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Jaina Art and Architecture at Mathurā
period. 262 The sculptors of Mathurā also initiated the practice of depicting the prātiharyas, the dharma-cakra and other symbols on tirthamkara figures during the period under review.263
The lāñchanas of various jinas had not evolved by this time, but some distinctive features were introduced in the figures of Rşabha, Neminātha and Pārsvanātha. The sculptors of Mathurā depicted a single caitya-vskșa, 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 Mathurā 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 Mathurā 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 Mathurā in the Kuşāņa period became poetry in stone.
The Jaina art of Mathurā: The Gupta period
Jainism did not lose its appeal in Mathurā in the post-Kuşāņa period. But it was not as popular in this city as it was in the Kuşāņa period. This is evident from the number of Jaina sculptures that have come to light at Mathurā. Government Museum, Mathurā and State Museum, Lucknow are the principal repository of Jaina antiquities discovered at Mathurā; they possess only fifty-nine Jaina sculptures which can be definitely assigned to the
262. JUPHS, III, pp. 2-17. 263. Ibid. 264. MCH, p. 357. 265. Ibid. 266. Ibid.
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