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JAIN JOURNAL : VOL-XLI. NO. 1 JULY. 2006
Vardhamāna Samputa, therefore, is the embodiment of all the boons conferrable by the Lord Himself.47
The full jar (pürna kalasa) which forms the fourth symbol in the Astamāngalika group symbolises the fact of the Lord being the fulfiller of all wants in the three worlds. This symbol of a purna kalasa is common to Hinduisın as well. That the Lord here is identified with the Kalaśa is quite clear from the representation of the Kalasa which is attributed, in anthropomorphic analogy with a pair of eyes. According to Jain conception, the Lord Jina (Tirthankara) is said to flourish in all his aspects and with all glory in the three worlds like a Full Jar distributing favour and blessings all around''. Indeed the kalasa that is regarded as symbolic all fulfilment, originated from the ocean in course of the 'Great Churning' and contained all the divinities." The Kumbha, therefore, is coeval with the Highest Divinities we can conceive of, and has an origin as sacred and ancient as the amrtatva of the gods in Hindu mythology. It is indeed a distinct borrowing from Brahmanism and is another of clear signs of dependance on the Hindu system of thought and ideology. On one of the jambs of the toraņa gateway from Kankāli Tila, Mathurā, we have a spectacular representation of a kalasa on whose mouth are placed five lotus buds
47. Cf.
punyai yaşaḥ samudayaḥ prabhută mahatvam saubhāgyadhivinayasarmmamanorathāśca vardhanta eva Jina-nāyaka te prasādāt tadvardhamānayugasamputamādadhanah
- Acāradinakara, loc. cit. 48. visvatraye ca svakule Jineso vyākhyāyate Srikalasāyamānah/ ato tra pūrņam kalasam likhitvā Jinārcanākarmakstārthayāmaḥ//
- Ibid, loc. cit. 49. Cf. devadānavasamvāde mathamāne mahodadhau/
utpannosi mahākumbham (?) Vişnunā vidhrkare (?)// tattoye sarvadevāḥ syuḥ sarvadevasamäsritā!
tvayi tişthanti bhūtāni tvayi prāņāḥ pratisthitāḥ// . śivatvam ca gavāśitvam Vişnutvam ca Prajāpatiḥ// adityādyāḥ grahāḥ sarve viśve devāḥ sapitskāh/ tvayi tisthanti kalase yataḥ kāmaphalapradaḥ// tvatprasādāt imain yajñain kartumïhe jalodbhavaḥ// tvadālokanamātrena bhuktimuktiphalai mahat/ sānnidhyain kuru me kumbha prasanno bhava sarvadā//
- Ms. (author's own collection).
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