________________
570
S. B. DEO Ratnatraya; 499
Sallekhanā,500 Salyas,501 Samādhi, 502 Samvara, 503 Sidha,504 Śrāuvaki
dharma,505 Śrutakevalin, 506 Sukladhyāna, 507 Syādvāda; 508 Vaikriyika.509
It may be remarked that as early as in the 2nd century B.c., the Khāravela inscription refers to the fact that the king realised the nature of the soul and the body which is one of the principal stages in the life of a monk and a layman. The Junagadh inscription refers to Kevalajñāna.
It may be noted that the epigraphs after the 12th century A.D. are generally of the nature of the record of a grant, and they seldom refer to the Jaina technical terms which are in most cases identical for both the Svetāmbaras and the Digambaras.
IMAGE-WORSHIP:
Image-worship, as noted elsewhere, is referred to even in the texts of the Angas. Epigraphical evidence is available regarding images right from the inscription of Khāravela which says that a Nanda king had carried away the image from Megadha. Archaeological finds at Mathura reveal a number of images as early as by the beginning of the Christian era.
In the early medieval period and after, monks seem to have played a vigorous role in inducing people to make images and erect structures over them.
As time advanced, the following other types of images and footprints were introduced :
(1) Various goddesses : 510 Śāsandevīs, Jvālini, Cakreśvarī, (2) Stūpa: (Mathura),511
499. Ibid., 67, 127, 140, 333. 500. Ibid., 67, 118, 258, 389. 501. Ibid., 65. 502. Ibid., 67. 503. Ibid., 254. 504. Ibid., 2, 11. 505. Ibid. 139. 506. Ibid., 67. 507. Ibid., 11. 508. Ibid., 63-67. 509. Ibid., 254. 510. Ibid., IV, Gundl. 18; NAHAR, III, 2489; I.A., II, 1873, p. 17. 511. NAHAR, III, 2505,
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