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176
Jaina-Rupa-Maṇḍana
mana eva manuṣyāṇām kāraṇam bandha-mokṣayoḥ (the same mind is the root-cause of bondage as well as emancipation).
There are some sculptures of Pārsvanatha which do not show Kamatha's hordes attacking the sage but which show the queen of Dharanendra standing on one side of the sage and holding an umbrella with a long handle as in the relief panels from Ellora etc. Of this type is a sculpture of Parsva standing, obtained from Bujgarh, Mandsore district, M.P., age c. 10th century A.D., now in the Bhanpura Museum, no. 42 (American Institute of Indian Studies, Varanasi, photo no. 234.3). Of course Dharanendra with his coils at the back and the cobra-hoods over the head of the Jina figures in all such sculptures. In the Mathura Museum there is a sculpture (no. 1505) from Kosi Kalan showing Parsva sitting in the padmasana on a lion-throne with a canopy of seven cobra-hoods overhead and a male standing camaradhara on the right side. On the left of the Jina stands the Naga queen in graceful tribhanga, holding the umbrella. The sculpture dates from c. late seventh century. Of about the same age, perhaps somewhat earlier, is a beautiful sculpture of this Jina in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, obtained from Gyaraspur, M.P. Here also the Jina sits in padmasana on a lion-throne and has a canopy of seven cobraheads. A male camaradhan stands on each side. Behind the chowrie-bearer on the left stands snakequeen holding the umbrella with a long handle. These sculptures may be regarded as suggestive of the scene of Kamatha's attack.
Lucknow Museum no. G.310 shows Parsva sitting in the padmasana and having a canopy of seven snake-hoods above which is seen one umbrella and still above the usual triple umbrella. Usually the umbrella held by the snake queen is shown above the triple umbrella as in the Gyaraspur image just discussed. In this sculpture, a human figure of a Naga with three snake-hoods overhead stands on the right of the Jina waving a chowrie with his raised left hand, while to the left of the Jina stands the snakequeen with three snake-hoods overhead and holding the umbrella with her raised right hand.
In the last cave at Ellora is a small relief panel sunk into the wall. Parsva stands in meditation on a lotus. Dharanendra's coils are shown behind the Jina's body. There is a canopy of seven snake-hoods above which is the umbrella with a long handle held by the snake-queen standing on the right of the sage. To the left of Parsva stands a figure of a tapasa in añjali mudra and carrying a water-vessel with his right hand. This could be Kamatha humbled and repenting.
Klaus Bruhn, besides discussing Parsva images at Devgadh in his book, The Jina Images of Deogarh, contributed a paper entitled Further Observations on the Iconography of Parsvanatha,312 and discussed unusual images, one from a temple in Golakot and two images from Devgadh. In all the three sculptures there is a figure of a Rși standing on the right of Parsva standing in meditation. The standing Rși carries a water-vessel in his left hand and the right hand raised in the abhaya mudra carries an akşamālā (rosary of beads). Of the two Devgadh figures, one is in a panel on the door-frame of temple no. 18 while the other, a loose piece, is badly mutilated and both the hand-attributes of the standing Rşi have disappeared. In view of the Ellora figure discussed above we might identify this Rşi-like figure as that of Kamatha tāpasa.
No. 2502 in the Madras Museum is a well preserved sculpture of Parsva sitting in the ardhapadmāsana under a canopy of seven snake-hoods crowned by a triple umbrella. On each side behind the Jina stands a towering male figure with both hands folded and having a big cobra-hood above the crown on his head. Obviously these are supposed to be attendant figures of Nagas. We have already seen that some Jaina texts do refer to Naga figures attending upon the Jina image. The Jina image may be of any Tirthankara. So this sculpture need not be regarded as referring to the Kamatha-upasarga.
We have referred to some old images of Parsva from Kankali Tila, Mathura, which date from the early centuries of the Christian era, the Kuşana period. Of perhaps first century B.C., or early first century A.D. is a partly corroded and mutilated bronze of Parsva standing with a canopy of seven snake-hoods, obtained in the Chausa hoard, now preserved in the Patna Museum (Arch. no. 6531), illustrated in figure 8. A metal image of Pārsvanatha standing in the kayotsarga posture, preserved in the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay, illustrated in figure 3, dates from c. first or second century B.C, as we have argued elsewhere.313 There is one more bronze of Pärśvanatha standing in kayotsarga mudra, in the Chausa hoard
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