Jain Journal 1979 07

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

Page 31

24
has been shown above Siva cannot be called 'Lengha-deva'. So we have to search the pantheon of other sects to find out the deity in question.
JAIN JOURNAL
Like the Brahmanical Hindus the Digambara Jainas also, worship a host of gods and demi-gods along with twenty four Tirthankaras. Like the Jaina monks who roam naked, their Tirthankaras are also installed naked in the temples. It is for the reason of housing the naked Tirthankaras in the temple, the said temple was probably known to the people as the 'Lengha-deva maṇḍapi' or 'the temple of the naked god'.
The word 'Lengha' or 'Lenga' was probably the archaic form of the medieaval Bengali word 'Lenga' or 'Lengṭa' meaning thereby sky-clad or naked. So it will not be wrong if we assume that the 'Lengha-devamaṇḍapi' was nothing but a Jaina temple which enshrined the sky-clad image of a Jaina Tirthankara or Tirthankaras.
Incidentally it may be mentioned that even at present a temple in Dharapat in Bankura District is called "Nyāngṭā Thakurer Mandir" by the simple village folk for the presence of a naked Jaina Tirthankara image therein. 23 Another instance may be cited to ellucidate the point. Brahmachari Aksaya Chaitanya, a Hindu monk attached to R. K. Mission who travelled almost all the Hindu pilgrimages of West Bengal states that in course of his journey to Sankarpur in the Burdwan District, he came across a Jaina Tirthankara image who is worshipped by the village folk as 'Nyāntesvara Siva' 24, simply for the nakedness of the deity. It is to be noted that the villagers have totally forgotten the Jaina origin of the deity in course of a few centuries.
Mr Kalidas Dutta discovered several Jaina Tirthankara images from the Sundarvans in the South 24-parganas. He states in the Varendra Research Soceity's Monograph that he discovered a very old stone image of Parsvanatha, the penultimate Tirthankara of the Jaina's from dakṣin-Barasat. 25 The find-spot of the said Parsvanatha image is only 15/20 miles away from the find spot of the celebrated Govindapur Copper-plate of Laksmana Sena wherein the term 'Lengha-deva-maṇḍapi' It is to be noted that the image was recovered during the digging of a ditch.
occurs.
The famous Chinese pilgrim Hu-en-Tsang states that Samatata was a great seat of Digambara Jaina religion during the time of his visit. According to him the Digambara Jainas were very numerous there. 26 Samatata too formed part of the kingdom of the Senas27 and a part of it was included to the Vardhamana bhukti during 12th century A.D.