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Devădhideva Tirtharikara
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also suggest that the dharma-cakra etc. were sometimes carved either on top of the simhasana or at base (i.e., on the pipha on which the lion-throne is placed). In the Kuşana period, the dharma-cakra was placed in the centre of the lion-throne and on two sides were shown the monks, nuns, śrāvakas and śrāvikās constituting the tirtha or the four-fold Jaina Samgha.
No early texts refer to the deer on each side of the Wheel. It may therefore be safely concluded that the motif of the two deer flanking the sides of the dharma-cakra on pedestals of Tirthankara images is a later innovation in Jaina iconography. Archaeological evidence from all over India has shown that this deer-motif in Jainism was started somewhere near the beginning of the mediaeval period, probably towards the end of the transitional post-Gupta age in Indian art-history. This motif is in imitation of the Buddhist one symbolising Buddha's first sermon in the Deer-park. Its presence in Jaina iconography cannot be explained.
Figure 27 installed by Mahārājadhirāja Rāmagupta, dating from fourth century A.D., shows the Wheel in the centre of the simha sana but no lanchanas nor the deer-motif are shown. Figure 26 from Vaibhara giri, Rajgir, shows the dharmacakra with the cakrapuruşa in the centre of the simhasana. The Wheel of Law is flanked by conches, the cognizance (anriana) of Jina Neminātha. The sculpture dates from the fifth century A.D. Figure 25 from Musee Guimet, originally perhaps from Orissa, shows the bull cognizance in the centre of the pedestal, four planets seated on each side of the standing Jina, a halo, the triple-umbrella, two heavenly garland-bearers (surapuspavrşti), a pair of hands beating the drum and a pair of hands playing the cymbals (divyadhvani), lotus below the feet of the Jina, two attendant standing camaradharas but no sim/:āsana and no dharmacakra. The sculpture dates from c. 10th-11th cent. A.D.
Figure 49 from the ceiling of a shrine in Kambadahalli, Karnataka, shows Mahāvīra sitting on a simhasana with two lions at two ends and one in the centre. This central lion figure represents the cognizance of Mahāvira. This relief sculpture shows a fully evolved parikara from south Karnataka. The Jina has a halo, a triple-umbrella over his head, and over it the Asoka tree, and two heavenly beings on each side in the sky. Of the four camaradaras, two are Nāgas and two others are Yakşas. To the right of the lion-throne is the two-armed pot-bellied Sasana-Yaksa and on the corresponding left is the Säsana-Yaksi.
Figure 55 probably from Mathura, illustrated by Smith in his book on the Jaina Stupa, now preserved in the State Museum, Lucknow, dates from c. eighth century A.D. It is an interesting specimen as the simhāsana shows the dharmacakra in the centre with a devotee on each side of the Wheel, also there is the bull cognizance on the right side of the Wheel while on the left is a figure of a deer. The deer is in imitation of the Buddhist motif while the bull would suggest that the Jina sitting on the throne represented Rsabhanåtha. The head is mutilated and lost. On each side of the Jina is a camaradhara standing on a lotus. To the right of the Jina is a four-armed Balarama with snake-hoods overhead and a standing attendant (female ?). To the corresponding left of the Jina is kopa four-armed and a two-armed female attendant. The presence of Balarama and Krsna would have suggested that the Jina figure represented Neminátha, the cousin brother of Kisa according to Jaina Puranas but the bull cognizance and traces of hair-lock on the shoulder of the Jina show that the Jina is Rşabhanātha. The introduction of Krsna and Balarama is here due to the influence of Vaişpavism.
Equally interesting is no. J.776 in Lucknow Museum, illustrated here as Fig. 72, which shows dharmacakra in the centre of the lion-throne below which in the centre of the inscribed pedestal is the tortoise (kūrma) the cognizance of Munisuvrata. Above the triple-umbrella is a small sitting Jina flanked by Krsna and Balarama. The sculpture shows a very evolved parikara and two Jivantasvami figures.
In Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh the Planets are shown below the lion-throne, either on top of the pedestal or on the face of the pedestal or on the lower end of the same, see Figs. 87, 189; also Fig. 74 in Studies in Jaina Art.
That the dharmacakra is an ancient motif or symbol worshipped by the Jainas is supported by archaeological evidence from Kankali Tila, Mathura, etc. and by the Avasyaka Niryukti51 tradition that Bahubali established, at Taksasilā, the dharmacakra, on the spot where Rşabhanātha had stayed for one night.
Images of Tirthankaras are worshipped in only two principal varieties, namely, standing or sitting,52
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