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Iconography of 24 Tirthankaras
17. SEVENTEENTH TIRTHANKARA: KUNTHUNATHA
Kunthu was the son of Surasena and Srikantā ruling in Hastinapura, according to the Digambara text Uttarapuraṇa of Gunabhadra. The Tiloyapanṇatti calls them king Suryasena and queen Śrimati, the names being almost similar to Sura and Sridevi given by Hemacandra. Golden in complexion, Kunthu had descended from the Sarvärthasiddhi Vimana, his birth nakṣatra being Kṛttikā,209
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Kunthu was so called because, according to Hemacandra, the Jina's mother saw (in dream) a heap of jewels known as Kunthu, while he was in her womb.210
Kunthu obtained kevalajñāna under a Tilaka-tree. Ramachandran211 calls it Bhilaka which is probably a misprint or an incorrect ms. reading since all texts including the Samavāyānga and the Tiloyapannatti read Tilaka. Svayambhu was the chief ganadhara of Kunthu according to Uttarapurana and Tiloyapa patti. Svetambara text Samavāyānga sutra agrees with this tradition. Name Samba given by other Sve. traditions seems to be a later tradition. Both Svayambhu and Samba are appellations of Siva. Kunthu's chief female äryika was Bandhuvati according to Samavāyānga sūtra and Dāminī according to other Sve. traditions. The Digambaras call her Bhavita.
The goat is the dhvaja or cognizance of Kunthu in both the traditions. Gandharva and Vijaya or Jaya were his yakṣa and yakṣiņi respectively according to Digambara traditions except the Tiloyapanṇatti which gives the name Mahāmānasi for Vijaya yakṣi. According to Svetambara writers Gandharva and Balā were the yakṣa and yakşini respectively of this Jina. Kunthunatha obtained moksa on the Mt. Sammeta. He was also a Cakravarti before he became a monk.
According to Jinaprabha sūri, tirthas of Kunthunitha and Aranatha existed near the confluence of the Ganges and the Yamuna,212
Bronze images of Kunthunatha are found in the Aluara hoard of Jaina bronzes now in the Patna Museum (Mu. nos. 10675, 10689 to 10693). All Aluara bronzes are of the Digambara tradition which worships the Jina figures without any garment on them. The goat is shown on the pedestal in the above figures which are in a standing posture. The Aluara bronzes date from about the eleventh century A.D. In Caves 8 and 9, Khandagiri, Orissa,213 we have figures of this Jina sitting in padmasana with the goat symbol in the centre of the simhasana. At Pakbira, W. Bengal an image of Kunthu (c. 10th-11th cent.) is also found along with images of Mahāvīra, Rṣabha, Neminatha and Śantinātha.214
Niraj Jain has referred to a big standing image of Kunthunitha at Bajrangagadha, Guna, M.P., dating from c. 12th century A.D.215 In the Urwahi group of rock-cut sculptures at Gwalior we have two sculptures of Kunthu with the goat cognizance.
No. 85 in the Bharata Kala Bhavana, Varanasi, is a beautiful Caturmukha sculpture of standing Tirthankaras. On one side is Kunthunatha with a figure of a goat on the pedestal. On each side of this Jina is a small figure of a Jina sitting in padmisana. The sculpture dates from c. 7th-8th cent. A.D.
A sculpture of Kunthunatha standing in the käyotsarga mudra, obtained from Narwar, M.P., is preserved in the Shivpuri district Museum (Mu. no. 12). The sculpture dates from c. 12th century A.D. These sculptures from Narwar belong to the Digambara tradition.
In the Rajputana Museum, Ajmere, is a standing figure of Kunthunitha, nude in appearance, installed in samvat equal to 1144 A.D., probably hailing from Arthuna, Rajasthan. The yaksa Sarvānubhuti and the yakşi Ambika stand by the sides of the camaradharas in this sculpture.
At Nagda in the vicinity of the Ekalingji temple there is a Jaina temple known as Padmavati Mandira and two more Jaina temples one of which is known as Adbhudji temple. Of this only the garbhagṛha and the antarala remain containing a colossal image of Sintin itha set up in v.s. 1495. A few more sculptures are lying here of which two were recognised by Cousens as Tirthankaras Kunthunitha and Abhinandana.216
An epigraph from Gudar in Shivpuri district, M.P., dated in v.s. 1206 (A.D. 1149) refers to installation of images of Santinatha, Kunthunatha, and Aranatha.217
Jainism was popular in the early part of the history of the Vijayanagara empire. Several temples of Tirthankaras and Manastambhas of beauty were erected. In the reign of Harihara II in c. 1395 A.D.,
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