________________
Iconography of 24 Tirtharkaras
141
of five hoods and the snake coils behind his body as Supārsva. There is no attendant figure. The sculpture is a fine specimen of Cola art of eleventh century A.D. The rock-cut sculpture in the southern wall of the facade of the Sittānnaväsal cave, Tamil Nadu, shows a Jina sitting in the ardhapadmāsana and having a canopy of five snake-hoods over head.107 There is no cognizance nor any scene of attack on the Jina. The sculpture probably represents Supārśva. In the Bellur village a few miles from Bangalore on the way to Kambadhalli, there is a beautiful single image of a Jina with five snake-hoods, said to have been brought there from Nagamangalam. The sculpture is a fine specimen of Ganga art of tenth century. There is no parikara, no pedestal, no cognizance. We are inclined to identify this sculpture as representing Supárśvanātha.
There is a black stone sculpture of a standing Jina from Patancheru, Medak district, A.P., inscribed and assigned to the 12th century A.D. The sculpture is preserved in the Government Museum, Hyderabad, A.P. There are only five snake-hoods over the head of the Jina. Coils of the huge snake are shown behind the whole body of the standing Jina who is identified as Supārsvanātha. There is another standing Tirthankara from Patancheru with coils of the snake behind the whole body of the Jina (though parts of them are now mutilated). The Jina had seven snake-hands as can be easily inferred from the partly mutilated hoods. The sculpture can be assigned to the eleventh century A.D. Thus we have a case of fivehooded Supārśva and a seven-hooded Pārśva from the same spot.
It must be remembered that the yaksa and yakşi of Pārśva alone have snake-hoods over their crowns. The yaksa and yakşi of Supārsva in the Sve. and the Dig. traditions have no snake-hoods over their heads. So the present writer is not in favour of identifying the Lucknow Museum sculpture no. J.935 as representing Supärśvanātha because the yaksa and yaksi on the pedestal have three snake-hoods over their crowns. 108 Unfortunately the upper part of this sculpture is mutilated and lost along with the snake-hoods over the head of the Jina.
Madras Museum No. 2478 is an inscribed Nisidhi stone sculpture from Danavulappadu, Cuddapah district. The Jina in the upper panel sits in the ardhapadmāsana with the coils of snake shown behind his back and a big cobra head with only one snake-hood holding a canopy over the head of the Jina. Below the seat of the Jina, on the pedestal, is a big svastika which is the cognizance of Supārsva. Images of Supärśva with one snake-hood are rare to find.
Images of Supārsva with five snake-hoods are also known from Bajramath, Gyaraspur, Baijanath (Kangda),109 Deogadh and Khajuraho. At Deogadh all the images of this Jina show him in the käyotsarga mudra. In one case the Jina is shown with hair-lock on the shoulders. A sculpture of a Jina in Devgadh temple no. 4, showing the Jina with five snake-hoods, may not represent Supäráva since the yaksa and the yak si here have three snake-hoods over their heads. 120
There is a sculpture of Supärśva standing in temple no. 5 at Khajuraho. Another figure of standing Supārsva is in temple no. 28 at Khajuraho. Here the svastika cognizance is also shown. In both the cases the Jina has a canopy of five snake-hoods.
In the Nagpur Museum there is a beautiful sculpture of a Jina sitting in the padmāsana on a decorated cushion placed on a simhasana. The embroidered cloth hanging over the centre of the simhāsana has the svastika mark which is the cognizance of Supārsva. The upper part of the back slab of the Jina figure is mutilated and so it is difficult to say whether there were any snake-hoods over the Jina's head. But the beautiful sculpture of a seated Jina (with arms broken) preserved as no. 6 in the Shivapuri Museum and hailing from Narwar, is identified as Supārsvanatha on account of the canopy of five snake-hoods over the head of the Jina. The sculpture dates from the twelfth century A.D.
No. B.62 in the Nagpur Museum is from Katoli in Chanda district and dates from the eleventh century A.D. The Jina sits in the ardhapadmāsana and behind his back are coils of a big snake who with his five snake-hoods is holding a canopy over the Jina's head. There is no pedestal, no parikara, no cognizance. But because of the five snake-hoods it is possible to identify the Jina as Supārsvanātha. B.23 in the same museum is a Pañca-tirthi of Pārśva with snake cognizance and seven snake-hoods for canopy.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
