Jain Rup Mandan

Author(s): Umakant P Shah
Publisher: Abhinav Publications

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Jaina-Rupa-Mandana
in the standing (Figs. 9, 14) and the sitting (Figs. 10, 12, 23) attitudes, show no trace of drapery which clearly suggests that even though the Svetämbara-Digambara schism had come into being in the second century A.D., the final crisis in the differentiation of Tirthankara icons of the two sects had not yet taken place. Hence the evidence of art from Mathura refers to Jaina worship prevalent in and common amongst both the sects in the first three or four centuries of the Christian era and not restricted to the Digambara or the Svetāmbara sect alone.
From Mathura are found a special type of sculptures, called pratimă-sarvato-bhadrika in the inscriptions on their pedestals, which show a Tirtharkara image on each of its four sides, facing each different direction (Fig. 14). These four-fold images, later more popular as Caumukha-pratimās55 on account of their facing four directions, have remained popular in Jaina worship of both the sects. The sarvvato-bhadrapratimās from Kankali Tila, Mathura, date from the Kuşāna period. It must however be remembered that not all the four-fold images from the Kankali Tila have inscriptions calling them pratima-sarvvato-bhadrikā.
An image of Sarasvati, installed in this period, is also found from the Kankali Tila (Fig. 20). Reliefs showing inc
. the lives of Tirtharkaras and other scenes from Jaina mythology seem to have existed in Jaina art at Mathura as is evident from Fig. 18 depicting the scene of Dance of Nilänjana and the consequent retirement of Rşabhanātha. The relief dates from c. late first century B.C. We also have a panel showing Harinegameşin on throne attended by some figures (Fig. 19). " The full parikara obtained on Tirthaikara images of the mediaeval period is not yet evolved in the Kuşāna age, and only the halo, the Caitya-tree, the flying Vidyadharas or heavenly garland-bearers, heavenly musicians etc., all together or in different groupings are depicted in relief. During the Kuşāna period one does not find any cognizance (lañchana) on the pedestal of a Jina or an attendant Chowrie-bearer (camaradhara) with the figure of a Tirthankara at Mathura. Instead of the attendant camaradhara yakşa on each side of the Jina, we obtain, in the early stages of Tirthankara iconography, a donor and his wife (e.g. no. J.7 in Lucknow Museum), or more generally a monk and a nun (Fig. 9), or two monks or, in the case of Tirthankara Neminātha, figures of Krsna and Balarama, on the two sides of the Jina The Tirthankara is represented either standing in the kāpotsarga posture on a pedestal or meditating while sitting in padmāsana on a simhasana (lion-throne). The pedestal or the simhāsana shows lions on two ends and the dharma-cakra (Wheel of Law) in the centre, sometimes placed on a pillar, and flanked by figures of sådhus (monks), sadhvis (nuns), śrāvakas (Jaina laymen), and śrāvikas (Jaina laywomen) (Figs. 12, 13).
The Tablets of Homage called ayāgapaļas in the inscriptions on them, obtained from the Kankali Tila, Mathura, offer an interesting study. In the inscription on the Tablet dedicated by Vasu, the daughter of Lonaśobhikā, the Tablet is called a Silāpafa.56 In the Jaina canonical literature, we find, in the stock description of the yakşayatana (caitya, explained by commentators as Yaksa shrine), reference to Silapata worshipped on a simhāsana placed adjacent to the trunk of a Caitya-tree. The Jaina āyāgapațas of Mathura have for their prototypes these Silapatas of ancient worship, as is evident from the inscription on the Tablet dedicated by Vasu, referred to above. The Buddhists also worshipped Sila pațas as shown in the reliefs from the Bharhut stūpa. A study of some of these Jaina āyāgapatas or silapatas shows that in each of them one of the mangala (auspicious) symbols is prominently displayed in the centre. Acārya Hemacandra in his Trisastiśalákāpuruşacarita refers to Bali-patas with aştamangala marks which are thus the same as the ayagapatas of the older tradition at Mathura. Now-a-days we find, in Jaina temples, plaques of metal with reliefs of all the eight auspicious symbols on them (Fig. 153).
In the äyāgapata illustrated in Fig. 10 we find on one end a pillar surmounted by the Dharma-cakra and on the other end a pillar surmounted by a lion. In the āyāgapata illustrated in Fig. 11 we find on one end a pillar surmounted by the Wheel of Law while on the other end we find a pillar surmounted by an elephant. Since the lion and the elephant are the cognizances of Mahavira and Ajitanātha respectively and since ācārya Hemacandra lists such cognizances as Dhvajas of the different Jinas in his AbhidhānaCintāmaņi-kośa, we should identify the pillars with the lion and the elephant as the Dhvaja-Stambhas or Dhvaja-pillars in front of temples of Mahavira and Ajitanatha supposed to have exsited in the Kuşāņa period at Mathura. The Jainas also erected Dharma-cakra pillars. We find such pillars in the centre of the simhāsanas of some of the Jaina images from the Kankali Tila (Figs. 12, 15). Figure 164 from Kankali