Jain Rup Mandan

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

Page 35

22
Jaina-Rupa-Mandana
According to the Digambara belief, in all there are eighty Siddhāyatanas on the five Merus.
VI. Nandiśvara-Dvipa
Nandisyara-dvipa is known to both the sects. 123 It is the last of the numerous island-continents of Jaina cosmography, the first or the central one being the Jambū-dvipa. The Nandiśvara is a land of delight of the gods with gardens of manifold designs, adorned and honoured by visits of gods devoted to the worship of the Tirthankaras. In its central parts are four Añjana mountains of black colour, situated in the four directions-Devaramana in the east, Nityodyota in the south, Svayamprabha and Ramaniya in the north. On their tops are temples of the Arhats, each shrine having four doors. The shrines are 100 yojanas long, 50 yojanas wide and 70 yojanas in height. Within the shrines are jewelled platforms (manipishaka) on which are diases (devacchandaka) on whom are one hundred and eight eternal statues (Saśvata-bimba) of the four Eternal Arhats (sāśvata-Jina), named Rşabha, Vardhamāna, Candrānana and Värişeņa, made of jewels, in the paryanka posture and attended each by a beautiful retinue consisting of two Nagas, two Yakşas, two Bhūtas and two Kumbhadharas (pitcher-carriers), while behind each statue is a figure of an umbrella-bearer. On the diases are incense-burners, wreaths, bells, the aştamangalas, banners, festoons, baskets, boxes, seats as well as sixteen ornaments such as full-pitchers etc.
There are gleaming entrance-pavilions (mukha-mandapa), theatre-pavilions (prekşa-mandapa), arenas (aksavā faka), jewelled platforms, beautiful stūpas, statues, fair caitya-trees, Indra-dhvajas and divine lotuslakes in succession.
In the four directions from each of the Añjana mountains there are big square lotus-lakes, Nandiseņa, Amogha, Gostupa, etc., and beyond them are great gardens named Asoka, Saptaparna, Campaka and Câta. With the sixteen lotus-lakes are the crystal Dadhimukha mountains, each having a Sāśvata-Jinālaya with images of Sāśvata-Jinas noted above. Between each two lakes are two Ratikara mountains making a total of thirty-two Ratikara mountains. These again have thirty-two śāśvata-Jinālayas on them. This makes a total of fifty-two such eternal temples of the Arhats on the Nandiśvara-dvipa. Here and elsewhere on the Nandiśvara-dvipa Indra and other gods celebrate Eight-days' Festival (Aşfåhnika Mahotsava) on different holy (parva) days.
Works on cosmography like the Laghukşetrasamāsa of Ratnasekhara expressly state that there are fifty-two Sāśvata-Caityālayas, thirteen in each of the four directions, on the Nandiśvara-dvipa.124 A diagrammatic representation of it generally shows in a circle a group of thirteen miniature shrines in each of the four directions, with a mountain in the centre.
In various temples and palaces of the Nandiśvara-dvipa, gods together with their retinue celebrate the Aştahnika Mahotsava on holy days of the holy Arhats. After celebrating the Kalyāņaka ceremony (or the festival of any of the five chief events in the life of every Jina) gods retire to this dvipa, worship the Caityas thereon and then return to their respective abodes. 125
Plaques or Patas representing the fifty-two shrines on the Nandiśvara are very popular amongst both the sects. The Digambaras represent fifty-two small figures of the Jinas (suggesting shrines) on a four-tiered platform, or in a miniature shrine, both the types being four-faced, as illustrated by T.N. Ramachandran in his Tiruparuttikunram and its Temples, pl. xxxi, figs. 3-4, p. 181. The Svetā mbaras represent miniature shrines in four groups of thirteen each, carved in relief on a stone plaque, and arranged in different artistic ways. A beautiful Svetāmbara plaque, worshipped in the famous Caumukha shrine at Ranakpur, is illustrated here in Fig. 179. Another pata of this dvipa, installed by one Dhandhala in V.S. 1287 (1230 A.D.), is preserved in a cell in the main shrine on Mt. Girnar but the number of shrines on the plaque exceeds the usual figure 52. It is impossible to list here all the available representations of Nandiśvara from the whole of India nor is it necessary in a work of iconography to do so even with regard to images of different deities nor does this author claim to have made an exhaustive study from each and every shrine of the Jaina faith which is still a living religion in India.
The Nandiśvara-dvipa has been held very sacred by both the sects who install stone and metal sculptures or plaques in their shrines. T.N. Ramachandran (op. cit.) has published a metal sculpture of N.