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History of Jainism with Special Reference to Mathurā temple of the arhats. It is, therefore, evident that the āyāga-pattas or the śilā-pattas were installed in the temples also. The āyāga-pattas were also installed in the gardens or the spots considered sacred by the Jainas. This is evdent from the Jaina inscription excavated at Kankālī ļīlā which records the installation of the āyāga-pattas in bhamdīra by a goldsmith.61 We learn from Vividha-Tīrtha-Kalpa of Jinaprabha Sūri that bhaṁdīra was a garden in Mathurā.62 This garden contained the shrine of yakşa Sudarśana63 and was visited by Pārsvanātha.64 Probably, Mahāvīra also halted in this garden during his visit to Mathurā.65 It is evident that the āyāga-pattas were installed in the bhandīra garden because the visit of Pārsvanātha and Mahāvīra had sanctified it.
The word ayāga-sabhā also occurs in one of the Jaina inscriptions that have come to light at Mathurā.66 It appears certain that the āyāga-sabhā was a sacred place or shrine. It is difficult to exactly define the Jaina shrine called the āyāga-sabhā. Probably, it was akin to a later Jaina shrine called pausadhaśālā where a person kept fast or sat in meditation to practise some tapa or propitiate a deity.67 U.P. Shah is of opinion that probably the āyāgapattas were installed and worshipped in the āyāga-sabhā also.68 According to him, there was no difference between the silā-patta and the āyāga-patta; the stone slab called the silā-patta in the Jaina texts were mentioned as the äyāga-patta in some of the Jaina inscriptions discovered at Mathurā.69 He
60. EI, X, Appendix, no. 102; MM no. Q.2. 61. Ibid., no. 95. 62. Vividha-Tīrtha-Kalpa, pp. 17ff; LDJC, p. 255 fn 26. 63. MCH, p. 211. 64. Ibid. 65. JAA, I, pp. 63-4. 66. EI, X, Appendix, no. 102; MM no. Q. 2. 67. SIJA, p. 84. 68. Ibid. 69. Ibid., pp. 69-70.
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