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Jaina-Rupa-Mandana
collections of the late Shri Bahadursinghji Simghi, Calcutta. Photo Courtesy, Prof. Ernest Bender, Philadelphia, U.S.A.
Fig. 77 (Pl. XLIII). Sculptures of Parsvanatha and Mahavira standing with their yakṣas and yakṣinis. From Bhandara Basti, Sravana Belagola. Age, 1159 A.D. Copyright, U.P. Shah.
Fig. 78 (PI. XLIV). Image of Vardhamana installed in the year 35. Kuşaņa. From Kankali Tila, Mathura, now J.16, Lucknow Museum. Ref. Luders' List, no. 39. The Scythian Period, pp. 249-50, Fig. 60.
In the centre of the pedestal, dharmacakra with rim facing us, is placed on a peculiarly shaped pillar. To the right of the Wheel of Law, a naked monk with the broom in raised right hand and a piece of scarf hanging from his left hand wrist covers his male organ. Modern scholars recognise such monks as ardhaphalakas. These may as well be the monks of the Yapaniya sect. Next to him on his right, a standing śravaka (Jaina layman) with garland in right hand and some object in the left hand. He wears a dhoti and a dupaṭṭā. Next to him, two small male devotees with folded hands.
To the left of the dharmacakra stands a female with raised right hand carrying a broom-like object. She wears a coat-like upper garment and a serf as lower garment, and holds an unidentified object with left hand. She must be identified as a Jaina nun. Next to her, on her left, is a standing śrävikä (a Jaina laywoman) wearing a lower garment, ornaments, etc., and holding a long wreath of flowers in her right hand. Next to her are two small figures of female devotees with folded hands.
Thus the pedestal shows the Dharma (cf. Dharma of the Buddhist formula-Dhammam śaraṇam gacchami), represented by the dharmacakra, and Samgha represented by a monk (sadhu), a nun (sādhvi), and Jaina laymen (śrāvaka) and laywomen (śravikā), cf. the Buddhist Formula: samgham saranam gacchami. The Jina figure on top of pedestal is the chief object of worship (cf. Buddham saraṇam gacchāmi of the Buddhists). Thus the conception of the Jina sculpture of Kuṣāņa period is analogous to the Buddhist conception of the three saranas. Full parikara of the Jina image, obtained in mediaeval sculpture, was not yet evolved. Cf. Shah, U.P., Evolution of Jaina Iconography and Symbolism, Aspects of Jaina Art and Architecture, pp. 497f and figs. 16-21, 9-12 for Jaina images of the Kuşaṇa period and Figs. 4, 5, 6, 13, 14 for later periods, Fig. 23 for an evolved parikara of mediaeval age.
Note the typical Srivatsa mark on the chest of Vardhamana in the figure under consideration.
No cognizances are shown on any part of Tirthankara images of the Kuşaṇa period, nor are the two deer shown on two sides of the dharmacakra which latter practice, adopted by the Jainas since about the end of the Gupta period, is clearly in imitation of the Buddhist practice. In Buddhism, this symbolism signifies Buddha's setting into motion the dharmacakra by delivering his first sermon in the deer-park at Sarnath. Copyright, State Museum, Lucknow.
Fig. 79 (Pl. XLV). Ajitanatha standing with the horse symbol below the simhasana and the dharmacakra on the lowermost end of the sculpture. To his right is standing Sambhavanatha with horse symbol similarly shown. This is the practice in sculptures from this region. From Narwar, Shivpuri district, Madhya Pradesh. Now No. 16 in Shivpuri district Museum. This is a dvitirthi sculpture, both the Jinas are carved on one stone. In the centre of simhasana of each Jina is sitting, in a niche, a small figure of a gaṇadhara or an acārya. This also is typical of the sculptures from this region. Below this figure is the dharmacakra. Copyright, American Institute of Indian Studies, Centre for Art and Archaeology, Varanasi.
Fig. 80 (Pl. XLVI). Parents of a Jina. From Lacchagir, U.P., now No. 244 in the Allahabad Museum. Age, c. 8th cent. A.D. Copyright, American Institute of Indian Studies, Varanasi.
Fig. 81 (Pl. XLVI). Parents of a Jina from Khajuraho Museum, Khajuraho. The fact that the yakşa and yakşı are shown separately on the ends of the pedestal proves that the main figures are Parents of the Jina on top and not the yakṣa and yakṣi. Ref. Shah, U.P., Parents of the Tirthankaras, Bulletin of the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay, no. 5, 1955-57, pp. 24-32 and plates. Copyright, U.P. Shah.
Fig. 82 (Pl. XLVII). The two rows in the middle are of Parents of the Tirthankaras, all with names carved below each figure. On the analogy of these panels the loose sculptures in examples like figs. 80, 81, 85A can be identified as Parents of the Tirthankaras. From a ceiling in the Mahavira temple,
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