________________
204
INTRODUCTION TO JAINISM
(the aspirant) away from the world towards liberation) near Chennai in Tamil Nadu.
Slabs of rock were used to make four-sided sculptures, and the square pillar pieces known as chaturdiki which were decorated on each of their four sides with sitting and standing Jinas. The largest chaturdiki, ever found can be seen on a naturally square boulder near Tirukkoil in Tamil Nadu, which is almost as big as “two elephants on top of each other.” The first icons made from stone slabs were sitting Jinas – these are easier to make than standing ones. In the beginning the work was still rough and the long ears rested on the shoulders to support the head - almost as they were in reality, because the rich used to have long stretched cars caused by heavy earrings. Long ears are always among to the physical features of Tīrthamkaras as well as Buddhas. Freeing the arms of the image was still a problem (photo 24). But in time one learned to make freestanding sculptures out of granite and kasauti stone, as were found at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro in the form of torsos of standing Jinas in sandstone. Such statues were also found in Lohanipur near Patna (Bihar) and Mathura (Uttar Pradesh). The standing Jina of the temple of Sāntināth (the 16" Tīrthamkara) on the Vindhyagiri also represents this art style. This sculpture shows no decoration whatsoever; the only purpose was to show the serenity of a Jina dedicated to penitence - just as we have seen on the Key Indus Rock.
Apparently the pilgrims in those days approached the hill from the little village of Jinathapuram and were guided by engraved sketches on the rocks which led them along the sacred boulder to the top, so that they could do their mandatory obeisance ritual (pāja). Monks climbing the Vindhyagiri to take sallekhana (peaceful death by fasting) lived in the shelters among the rocks and revered this rock and the manastambha even from a distance. The śāntināth temple was built later, and still later was visited by Bhadrabahu, Emperor Chandragupta's guru, who went there in the fourth century BC with a large group of followers from the North during a prolonged famine. Still a number of years later, some
Jain Education International
For Personal & Private Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
