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Iconography of 24 Tīrtharkaras
161 Mallinātha (c. 12th cent. A.D.) in the Kere-Basti, Mūdabidure.242 Sculptures of this Jina are also available in the Bhandara Basti and the Suttalaya of Gommata at Sravana Belagoļa and in the groups at Müdabidure and Veņür.
20. TWENTIETH TIRTHANKARA: MUNISUVRATA
Munisuvrata was the son of king Sumitra and queen Padmă of the city of Räjagsha, born in the Sravana naksatra, having descended on this earth from Pränata heaven, according to Uttarapurana and Aparājita Vimana according to Svetambara tradition. The Tiloyapanpatti agrees with the Svetämbara and other traditions in giving the above names of Parents of this Jina, but Uttarapuräpa says that the Jina's mother was called Somā.243
Since during pregnancy, the queen-mother was devoted to religious practices (suvrata) like a pious monk (muni-vat), the Jina was called Munisuvrata by the king.241 Munisuvrata obtained kevalajñana under a Campaka-tree (Michelia Champaka). He had a following of eighteen ganadharas with Malli as their head while Puspavati or Puspadatta was the chief nun of his Order 24 According to Samavāyānga sutra they were Kumbha and Amila respectively.246
Munisuvrata had a dark complexion and his recognizing symbol was a tortoise (kūrma) according to both the sects. He obtained nirvana on Mt. Sammeta.
His śāsana yakşa was Varuna (Bhskuți according to the Tiloyapannatti). His yaksini was Bahurupiņi according to Digambara traditions and Naradattā according to the Svetämbaras.
Harişena, the Cakravarti, lived in this age. Rāma (called Padma) and Lakşmana, the eighth Baladeva and Väsudeva respectively and heroes of the Jaina version of the Ramayana story, also flourished in this age.
According to Jinaprabha sūri an idol of Munisuvrata with a crown of priceless gems was worshipped at Bhsgupattana (modern Broach or Bharucha in Gujarat). Tirthas of Munisuvrata also existed at Pratişthanapura, Ayodhya, Vindhya mountain, and Māņikyadandaka.247
A fragmentary pedestal of a sculpture supposed to have been of Arhat Nandyavarta-Aranátha, found from Kankali Tila, Mathura, is preserved in the Lucknow Museum (no. J.20). The specimen shows a bas-relief with a tri-ratna symbol in the centre surmounted by a dharmacakra. The right half of the pedestal is mutilated and lost, only a headless figure of a nude Jaina monk, with a piece of cloth held in the raised left hand covering his nudity, remains. To the left of the tri-ratna symbol are four standing females, three of them, dressed in similar garments, hold in their right hands long purse-like objects with an ornamental lotus-bud or câmara-like tops. The fourth female, younger and of smaller stature, has her hands folded in adoration. There is a two line inscription on the upper rim of the pedestal and a one line inscription at base.248 The date in the inscription is read as 79=157 A.D. by Buhler and others and as 49 by J.E. van Lohuizen-de Leeuw. The last part of the second line in the upper rim reads: Arahato Munisuvratasa pratimă nirvartayati, and the last part of the line in the lower rim reads: pratimăvo dve thupe devanirmite.
Thus the pedestal belonged to an image of Munisuvrata installed in the Devanirmita Stūpa at Mathura, in the year 127 or 157 A.D.
A stupa of Munisuvrata existed at Visälä (Vaiśāli ?) according to the Āvaśyaka Cūrņi which gives the story of the Thubha in illustration of Parinamiki Buddhi. The Avaśyaka Niryukti merely gives the catchword thubha which suggests that the author of the Niryukti knew of the stupa of Munisuvrata at Viśāla 249
An interesting image of a Jina, in the old Jaina temple, Vaibhāragiri, Rajgir, and dating from c. ninth century A.D., has, on a cot below the pedestal of the Jina, a figure of a reclining lady (see Fig. 70 A). On the evidence of a reclining lady shown below the figure of Munisuvrata, in the row of yakşis in the Barabhuji cave, Khandagiri, Orissa, Debala Mitra showed that in the case of the Vaibhāragiri image just described, the Jina should be identified as Munisuvrata 250 Debala Mitra cited a few more images known to her. One of them belongs to Shri Bejoy Singh Nahar of Calcutta, and another of
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