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

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Page 149
________________ 136 Jaina-Rupa-Mandana at Venūr, Mūdabidri, and in the Bhandara Basti and Suttālaya sets at Sravana Belagola. In all such cases the yakşa and the yakşi stand on the sides near the legs of the Jina. No camaradharas are shown, not even the dharmacakra or the śri-vatsa symbol on the chest of the Jina. The Jina stands under an ornamental arch and there is a triple-umbrella over his head. 5. FIFTH TIRTHANKARA: SUMATINĀTHA Sumati, the fifth Tirthankara, was born as the prince of king Megha or Megha prabha and queen Mangalā or Sumangalā, at Ayodhyā in the Maghā naksatra. He descended upon this earth from his previous existence as an Indra in the Jayanta Vimana.81 While he was in the mother's womb, his mother's mind and intellect remained good and benevolent (sobhana matih) whereupon he was called Sumati.82 Golden in complexion, Sumatinātha, of the Ikşvāku race, had the red goose (kokaḥ, or krauñca according to some texts) as his dhvaja or lāñchana. T.N. Ramachandran has given the wheel or circle as an alternative symbol vasca on some other tradition not specified.83 Sumati obtained kevalajñāna while meditating under a Priyangu tree (Panicum Italicum).84 He had 116 Ganadharas of whom Camara (Sve.) or Vajra (Dig. Tiloyapannatti, but Camara according to Uttarapurāņa, 51.76, and Carama according to Ramachandran) was the leader; the chief äryikā of his order of nuns was Kāśyapi. Sumatinātha obtained moksa on the Mt. Sammeta Sikhara, Tumburu officiated as his attendant Yaksa and Puruşadatta (Dig.) or Mahākāli (Šve.) was the attendant Yakşi of his tirtha. An old sculpture of Sumatinátha, very much defaced, was recovered from Sahet-Mabet, Gonda district, U.P., the site of ancient Srāvasti. The red-goose, the symbol of Sumati, is visible below the dharmacakra in the centre of the simhāsana. There is a group of 23 other Tirthankaras arranged in two verticle rows on two sides of the central figure of Sumati.85 Amongst the Digambaras of Northern India, representation of two Tirthankaras side by side in one sculpture, i.e., the Dvi-tirthika image, was very popular. Compare, for example, the Dvi-tirthi of Rsabha and Mahāvira, now in the British Museum, published by us in Studies in Jaina Art, fig. 35, and Fig. 79 here of Ajitanātha and Sambhavanātha from Narwar, now in the Shivpuri Museum, Shivpuri, M.P. Both the Jinas stand side by side with attendant chowrie-bearers, chatra, etc. for each Jina represented separately. Some of these examples are fine specimens of art. A sculpture from Ghusai, now in the Archaeological Museum, Gwalior, shows two Jinas standing on two beautiful lotuses with small figures of male cāmaradharas by their side. The Caitya-trees are represented by hanging a few leaves from the ends of the triple umbrellas above the Jinas. On the left end of the pedestal is a miniature yaksa Sarvānubhūti (also known as Sarvānha) carrying the citron and the bag. Below him is the small figure of a goose. which shows that the Tirthańkara standing on this (left) side is Sumatinätha whose cognizance is the red goose according to the Digambara texts. The pilaster on the right end is mutilated and lost and along with it the symbol of the Jina on the right end is lost, so he cannot be identified. A sculpture of Sumati standing on a simhāsana with parikara but without the yaksa and yakşi, hailing from Narwar, is in Shivpuri Museum, M.P. At Khajuraho two sculptures of Sumati are noted by Tiwari, one in the sanctum of the Pārsvanātha temple and the other in temple no. 30. The Jina sits in the padmāsana in both cases. The vaksa and vaksi are of the usual two-armed type showing the abhaya and, the fruit.87 V.A. Smith has also noted the existence of an image of Sumatinátha from Mahoba, assigned to 1158 A.D.88 In the Mälava-Präntiya Digambara Jaina Samgrahālaya, Ujjain, Mu. no. 29 is a standing Sumatinātha with the goose symbol and Tumburu and Mahākāli as his yaksa and yaksini. The sculpture dates from c. fourteenth century A.D. Three more images of Sumati, from Javas, Gondalmau and Guna, are also preserved in the Museum. At Orissa, Khanda giri, in Caves nos. 8 and 9, we find figures of Sumatinätha sitting in the padmāsana with his goose symbol on the simhasana below his seat (Fig. 54 from Cave 8).86 At Kumbharia, in the Pārsvanātha temple, cell no. 21, an image of Sumati was installed in samvat Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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