Book Title: Jain Rup Mandan
Author(s): Umakant P Shah
Publisher: Abhinav Publications

Previous | Next

Page 129
________________ 116 Jaina-Rupa-Mandana A beautiful bronze of Rşabha in padmāsana on a big padestal with dharmacakra and two deer in the centre of the pedestal and the attendant Yaksa and the Yaksi to the right and left of the Jina lost. dating from c. 8th century A.D., obtained from Vasantagadh hoard, was published by us in the Lalit Kala, no. 1. Another beautiful brass image of the first Jina in padmāsana with only the Ambika Yakşi on his left preserved was published by us in our paper on the Iconography of the Jaina Goddess Ambikā (as figure 33).24 The image, from a Jaina temple in Sadadi, Rajasthan, dates from c. 8th century A.D. From Amarasara, Rajasthan, a hoard of Jaina bronzes was obtained which is now preserved in the Government Museum at Bikaner. The hoard includes a bronze Pañcatirthi of Rşabha sitting in padmasana. On his right side near the pedestal is the two-armed Yaksa Sarvānubhūti and on the corresponding left is a two-armed Yakşi showing the varada mudra and the citron in her right and the left hands respectively. The Yaksa carries the citron in his right hand and the money-bag in the left one. The bronze dates from c. tenth century A.D. At Varmána. Rajasthan, in the Mahāvira Jinālaya,25 is a stone sculpture of Adinātha sitting on the simhasana. In the centre we have the dharmacakra with a bull on each side. To the right of the simhasana is a figure of two-armed Sarvānubhūti Yakşa showing the abhaya with his right hand. To the corresponding left is a figure of a two-armed Yaksi. The symbols in aer hands are not distinct. The sculpture dates from c. 800 A.D. A partly mutilated beautiful sculpture of Adinātha was discovered from Udai, district Gangapur, Rajasthan. Here Adinātha sitting in padmāsana is accompanied by 48 small miniature figures of Jinas, a few of these figures from the upper part of the sculpture are mutilated. These Jinas are arranged in four rows on two sides of the beautiful ornamental halo. Hair-locks on shoulders, uşnişa on head, but no jață. In fact, generally the Adinātha figures in Rajasthan and Gujarat do not show the prominent jață as in images from Eastern India. The Jina sits on a simhāsana and in the centre is the dharmacakra with a bull on each side in this Udai sculpture. The Yaksa on the right end is a two-armed Sarvanubhūti while the Yakşi figure on the left end is mutilated. This sculpture, belonging to the Digambara sect, is a fine specimen of the Gurjara-Pratihara art of c. 9th century A.D. A beautiful sculpture of Rşabha, partly mutilated, was lying in the courtyard of the Ukha Mandir, Bayana, Rajasthan. The head of the Jina is lost. On the right end of the simhāsana is a figure of a two-armed cow or bull-faced Gomukha Yakşa, while on the corresponding left end we find four-armed Yakşi Cakreśvari with her symbols broken. The Yaksa carries in his right hand a mace (gadā) while the symbol of his left hand is not distinct. It may be noted that when a Sasanadevatā pair was first introduced as attendants in the parikara of a Tirtharkara image, the pair was common to all the twenty-four Tirtha karas and was represented by a two-armed Kubera-like male Yaksa who was invoked variously as Sarvänubhūti or Sarvänha by the Jainas and a twoarmed Yakşi called Ambika who carried a mango-bunch or a lotus in one hand and who held a son with the left hand. 26 The Yakşi, as we shall see later, was reminiscent of and evolved from some ancient concepts like that of Anaitis or Nānā on the lion, the Durgā, Hariti, etc.27 Later on, from about the ninth century A.D., separate yakşiņis begin to appear for the 24 different Tirthankaras. The Bayana sculpture shows the later evolved Yaksa pair for the Ādi-Jina. The sculpture dates from c. 1000-1050 A.D. But perhaps the most beautiful sculpture of Rşabhanātha, of mediaeval period, from the whole of Western India, is a marble image from the site of the old city of Chandrāvati (near Mt. Abu), now preserved in the Rietberg Museum, Zurich, Switzerland.28 The Jina is standing in the käyotsarga mudra and wears a very fine dhoti. He has the usnişa on head and the srivasta mark on the chest. A full parikara is shown but without the Sasanadevatās or the attendant Yaksa and Yakşi. The sculpture dates from c. 10th century A.D. From Sanauli in the Alwar area of Rajasthan were discovered a few Jaina bronzes a few years ago. Shri Krishna Dev kindly brought them to my notice and gave me some photographs. Amongst them is a beautiful bronze, elaborately cast with several small figures in the parikara, including figures of seven other Tirthakaras. Rsabhanātha sits in padmāsana in the centre on a simhasana. Below the dharmacakra is the bull cognizance in the centre of the pedestal with four planets and a devotee on each side. The bronze has an inscription on the back giving a date v.s. 1070= A.D. 1013. On the right lower end is a figure of wo-armed cow-faced Goinukha Yaksa showing the citron in his right hand while on the corresponding Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466