras. Probably, he also lacked the ability to give perfect shape to the figures of the jinas. Consequently, the jina images of the period under review lacked artistic merit. But the sculptor of Mathura was not shackled in respect of the production of figures other than those of the jinas. Therefore, the female figures produced by the master sculptors of Mathura in the Kuṣaṇa period became poetry in stone.
The Jaina art of Mathura: The Gupta period
Jainism did not lose its appeal in Mathura in the post-Kuṣāņa period. But it was not as popular in this city as it was in the Kuṣāna period. This is evident from the number of Jaina sculptures that have come to light at Mathură. Government Museum, Mathura and State Museum, Lucknow are the principal repository of Jaina antiquities discovered at Mathura; they possess only fifty-nine Jaina sculptures which can be definitely assigned to the
JUPHS, III, pp. 2-17.
Ibid.
MCH, p. 357.
262.
263.
264.
265. Ibid.
266. Ibid.
@急 卐
197
