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Jaina Art and Architecture at Mathura
V.S. Agrawala49 and Debala Mitra,50 a tympanum in the collection of National Museum,51 indicates that the ayaga-paṭṭas were installed on high and solid platforms in slanting position in the premises of the stupa. The ayaga-paṭṭas 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 ayaga-pattas in the tympanum in collection of National Museum, lends support to the presumption that ayaga-paṭṭas were objects of worship in themselves.54
V.S. Agrawala holds that the ayaga-paṭṭas, perphaps sixteen in number, were originally objects of worship in themselves; but subsequently, they became a medium for worship of the stupa, and flowers and other offerings were directly placed on them.55 N.P. Joshi offers a slightly different suggestion. He opines that some āyāga-paṭṭas, i.e., SML No. J.248,56 SML No. J.25057 and NM. No. J.249 discovered at Mathura are still in mint condition, and do not show any sign that flowers and other offerings were placed on them for centuries.58 In his opinion the ayaga-paṭṭas 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 Mathura clearly states that a courtesan named Vāsu donated a sila-paṭṭa or stone slab for installation in arhatayatana or the
49. V.S. Agrawala, Bharatiya Kalā, 1966, pp. 280-1.
50. JAA, I, p. 63.
51.
52. JAA, I, p. 64.
53.
NM no. J.555; JAA, I, Plates 12, 13.
V.S. Agrawala, op. cit., pp. 280-1.
54. JAA, I, p. 64.
55. V.S. Agrawala, Bharatiya Kala, op.cit., pp. 280-1.
56. JAA, I, Plate 16.
57. Ibid., Plate 14.
58. MCH, p. 333.
59.
Ibid.
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