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Jaina-Rupa-Mandana bull-faced, pot-bellied and four-armed. He holds a noose, hatchet, rosary in his three hands while the fourth hand is in varada pose." The sculpture dates from c. 9th-10th cent. A.D.
The old Manbhum district of Bihar is now divided into the districts of Purulia (West Bengal) and Dhanbad (Bihar). Anai-Jambad or more popularly Paresnath or Paresnath Mahadev-Beda or Mahadev-Beda is a place situated under the Purulia (Mofussil) P.S. of the Purulia district of West Bengal where Sri Sarak Jaina Samiti of Kharkhari, Dhanbad has constructed a modern temple over the ruins of an ancient Jaina settlement. This temple houses six unique images of Jaina Tirtha karas discovered from mounds around the area. They include a Pañcatirthika sculpture of Rşabhanātha, and another one of Rşabha standing in kâyotsarga on a double-lotus placed on a tri-ratha pedestal which has in the centre the bull lanchana flanked by crouching lions. The saviour is nude, his hair dressed in a tall jațámukusa with curls of hair falling down on shoulders. On either side stands a male chowrie-bearer while on the back slab are shown in bold relief the eight planets, four on each side of the Jina, Ketu being omitted. Behind the head of the Jina is the halo surmounted by triple umbrella. Above the planets are garland-bearing vidyadharas as also a drum and a pair of cymbals struck by disembodied hands. The sculpture is assigned to c. tenth centur A .
Pratip Kumar Mitra, writing on the sculptures from Anai-Jambad,38 states: “The sculptural wealth of South-West Bengal as represented or expressed in by the examples of early mediaeval sculptures recovered from this area requires to be treated as a separate entity. The region roughly covering the erstwhile district of Manbhum, the district of Bankura, the north-western part of Midnapore, with extensions into the districts of Singhbhum and Ranchi of the Chhotanagpur subdivision of Bihar, represents a characteristically common trait in icono-plastic art, which is somewhat removed from the main stream of Pala art... In respect of modelling of the body these sculptures are in general more robust and forceful than merely graceful or lyrical ..."
From Surohar in Dinajpur district, Bangladesh, was discovered a beautiful sculpture representing Rşabha sitting in the padmāsana with small figures of the other 23 Tirthankaras around him on three sides. The Caturvimšati-pafta of Rsabha dates from c. tenth century A.D. The bull cognizance of Rsabha is shown in the centre of the pedestal. Rşabha has a beautiful big jatäbhära on head which reminds one of the figure of Siva (Fig. 57).39
An elaborately carved sculpture of Rşabhadeva from Kukkuramatha, Mandla district, old Central Provinces, shows the Jina sitting in padmasana with a beautiful prominent jatābhāra on head and hairlocks adorning the shoulders. In a perfectly balanced yogic posture the figure at once reminds one of Siva of the Brahmanical Trinity. In the background, in the upper part of the sculpture are shown, in two rows, beautifully modelled miniature figures of the planets. The ornamental halo, the graceful modelling with the classical touch etc. suggest a date around ninth century A.D.
Images of Rşabha are obtained also from Bhelova, Dinajpur, from Sank, Purulia district, Pakbirra and from Sitalpur and Bhangra villages in the same district. Purulia was once part of Manbhum district, Bihar; Manbhum is identified with the ancient Rādhadeśa visited by Mahävira. Sculptures of Rşabhanätha are also obtained from Ghateśvara and Dharapet in W. Bengal, from Mandoil, Rajshahi district, Bangladesh, from Bhagalpur in Bihar and from places like Palma and Bhavanipur etc. 40
A hoard of Jaina bronzes of the Digambara sect, from Aluara, Bihar, dating from c. 11th-12th cent. A.D., includes two standing figures of Rşabha with the prominent jață and the bull lañchana and one figure sitting in the padmasana (Patna Mu. nos. 10680, 10681 and 10687).41 There is also a dvi-tirthi with Rşabha and Mahavira standing side by side (Patna Mu. no. 10682). A similar dvitirthi in stone, much more beautifully modelled, is preserved in the British Museum and seems to have hailed from Orissa (Studies in Jaina Art, fig. 35 and Ramaprasad Chanda, Mediaeval Indian Sculpture in the British Museum, pl. XXII and p. 71).
The first Tirthankara was also very much venerated in U.P. and Madhya Pradesh.42 Few Jaina antiquities are as yet found from Haryana and Punjab. A beautiful sculpture of Rşabhanātha (?) with full parikara found from Bhatinda in Punjab is now preserved in the Archaeological Museum at Chandigarh (JOI, vol. 31, no. 3, last cover page).
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