Jain Journal 1994 07

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

Page 20

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JAIN JOURNAL: VOL XXIX, NO 1, JULY 1994
The strange phenomenon of these archaeological evidences seems to be suggesting that some frictions must have occurred between the Jainas (along with the Buddhists) and the Vaisnavas during the Kusāna and Gupta periods under the Vaisnava renaissance movement of Sanskrit culture at Mathurā, the birth place of Krsna, and this opened a way to the mass exodus of the Jainas from Mathurā to the South and the West, which later caused the Great Schism of the Jainas into the Śvetāmbaras and Digambaras.35 And the creation of tirthankara images must have probably happened in connection with the fight for winning Mathurā, which the Vaisnavas must have been eager to take back from the Jainas (and the Buddhists).
The following is a supposition that explains the situation along this line. As aforementioned, the Jainas were worshipping the images of Mahāvīra and Pārsva by the early Kusāna period. The Vaisnavas tactfully placed Buddha under the supremacy of Visnu by way of receiving Buddha as one of Visnu's avatāras. It might be likewise possible that the Jainas, sensing the danger of their attack, tried to safeguard themselves by placing Krsna under the power of Aristanemi whose chronological position must be assumed to be earlier than that of Pārsva. firthankara Aristanemi might have been created in such a way. However, since Krsna is no more than an avatāra of Visnu, the Jainas have to have their Adinātha who stands equal to Visnu's position in order to cope with their avatāra theory. And the Jainas might have probably tried to absorb the line of Rsabha-Bharata from the Vaisnava source. 36 And since the fight urged the Jainas to establish evidences that Rsabha and Aristanemi had existed ever since the beginning of their church chronology, the Jainas probably had to produce their images at once. It could be the reason why their numerous images emerged suddenly during the period of King Kaniska through Vāsudeva. As aforementioned, a class of tirthankara identified with Aristanemi flanked by Balarāma and Vāsudeva Krsna appears in the Kusāna and post
35. For the details, refer to S. Ohira : Ibid. Section IV, Part I 36. Then later, the Bhagavata Purāna, which is assignable to the 10th century A.D.
(M. Winternitz: A History of Indian Literature, v.1, p.556) absorbs Rşabha, by speaking of his wandering in the Western part of the peninsula, and connecting him with the establishment of the Jaina religion in those parts. (J. Dowson: A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History and Literature, p.268)