Jain Journal 1971 07

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 11

JULY, 1971
As regards Risabha's visit it is told that next morning when Bahubali came to know of the Master's departure he “felt disappointed and satisfied himself only by worshipping the spot where the Lord stood and installing an emblem—the dharmacakra—over it.” Though attempts have been made by Marshall and other scholars this site as referred to has not yet been successfully identified. In fact, Marshall has only suggested that a few stūpas at Taxila could be Jaina. Thus, while describing the monuments "in the whole sweep of the valley between Hathial and Sarda hills" he comments “of these surviving monuments, the temple at Jandial was probably Zoroastrian, in any case not Buddhist; the two small stūpas to the north of it may have been either Buddhist or Jaina ; the remainder were unquestionably Buddhist." (A Guide to Taxila, Cambridge, 1960, p. 8.) Though Jainism flourished in Taxila under the Parthians when as it is recorded there were 500 caityas in the city besides others in the country around such relics have not yet been decisively identified. The city being visited by pious Manadeva Suri in the middle of the first cenntry A.D. may yield in future appropriate relics in course of organised field-works and a careful iconographic survey. Here it may be recalled that Hiuen Tsang gave such accounts of Simhapura (Jhelum district) which will indicate that there were both the Svetāmbaras and the Digambaras practising religion in the area.
Among the monuments at Taxila to be noted in connection wit the propagation of early Jainism in the north-western frontiers of the Indian sub-continent obviously the most important is the so-called ‘Shrine of the Double-headed Eagle', which was once described as “probably of Jaina origin" by Marshall. (A Guide to Taxila, Calcutta, 1918, p. 72.) This monument representing the high platform of a stūpa is distinguished by pillasters with Corinthian capitals along with ornamental pediments, a laminated caitya arch and the usual toranas with voluted architraves. The caitya arch and other niches being perched with a double-headed eagle have given the name of the monument. As Benjamin Rowland observes, “this foundation of an interesting structure on the main street of Sirkap is characteristic of the partly Greek, partly Indian culture of the first century B.C.” (Art and Architecture of India, Great Britain, 1959, p. 80). Though Marshall associates the motif of the double-headed eagle with comparable early motifs in Babylon, Hittite or Scythian art and believes that it was introduced by Scythians at Taxila it is obvious that the emblem concerned has an iconographic significance. If the comparison drawn by Marshall between the edifice and those occurring on Jaina Ayāgapatas from Mathura has any real significance the eagle here may be recognised as either a formalised cognisance of the fourteenth Tirthankara Anantanatha or more appropriately