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Iconography of 24 Tirtharkaras
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There is a beautiful bronze of Rşabha in paryankasana resting against a back made of two pilasters surmounted by a horizontal bar from behind which are springing, as it were, two male câmaradharas. The Jina has hair-locks on shoulders carefully marked. He sits under a triple-umbrella. Leaves of the Caitya-tree are shown on both the sides of the chatra. The bronze seems to date from c, tenth century A.D. It is preserved in the Malli Jinālaya at Halli, Jewarji Taluq, Gulbarga district, Karnataka (Panorama of Jaina Art, fig. 333).
Another beautiful bronze, a Caturvimśäti-patta, shows Adinātha sitting in padmāsana on a simhāsana below which is the bull cognizance and below the lañchana seems to be standing a two-armed kşetrapāla. At the right end of the simhasana is a four-armed bull-faced Gomukha Yaksa and on the left end of the simhasana is the four-armed Cakreśvari Yaksi. At the farther right end of the bronze is a small figure of four-armed Padmavati while on the corresponding left end is a two-armed Ambikā. The bronze is in worship in a Jinälaya at Ergal in the Sindgi Taluq, Bijapur district. This beautiful bronze is in the north Indian style and might have come from Maharashtra or Gujarat. The bronze dates from late eleventh century.
In the Government Museum, Madras, is a bronze Caturvimšati-pata from Kogali, Harpanahalli, Bellary district. The bronze is assigned to c. 9th or 10th century. In the centre stands a big figure of a Tirthankara with hair-locks falling on his shoulders. The bronze is partly mutilated on top right end (Mu. no. 36-2/35). The bronze is wrongly identified as a Covisi of Mahavira. On the right end is a twoarmed pot-bellied Sarvānubhùti while on the left end is a two-armed Ambikā (C. Sivaramamurti, Panorama of Jaina Art, fig. 317).
In the same Museum is a stone sculpture of Adinātha standing in the centre with 24 miniature figures of Tirthaakaras sitting in paryarkasana on all the three sides of Adinātha. Adinātha is recognised by hairlocks on his shoulders. There is no cognizance, nor are there any Sāsanadevatās. No elements of the parikara are shown. Museum no. 2511, findspot unknown. Age, c. 14th century A.D.
In the Puddukottai Museum, Tamil Nadu, is a small bronze Caturvimšati-pața, with Adinātha standing in the centre. He has hair-locks on his shoulders, but no jață and no usnisa. The attendant Yakşa is cow-faced and four-armed while the Yakşi is four-armed Cakreśvari. The bronze was dug out from the site of the Maharaja's College at Puddukottai. T.S. Sundaran published it in Lalit Kala, 1-2, pl. XX, fig. 2, p. 79. The bronze can be dated around 1000 A.D. Art style of the bronze suggests that it might have come originally from some area under the rule of Rastrakutas or the Kalyani Calukyas.
A beautiful sculpture of Rşabhanātha, carved in the round, from Warangal, A.P., is now preserved in the National Museum, New Delhi. The Jina sits in the paryarkāsana and his hair are shown as if they are combed, with parallel lines going upwards. Hair-locks on his shoulders help us to identify the Jina as Rşabhanátha, as in the case of the Lakkundi Adinātha noted above. The sculpture can be assigned to c. 10th-11th cent. A.D. and has some Karnataka influence (Panorama of Jaina Art, fig. 19).
In a brick-shrine on top of Bodikunda, Ramatirtham, Vizagapattam district are two Jaina sculptures assignable to 10th century A.D. One of them is a beautiful sculpture of Adinātha with a jatä on his head and a back-rest with two câmaradharas springing as it were from the horizontal bar of the back. The Jina sits on a viśvapadma (double lotus) below which in front of the pedestal is prominently carved the bull cognizance (negative no. C.13, Southern Circle, Madras, Arch. Survey of India) (C. Sivaramamurti, Panorama of Jaina Art, fig. 284).
Sivaramamurti, in his Panorama of Jaina Art, has illustrated some single figures of Ādinátha, e.g., fig. 20 from Talkad, Dharwar, Karnataka. There is no lañchana and the Jina has the hair-locks on shoulders but no jață. Again, his figure 230 is a seated Tirthankara from Halebid, Chalukyan influence, c. 11th-12th cent. A.D.
Sivaramamurti has illustrated some fine ornate sculptures showing Adinātha sitting in the paryankasana and resting his back against a cushion placed in front of a back-seat made of two pillars and topped by a horizontal bar. There are two camaradharas at the back and the triple-umbrella and the caitya-tree are shown. A beautiful example is illustrated in Panorama of Jaina Art, fig. 270 from Sedum, Gulbarga, Chalukyan, c. 11th cent. A.D. Another noteworthy example is his fig. 440 from Aland, Gulbarga district.
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