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A Torso of Parsvanatha in the Bhagalpur
Museum (Bihar)
AJOY KUMAR SINHA
Bhagvan Parsvanathal is one of the most revered Tirthankaras of Jainism. According to Prof. Rhys Davids, he was the lone founder of the Jaina Faith. He is the 23rd Tirthankara and his emblem is snake. He was born in the royal palace at Varanasi in about 817 B.C. He was married with the daughter of king Prasenajita of Kosala but like prince Siddhartha he left his home to follow the life of an ascetic at the age of 30 and preached his doctrine of love and universal fraternity, for about 70 long years through out the country. He was closely associated with the province of Bihar and he died in about 717 B.C. at Mount Parsvanatha3 (Sammeta Sikhara) in the district of Hazaribagh, Bihar.
The torso of Bhagvan Parsvanatha under discussion was acquired by the author of this paper from Katwali Police Station, Monghyr in the year 1977. It was unearthed inside the old Monghyr Fort during the course of construction of the building for Gun Factory. The town of Monghyr, no doubt, has a glorious past. It is learnt from the Padmacarita of the Acarya Ravisena (circa 7th century A.D.) that the Jaina religion was in flourishing condition during that period in the vicinity of Monghyr. Temple of the Tirthankaras were being built and the teachers were always moving in these sacred places propagating their religion. Acarya Jinasena? and Acarya Haribhadra (circa 8th century A.D.) also described the Anga region as a centre of Jainism. The colossal
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Bhattacharya, B. C : The Jaina Iconography (Delhi 1974), pp. 58-59. Davids, Rhys : Ency. Britt., Vol. xii (9th Edition), p. 543. Ramchandran, T. M : Jaina Monuments of India (Calcutta 1944), p. 1. O'Malley, I. C. S: Bihar and Orissa District Gazetteer-Monghyr (Patna 1926), pp. 30-52 Sinha, B. P. (ed.): The Comprehensive History of Bihar, Vol. I, Pt. II, (Patna), p. 457. Ibid., p. 458. Ibid.
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