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Jaina Art and Architecture at Mathurā
nirvāna in the standing posture, and three, i.e., Rşabha, Nemi and Mahāvīra left this world in the sitting posture.106 The figures or images of the Buddha were carved in many postures – the earth-touching posture, (the bhūmisparśa-mudrā), the protection posture (the abhaya-mudrā), the meditative posture (the dhyāna-mudrā), the turning of the wheel posture (the dharmacakra-pravartana-mudrā), etc. 107
But the artists of Mathurā carved the images of the jinas in only two postures - the seated meditative posture called the dhyānastha-mudră or the padmāsana-mudrā, and the standing meditative posture called the kāyotsarga-mudrā in Jainism.108 It appears that the sculptors of Mathurā followed the guidelines embodied in the early Jaina texts by carving the images of the jinas in only two postures. But they did not follow these guidelines in their entirety. It is evident from many tīrthamkara images of the Kusāna period carved at Mathurā.
Among the twenty-four tīrthamkaras, Rsabha, Nemi and Mahāvīra are said to have attained nirvana in the sitting posture. Therefore, in view of the guidelines embodied in the early Jaina texts, the images of these three tīrthařkaras should have been chiselled in the seated meditative posture only. But the sculptors of Mathurā carved the images of Rsabha109 and Mahāvīral10 in the kāyotsarga-posture also during the Kuşāņa period. Sambhavanātha is said to have left this world in the standing posture. But the sculptors of Mathurā carved his image both in the standinglil and the seated112 meditative posture during this period. Pārsvanātha had attained
106. MCH;p. 353; OISJ, p. 66. 107. R.C. Sharma, Jaina Sculptures... op. cit., p. 145;N. Dutt and K.D. Bajpai, Development
of Buddhism in Uttar Pradesh, 1956, pp. 384-5. 108. Ibid., p. 145; JPV, p. 48. 109. MM no. B. 36; JUPHS, III, p. 9. 110. SML nos. J.2, J.9; MCH, p. 353. 111. SML no.J.13; MCH, p. 353. 112. SML no. J.19; ibid.
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