ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 01

Author(s): International School for Jain Studies
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

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from western India have also been found. It may be concluded that the concept of Jīvantasvāmī was further widened to cater to the needs and aspiration of the devotees, by transmitting the massage of observance of austerity and the renunciation of a passionate life along with all the worldly obligations. In a few examples from Osian [Jodhpur, Rajasthan, 11th century CE], the figures of yaksas and yakṣis have also been added to Jivantasvāmi, apparently suggestive of the innovation on the part of the artist.
The earliest known Jina image is preserved in the Patna Museum; it comes from Lohanipur [Patna, Bihar] and is dated back to the 3rd century BCE.8 As the figure is nude and stands in the kayotsarga mudra, [pls. 3, 7] this suggests rigorous austerity, confined only to the Jinas. Another from Lohanipur is assignable to the Sunga period or slightly later. A terracotta Jina icon of the 3rd century BCE has also been reported from Ayodhya.9 In this connection, the references to the 'Kalinga Jina' in the Hathigumpha inscription, and the Lohanipur and Ayodhya Jina figures, the antiquity of the Jina image may be pushed back to the 3rd century BCE.10
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The two other earlier images of Pārsvanatha, dated differently by scholars from the 2nd century BCE to 1st century CE, are in the collection of the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay, and the Patna Museum.11 These figures standing in the käyotsarga-mudra are skyclad, with a five and seven snake's canopy respectively.
Mathura was a stronghold of Jainism from about 100 BCE to CE 1177. The early [100 BCE to the Kuṣāṇa period] Jaina sculptures from Mathura are of special iconographic significance, because they exhibit certain formative stage in the development of Jaina iconography. The vast amount of vestiges includes the ayagapatas [tables of homage], independent Jina images, Pratimāsarvatobhadrikā, Sarasvati [CE 132], Naigameși and also
8 K.P. Jayaswal: Jaina Image of Maurya Period, Journal Bihar, Orissa Research Society, Vol. XXIII, Pt. 1. Patna, 1937, pp. 130-32.
9 The Ayodhya excavation has yielded a terracotta figure of c. 3rd century BCE that is taken to be the earliest Jaina terracotta figure so far unearthed in India.
10 D.C. Sircar: Select Inscriptions, Vol, I Calcutta, 1965, pp. 213-21
11 U.P. Shah: Studies in Jaina Art. Varanasi 1955, pp. 8-9;
H.K. Prasad: Jaina Bronzes in the Patna Museum, Mahavira Jain Vidyalaya Golden Jubilee Volume, _Bombay 1968, pp. 275-80.
The image in the Patna Museum is procured from Chausa in Bhojpur district of Bihar
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