Jain Journal 2006 07

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

Page 13

JAIN JOURNAL : VOL-XLI, NO. 1 JULY 2006
of Svastika on the right hand side with its outer arms turned to the right. Although exactly there is nothing to prove the Buddhist affiliation of the find under discussion, we have reasons to believe in consideration of the associate objects, from Tofkiān at Taxila where the present ayāgapata was found that it is a Buddhist votive tablet. Indeed in some of the other tablets of offering (votive) attributed to the Buddhist and excavated out of the Taxilian sites we have definite and conclusive evidence of a pair of fish as a sacred symbol. In another terracotta votive tablet referred to above we have a pair of fish on its left corner at the bottoin, surmounted by the figure of a lady dressed in flowing robes in the fashion of the Indo-Greeks, with both hands raised upwards as if holding the jar above. The foliage ornamentation, the shape and conception of the jar (purna kalasa) at the centre on the above together with the peculiar dress of the female figures on the outer border, speak of the Kuşāņa period of the tablet when it seems, the fish-motif and the Purņa-kalasa design were regarded, as in later years, as some of the most common symbols signifying auspiciousness irrespective of all religions or sects. In fact, it is with same popularity as an auspicious symbol that the fish-motif continued to be used on votive tablets and other objects down upto the Gupta and the postGupta era. In the recent excavations at Ahicchatra, we have the alternation of fish-designs on a potsherd interspersed with a figure resembling a cakra”. The composition, if it could be found in entirety, might well have established the pouplar acceptance of the piscal symbology in the late Gupta period.
The Jain representation of the pair of fish as an auspicious symbol has a peculiarity of its own. In the Kuşāņa art from Mathurā a pair of fish as an auspicious symbol in āvāgapatas is always shown with their mouth drawn towards each other and holding in their mouths a string sometimes with a floral design attached to it. The Acāradinakara recording a Svetāmbara tradition explains the symbology in a very
61.
The Report of the excavations at Ahicchatra has not been published yet. A sketch of the design in pencil was given to me by Sri A. Gosh, Supdt. Excavations, Archl. Survey, for my use.