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APRIL, 1980
are long and slim and can also be compared with those of the Mohenjodaro dancing girl. The modelling of the torso, especially of the belly and abdomen, closely allied to the highly-polished torso of a Jina image from Lohanipur, now in the Patna Museum, and the Harappa red stone torso. Thus the bronze is modelled in the Indus style which seems to have continued down to the Mauryan age." (Jaina Art And Architecture, Bharatiya Jnanapitha, edited by A. Ghosh, Vol. I, p. 87.) Similarly, our attention has been drawn by M. N. Deshpande to a steatite seal from Mohenjo-daro which depicts "in the upper register an ascetic standing in the kayotsarga-posture in a jungle" (Ibid., p. 21). The ascetic is shown as "being worshipped by a lay follower seated beside a bull and in the lower register are seven figures standing in the so-called kāyotsargaposture." While the identification may tend to suggest the "existence of Jainism in the Harappa times" (Ibid.) the motif may at the sametime recall the legend of Bahubali. The figure that stands amidst leafy stems of a plant will appear extremely significant especially if it is regarded as a delineation of a Tirthankara as already suggested. In view of several considerations one may be inclined to identify the figure as Bahubali. The suggestion will gain strength if the kneeling or seated figure with its curved outline is recognised as a woman, and the horned bull is regarded as a symbol of Rsbhanatha who was the founder and the master of the religion of the Nirgrantha.
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Whatever may be the actual facts of the past the contemplation of Bahubali will beckon for ever the soul of humanity towards eternal bliss and calm.
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