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JANUARY, 1987
posture. By the side of the each mula-nāyaka's halo are two seating Tirthankaras also in deep meditation and on each end is a dancing Gandharva. Pair of truncated elephants are on either side of mulanayaka's chatra. On the right and left ends of the lion-throne of the mūla-nāyaka are shown respectively the figures of the attendant Yaksa and Yaksi. In the centre of the lower-most end of the pedestal is placed the mother goddess seated in the ardha-paryankāsana. The shrine is topped by a beautiful finial flanked by pair of fishes.
The earliest of these Pañca-Tirthikas bears the date samvat 1523 (A.D. 1466). The mula-nāyaka in this icon is Bhagavan Sambhavanatha, the third Jaina Tirthankara (fig. 1). It bears an inscription on its back. The next belonged to samvat 1581 (A.D. 1524) and its mūla-nāyaka is Bhagavan Santinatha, the sixteenth Jaina Tirthankara (fig. 2). The third bears the date samvat 1585 (A.D. 1528). The mula-nayaka in this icon is Bhagavan Adinatha, the first Tirthankara (fig. 3). The last PañcaTirthika belonged to samvat 1603 (A.D. 1546) and its mula-nāyaka is Bhagavan Sumatinatha, the fifth Jaina Tirthankara (fig. 4). Stylistically, all these four icons belonged to one school and show similarities with the western school of Jaina metal art. The Pañca-Tirthikas from Bhagalpur show similarities with the Pañca-Tirthikas from west India displayed in the Los Angeles County Museum (U.S.A.), Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad, Central Archaeological Museum, Gwalior and one enshrined in Sagardighi, Murshidabad. But in comparison to each other the Bhagalpur Panca-Tirthikas are artistic from iconographic point of view as they contain all iconographic details.
7 Ghosh, A., Jaina Art and Architecture, Vol. III, pl. 333. 8 Sharma, B. N., Jaina Pratimayen (New Delhi-1979), p. 9.
• Lalwani, Ganesh, Bhagavan Mahavira (Calcutta-1974), pl. 13.
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