Jain Journal 1979 10

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

Page 25

JAIN JOURNAL
above the forehead. This elevated part reaching from the root of the right ear to that of the left appears to me to be the plastic representation of the maṁsapaļala, the strip of muscle on the forehead of the turbanhead, spoken of by Buddhaghosa, the thick lock of curled hair on the top of the head of the Katra and the Munich images is curled like the snail shell (kaparda). Coomaraswamy observes, "That the remainder of the head is smooth does not mean that it is shaved, but simply that all the long hair was drawn up close and tight over scalp into the single tress."'10 This single curled tress is marked by parallel lines indicating individual hairs of which it consists. If the sculptor had intended to represent hair on the rest of the head, he would certainly have adopted the same convention instead of leaving the area smooth. Smoothness therefore indicates that the rest of the head is clean-shaven. One standing image of the Buddha with smooth head in the Mathura Museum has a smooth bump. 11 The tress of hair curling like a snail shell on the top of the head of the images of the Buddha referred to above evidently represents śikhā or top-knot. Gautama prescribes in his Dharmasūtra (iii, 14, 22) that an ascetic "may either shave or wear a lock on the crown of the head."12
The artists of Mathura in the Kushan period produced another type of the Buddha head with short hair arranged in ringlets turning to the right and a bump or fleshy protuberance on the top covered by hair arranged in the same way. All the Buddha images of the post-Kushana period with the exception of the Mankuar image have a head of this type. The term uşnişa is usually applied to this bump. Is it correct? As we have stated above, uşnīşa-sirşa, turban-head, is a head which is either round in form like a turban, or has the appearance of a head wearing a turban even when bare on account of a strip of muscle covering the upper part of the forehead. Head of either type is turban-like in outline only. A very important part of the royal turban is the crest. A head, turban-like in outline, but without crest, cannot be recognised as a turban-head in the strict sense. Therefore the addition of a bump or fleshy protuberance on the top was evidently thought necessary to turn the head of a Mahāpurusa to a perfect turban-head. The so-called uşnīșa on the Buddha's head is the crest of the ușnīşa and not the uşnişa itself. So it should be termed crest instead of uşnīşa to avoid misunderstanding.
The early Jaina literature, so far available, does not render us much help in solving the puzzles relating to the head of the images of the Jinas.
10 J.R.A.S., 1928, p.827. 11 Vogel, Catalogue, plate XV (a). 19 Sacred Books of the East, Vol. II, p.194.