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Jaina-Rupa-Mandana Both these varieties show the Tirthankara either with parikara or without it. The CeiyavandanaMahābhāsa of Santi sűri tried to account for the parikara. The Jinas were liberated souls, where was the propriety for a parivara (paraphernalia) accompanying them? According to some, this form of the image, showing the parivära, represented the form of a Jina giving his Sermon (sitting on the simhasana in the dhyāna mudra) in a samavasarana. According to the author of the Ceiyavandana-Mahābhāsa53 this was the popular explantation (vyavahāra) but the real significance (paramartha) was that the three stages (avastha-traya) in a Jina's life, namely, Chadmastha, Kevali and Siddha avasthäs were suggested by such a representation. The explanation is not convincing but an explanation became necessary firstly because a liberated soul, a siddha or mukta, needed no attendants and secondly because the parikara was being shown around standing figures as well. It seems that originally the introduction of parikara was based on the conception of the atisayas rather than on anything else.
The Vástusära of Thakkara Feru, composed in v.s. 1372 (1316 A.D.), describes the parikara of a Jina image.54 According to it, the simha sana has a yakși and a yakşa on its two extreme ends while between the two are two lions, two elephants and two chowrie-bearers, 55 one on each side, and in the centre of the seat is the goddess Cakreśvari, riding on the eagle. Below her figure is the dh -- - with a deer on each side. The lañchana of the Jina is carved in the centre of the gādi (Gujarati, cushion) placed upon the simhasana. The back-slab in front of which the Jina-figure is placed shows in high relief) chowrie-bearers and other standing Jina figures on both the sides. Over the standing Jinas are two (smaller figures of) Jinas in the sitting posture, above which is a torana motif. The Jina in the centre (the chief deity in such a sculpture) has a triple umbrella overhead, an aureole behind, and on two sides of the chatra are two garland-bearers, two conch-bearers, two elephants surmounted by Harinegameşin and the drum-beaters. The parikara described by Thakkara Feru is of a Pañca-Tirthika sculpture, that is, a sculpture which represents five Tirthankaras in all (cf. Fig. 69). If the two sitting Tirthaokaras are omitted then it would be a Tri-Tirthika sculpture, i.e., a sculpture which has images of three Tirthankaras (they may be sitting and/ or standing, cf. Fig. 26) while a sculpture with 24 images of Jinas will be a Caturvimšati-pafa (or a Covisi in modern usage). The sculpture would be a Pañcatirthi or Tri-Tirthi or Covisi of Rşabhanātha if the central Jina is Rsabhanātha. In all such groupings usually the lanchana of the main Jina alone is carved on the pedestal.
A noteworthy feature of Thakkara Feru's description is the presence of goddess Cakreśvari in the centre of the asana.56 This is a late feature in Jaina iconography. Formerly the place was reserved for the dharmacakra. Again, in a majority of sculptures known hitherto, another goddess, four-armed and riding on the elephant, is seen on the lion-thrones of Svetāmbara sculptures from about twelfth century onwards. The goddess shows the lotus in each of her two upper hands, the rosary and/or the varada mudra in the right lower hand and the water-pot in the left lower. She may be identified as the Sänti-devī57 (see Fig. 168).
But the practice of adding some such figure started about a couple of centuries earlier, though its position was in the centre of the lowermost edge of the pedestal, see Fig. 87. Besides the figure was not the four-armed goddess described above but a two-armed figure,58 either a pot-bellied male figure with a beard, or a two-armed female figure (see Figure 27 in Paper no. 6, Aspects of Jaina Art and Architecture). This female figure shows the water-pot in one hand. Perhaps the male figure was intended to be Sarvanubhūti. The figure of four-armed Sinti-devi represents a later stage.
The Nirvāņakalika (Sve. c. 11th century A.D.) refers to eight prātihāryas, the Yaksa, the Sāsana-devi (Yaksi), the motif of dharmacakra with two deer and the ratna-dhvaja (jewelled banner possibly signifying the Indradhvaja).59 It omits any reference to the devi noted above and the introduction of this goddess cannot be assigned to a period much earlier than that of the Nirvanakalikā.
Vasunandi (c. 12th cent. A.D.), author of the Digambara text Pratisthä-sarasamgraha, describing the parikara, refers to the prätiharyas, the Yaksa on the right of the seat and the Yaksi on the corresponding Jeft. The lañchana is to be placed below the pada-pipha (foot-stool or the pedestal ?).60 Pandit Asadhara (v.s. 1285= A.D. 1228) follows the above tradition in his Pratisthā-säroddhāra.61
Jaina Bhandaras at Patan and Baroda contain copies of relevant Jaina portions of the Silpa text
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