Jain Journal 1972 07

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

Page 53

44
"It is said Srimat Sankaracarya recovered this image from the Naradakunda in Badrinathdham and installed it near Garudasila. Later, in the 15th century, a king of Garhwal was asked in a dream to erect a temple and it was he who brought and installed the image in its present position." (pp. 143-44)
JAIN JOURNAL
Mythology and heresay have created more confusion than they have solved; but it is the considered opinion of the writer of this note that in our decision we must be guided not by heresays and myths but by a dispassionate observation of the image itself. And if that is done, then there will remain no doubt that it is an image of Rsabha who alone wore matted hairs and passed away on the Himalayas. Even the disfigurement of the face is probably a deliberate act of vandalism, to distort a Jaina image and there are innumerable instances of such acts in this country. The posture of sitting in meditation, placing of hands are all in the Jaina line-in the line of Vitaragadeva. That it cannot be Buddha image is clear from the fact that it bears no mark of a cloth and is therefore wholly nude. The image apart, the construction of the various apartments of the temple, the garbhagṛha, sabha-manḍapa, etc., the main gate opening on the east, the kalasa with golden leaves on the gate, the installation of the image at the centre of a silver throne, silver utensils, the existence of Ghantakarna, also called Ksetrapala, the image with its attendants in one slab, and the ceremony of nirvāņa abhişeka, and the restrained life of the Rawals in line with the Jaina practice-all confirm its being a Jaina image.