Jain Journal 1989 10

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

Page 13

46
in good state of preservation. This particular specimen is now preserved in the Museum of the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad in Calcutta.
JAIN JOURNAL
Another image of Santinatha is reported from the village Chatra in the District of Purulia. It is embedded in the plaster to the left of the doorway of a modern Siva Temple.
Other two images of Santinatha have been reported from the village Pakbirra and Chatra in Purulia District. Only the lower portion of the images are available. They are identified with Santinatha, as deer, the conventional lañchana is depicted on the pedestal of both the sculpture.
Scenes from the life of Buddha, such as the great renunciation, as well as from the Buddhist Jätaka stories, are represented in numerous reliefs from Gandhara, Bharhut, Sanchi, Mathura, Amaravati, Nagarjun-konda and elsewhere in India and abroad. But little is known of similar representation from the lives of the Jaina Tirthankaras.
Fortunately, a large number of reliefs in the ceilings of the Jaina shrines at Delvada, Mt. Abu, especially in the temples built by Vimala Shah and Tejapala, and in the group of temples at Kumbharia near Abu, preserve for us beautifully carved representations depicting main events from the lives of Tirthankaras like Candraprabha, Munisuvrata, Santinatha, Neminatha, Parsvanatha, and Mahavira.
In the earlier birth, the soul of Santinatha was born as king Megharatha who possessed clairvoyant knowledge. Once a god, Surupa by name, desired to test Megharatha's steadfastness in the practice of Dharma. He, therefore, took the form of a pigeon which was being pursued by a falcon and flew in the meditation hall of Megharatha with cries for help. The pigeon took shelter into the lap of the king who was meditating there. Megharatha asked the bird not to worry and promised protection at any cost. The falcon, chasing, rushed in and told the king that since he was hungry, his bird of prey, the pigeon, should be handed over. The king offered to satisfy his hunger with his own flesh. The falcon, another god in this form, insisted on having his flesh equal to the weight of the pigeon. The king instantly ordered for a balance and began to cut his own flesh and put it on the scale. But the god in the pigeon's body kept on increasing his
R. D. Banerjee, Eastern Indian School of Mediaeval Sculpture, p. 144, Pl. LXXVII. "Jaina Art & Architecture, Vol. I, Chap. 15, pp. 152ff.