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170
Jaina-Rupa-Mandana
image of this Jina was installed in Cell no. 9, Vimala vasahi in Samvat 1382 by Jivaka of Prägväta caste. In cell 12 an image of Nemi was installed in Samvat 1309 (Muni Jayantavijaya, ibid., incriptions nos. 46, 47, 51, 62). Also in cell 43 an image of the same Jina was installed in Samvat 1302 (ibid., inscr. no. 145).
In the Devakulikä no. 22 of the Pärsvanātha temple, Kumbharia, is a figure of Neminätha in padmasana installed in 1179 A.D. Of circa twelfth century an image of Nemi, obtained from Amarasar, Rajasthan, is preserved in the Ganga Golden Jubilee Museum, Bikaner. All over Rajasthan and Gujarat temples and images of Neminātha are available at various places.
At Khajuraho, in the Chattarpur district, M.P., only two images of Neminātha have been identified so far; one, in modern temple no. 10, is in the sitting posture and his cognizance on the lowermost portion of the throne is much defaced. The second image lying in the open air museum (no. K.14) also represents this Jina in a sitting posture. Below the dharmacakra on the pedestal is depicted his conch emblem. With 23 miniature figures of other Jinas carved in the parikara, this image is thus a Covisi of Neminátha. The sculpture dates from c. 12th century A.D.
23. TWENTY-THIRD TIRTHANKARA: PĀRSYANATI.
Pārsvanātha is regarded as a historical figure. Mahavira, the twenty-fourth or the last Jina, died two hundred and fifty years after the nirvāņa of Pārsvanātha. This interval between the last two Tirthankaras is the same in both the Svetämbara and the Digambara accounts.283 Again, the interval is not so extraordinarily long as to create doubts in our mind as in the case of any two other Tirthankaras.
Pārsva and his followers are referred to in the Jaina canons. According to the Acäränga sutra, 284 Mahāvira's parents were lay followers of the Order of Pārsva and were adherents of the Samanas. The Avasyaka Cūrni refers to several monks of Pārsva's sect as contemporaries of Mahāvīra during his wanderings.285
Gośäla asked Municandra, a follower of Päráva, how they could be called Samana Niganthas when they had so many possessions with them. These samaņas indulged in certain activities which according to Mahāvira constituted preliminary sin (särambha). They put on clothes and also practised Jinakalpa towards the end of their lives. The Bhagavati sutra286 records a discussion between Mahavira and Samana Gångeya, a follower of Parsvanātha in Väniyagama. Gängeya gave up the Cauijāmadhamma (the doctrine of four-fold restraint) and embraced the Pañcamahavvaya (the five greater vows) of Mahavira. The city of Tungiya is stated to have been a centre of the theras following the doctrine of Pärśva, who moved in a congregation of five hundred monks.287 Udaya Pedhälaputta was a Niggantha follower of Pārsva of the Meyajja (Sk. Metärya) gotra, who had discussions with Indrabhūti, the first Ganadhara of Mahāvira.288 Kesi289 is also referred to in the Uttaradhyayana where his discussions with Gautama Indrabhuti on the doctrines of Pārsva and Mahavira are recorded. 290
As usual, some preceding births of this Jina are described by the Jaina Puranas. In one such existence, Pärśva was a Brāhamana named Marubhūti and had a younger brother called Kamatha. From this birth, seeds of enmity between the two souls were sown and in each succeeding birth, except the last, Kamaha went on taking the life of Marubhuti.
In his last birth as Pārsva, the soul of Marubhuti was born as the prince of king Aśvasena and queen Vāmādevi of the city of Varanasi. The Digambara text Uttarapurāņa gives Visvasena and Brāhmidevi as names of Parśva's Parents. According to Tiloyapannatti, they were Aśvasena and Varmilā. Pārsva was born under the asterism Visakhā having descended upon this earth from Prānata Vimāna in the Anata heaven.291
According to both the sects, the Jina was dark-blue in complexion and had the snake as his cognizance. According to the Svetāmbaras, he was called Pārśva because his mother had seen, in dream, a black cobra passing by her side (pårsva) during the period of confinement.292 When Parsva grew up, he once saw a sage practising the Pancagni-tapa, a type of penance with burning logs of wood in four groups all around and the fifth fire being the scorching sun above. In one of the logs was a pair293 of snakes which was being burnt alive. Päráva rescued the snakes and remonstrated the sage who was no other than
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