Jain Journal 1997 10

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

Page 28

MUKHERJI : CULTURAL HERITAGE OF BENGAL IN RELATION TO JAINISM 59
Jaina temples have also been found at Deuliyā in Burdwan. The Sundarbans area was possibly once an important centre of Jainism, as images of Tirthankaras have been from places like Nalgorā, Chatrabhoga and Rāipur. It is possible that Jatar Deul' in that region might have originally been a Jaina temple. Most of the aforesaid temples in Purulia were made of stone and consisted of a cella, vestibule portico, mandapa and ardha-mandapa. Stylistically, most of them belong to 9th-10th centuries A.D. Temple-building activities of the Jainas in Bengal were revived again in the 17th-18th centuries by the immigrant Jainas from Bikāner and Marwār, who built marvellous temples-chiefly in marble-in places like Berhampur, Azimganj and Calcutta, after a pull of about three centuries due to the inroads of Islam.
The sectarian rancour and animosity played not an insignificant part in converting Jaina establishments or shrines into corresponding Brahmanical and Buddhist norms and forms in subsequent year when Jainism became a spent up force in Bengal.
As to the images in stone and bronze of the Jaina Tirthankaras and other accessory deities, special mention may be made of the images of Rsabhanātha from Bhadrakāli in Hooguly, Mândoil in Rajshāhi Surohär in Dinājpur, Jhaldā-Patāmda-Sanka-Bhräbhūm-Pakbirā in Puruliā, Ambikā Ambikānagar-Barkolā in Bānkurā, Rājpārā in Midnapur, Adina in Maldah (inscribed in Arabic characters of the 14th century A.D., image being a product of the 10th century A.D., name Adinā has been derived from Adinatha); Santinātha from Rajpara in Midnapur; Ujani in Burdwan, Pakbir in Purulia, Chiada and Chitagiri in Bānkurā; Pārsvanātha from Deulbhirä, Bihārināth hill, 'Dhārāpat, Bāhulārā. Bārkola and Chiādā in Bānkurā, Pākbirā, Barām and Lāthondungri in Puruliā, Kāntaben and Nalgorā in 24 Parganas, inscribed image (date Sam. 1110) from Azimganj in Murshidabad; inscribed Vāsupujya image in Rajasthāni script from Sāgardighi; Candraprabha from Pakbirā in Purulia; Aruānātha from Deoli in Purulia; Neminātha from Malpah, Murshidabād and Pakbira; Ajitanātha from Barkola in Bankura and Pakbira in Purulia.
Images of Mahāvīra and the Shāsanadevatas like Ambikā or Amrā or Kuśmandini and Padmavati (Jaina prototype of Brahmanical Manasā and Buddhist Jaguli) have been found from several places in West Bengal. Of these, Ambikā of Ambikanagara and Bankurā, one such image in bronze from Nalgora in 24 Parganas, Padmāvati from the same district (preserved in the State Arch. Gallery. West Bengal) as well as seated images of two Sasanadevatas (in one slab), probably identifiable with Ambika and Cakreśvari with babies in their laps and the four Tirthankaras with their emblems carved in the pedestal from