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

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Page 137
________________ 124 Jaina-Rupa-Mandana to the right of the dharmacakra and two-armed Ambika Yakşi on the left), fig. 187 from temple 15 (showing Sarvānubhūti on the left of the simhāsana and Ambikā on the right), fig. 192 from Temple no. 2, fig. 195 from Temple 2 (Tri-tirthika sculpture of Rşabhanātha with full parikara showing two-armed cowfaced Yakşa on the right end of the simhasana and a two-armed Yaksi on the left end). This figure is dated in Samvat 1051 A.D. 994. The Yakşa shows the abhaya and the water-jar in his two hands, the Yaksi shows the disc and the fruit in her hands. In Fig. 207 from Temple no. 4, there are in all thirteen Tirthaókaras, including the central figure of Adinatha with his bull cognizance. No Yaksa and Yaksi are shown. The sculpture seems to be of the same age as Bruhn's fig. 206, image no. 248 dated in v.s. 1095, see Bruhn's page 165, Fig. 211 from Temple no. 21 where the Yakşa is two-armed with the human face and the Yakşi is two-armed showing the abhaya and the fruit in her two hands. Bruhn's fig. 212 from Budhi Chanderi shows the Cakreśvarı Yakṣi while the Yakşa figure is indistinct; we have already described above Bruhn's fig. 213 from Golakot. These figures are in general similar in conception and perhaps not much removed in age from each other and we may assign Bruhn's figs. 207, 211-213, 214-218 to the same perind around Samvat 1095 (A.D. 1038). Fig. 218 is from Siron Khurd and seems to be somewhat later in his group. It shows four-armed Gomukha Yaksa and four-armed Cakreśvari as the Sāsanadevatās of Rşabhanātha. Fig. 231 from temple 4 is already discussed before. Figures 239 and 239 A belong to the same class as figs. 211-218. Figs. 261-263 also show Rşabha in the sitting posture. Bruhn has discussed on his pages 198f a typical Pārsva image from Temple 6, Devgadh. It is illustrated by him in his fig. 260. It will be obvious from the illustration that hair-locks touch both the shoulders of Pārsvanātha. In Jaina iconographic traditions only in the case of Rşabhanātha images the hair-locks can be depicted falling on the Jina's shoulders. We have another instance also of such an irregularity. Sculpture no. B.23 in the Nagpur Museum (DGA's negative no. 1659/62) shows Pārśvanātha, canopied by seven snake-hoods, sitting in the padmasana on a double lotus with the snake cognizance also shown in front of the lotus in its centre. Triple hair strands on each shoulder are clearly marked out. Pratapaditya Pal has published a colour plate of a beautiful bronze in his Sensuous Immortals, fig. 50, p. 86, and described it as a Jaina Tirthankara. Hair-locks from the back of the Jina's head are prominently displayed in a curly way all over his both shoulders. But the lāñchana in the centre of the pedestal, much worn out, looks more like a goat or an antelope than a bull in the beautiful plate published in the book. Pal feels that it looks more like an antelope. Pal has assigned the bronze to seventh century; provenance is supposed to be Bihar. On each side of the Jina is standing a male cămaradhara yaksa. The bronze is gold-plated and is a very fine early Jaina bronze. This is another instance which shows that sometimes, perhaps through mistake, other Tirthankaras were also shown with hair-locks adorning their shoulders. Worship of Adinātha was popular in U.P. and Madhya Pradesh. We need not refer to many more sculptures of Ādinātha from the Lucknow Museum, the Mathura Museum, the Jhansi Museum etc. The worship remained popular through the ages. In a shrine in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh is a bronze image of Rşabha sitting in the padmasana with full parikara and the bull cognizance below simhasana on the pedestal. A pair of feet by the side of the bull show the Carana-pūjä which is an ancient custom amongst all the sects in India. Below are planet-heads. Still below in the centre is an unidentified two-armed standing male. He is not the donor since small figures of the donor male and female occur on an upper level of the pedestal. On the right end of the pedestal is the goddess Padmăvati, two-armed, with three snake-hoods over her head. To her left is the Gomukha Yakşa, two-armed. Symbols held by the figures are not distinct. On the corresponding left end is a two-armed Yakşi carrying a kalaša in her left hand. The other symbol is not distinct. To her left is a figure of two-armed Ambika. The bronze is dated in Samvat 1527=A.D. 1470 and belongs to the Digambara tradition. A beautiful bronze of Rsabha sitting in the padmāsana, now preserved in the Punyavijaya Collection of the L.D. Institute, Ahmedabad, was published in Treasures of the Jaina Bhandaras. The bronze was given as a gift by the Jainas of Sirpur in Khandesh. There is an inscription on the back which refers to the Vägendra kula. The Yaksa to the right of the Jina is mutilated but what remains shows that he was riding on the elephant and held a money bag in his left hand. Obviously the figure was of two-armed Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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