Jain Rup Mandan

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

Page 41

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उदिण्णजोहाउलसिद्धसेणो, स पत्यिवो णिज्जियसत्तुसेणो । समततो साहमुहप्पयारे, अकासि अंधे दमिले य धोरे ॥३२८६।। Also see The Ascendency and Eclipse of Bhagvan Mahavira's Cult in Tamil Nadu, by K.A. Nilakantha Sastri and V. Ramasubramaniam, in Mahavira and His Teachings (Bombay, 1977). pp. 297-344. It is indeed difficult to say when exactly Jainism entered South India. But one can imagine gradual inroads of Jainism in the South, through Kalinga (note Kharavela's inscr.), and through Pratisthanapura; and on the west coast through Surparaka to Karnataka. During the lifetime of Mahavira the Jainas were mainly in Magadha and Radha in Bengal and perhaps in southern Košala and also in Ujjain etc. Afterwards the Kalpa-sutra-Sthaviravali giving Gana and Kula names derived from places is our sure guide. Jainism does not appear to have made strongholds in the South before c. third or second century ... A few monks could have ventured going into South india before the time of Mauryan ruler Samprati but with little or no success in settling there. Also see Subrahmanyam, R., The Gunfupally Brahmi inscription of Kharavela, Andhra Pradesh Govt. Epigraphical Series no. 3 (1968),
pp. 1-6. 36. Schubring, op. cit., p. 6. 37. Premi, Nathuram, Jaina Sahitya Aura Itihasa (in Hindi)
(Bombay, 1942), pp. 41ff. Upadhye, A.N., Yapaniya Samgha, Journal of the University of Bombay, vol. VI, pp. 224ff. The Hoskote copper-plate inscription of Pallava Simhaviņpu (Ep. Ind., vol. 24) refers in line 25 to Arhaddeva-ayatana Worshipped by the Yavanika Samgha (Yapaniya Samgha). I am thankful to R. Nagaswamy for drawing my atten
tion to the Hoskote plates. 38. Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic
Society, vol. 34. Devagiri Plates of Siva Mrgesavarman, Indian Antiquary, vol. XII, pp. 36ff. Saletore, B.A., Mediaeval Jainism (Bombay, 1938), pp. 31-32. Date of
Mțgeśavarman is c. 470-488 A.D. 39. Perhaps the Digambaras are here referred to as
Nirgranthas. 40. It is not possible to illustrate here all of them. Also
see Chanda, Ramaprasad, Svetambara and Digambara Images, Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of
India, for 1925-26, pp. 180ff. 41. For known Jaina sculptures of the Gupta period, see
Chanda, Ramaprasad, ibid., pp. 121ff, pl. LVI, figs. b and c; Shah, U.P., Studies in Jaina Art, pp. 14-16; Fleet, Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, vol. III, 66-68; Banerji, R.D., Age of the Imperial Guptas, pp. 104, 106, 108, 129, and pl. xviii; Agrawala, V.S., Catalogue of the Mathura Museum, pl. xiii, pp. 52ff; Gai, G.S., Three Inscriptions of Ramagupta, JOI, vol. XVIII, pp. 247ff and plates; Jaina Art and Architecture (ed. by A. Ghosh), vol. I, chps. 10, 11, 12, 13, pp. 107-142 and plates. Shah, U.P., An Old Jaina Image from Khed-Brahma, JOI, vol. X, pp. 61ff and plate. Joanna Williams, The Art of
Gupta India, figs. 27-30, 60, 68, 69, 88, 146-148, 230-231. 42. Smith, V., Jaina Stupa and Other Antiquities from
Jaina-Rupa-Mandana Mathura, pl. xvii, fig. 2, discussed by Chanda, R.P., op. cit., p. 179; Epi. Ind., X, p. 117; Jaina Art and Architecfure, I, chp. 6, pl. 3, p. 57. For the Ardhapbalakas, see Jaina, K.P., Ardhaphālaka Sampradaya (in Hindi).
Jaina Siddhanta Bhaskara, VIII, no. 2, pp. 63-66. 43. The date in the inscription is generally read as 95, Ep.
Ind., 1, no. 22. Luders' List no. 75. Luders says that the reading of the first two signs of the date is uncertain. In Jaina Art and Architecture, I, p. 57, Debala Mitra has given year 99 as the date. It seems that the date 95 or 99 may not be in the era of 78 A.D. since that would be equal to 173 or 177 A.D. But if the date is in the era of 57 B.C. then the date would be equal to 38 or 42 A.D. which is reasonable since Kapha or Krspa Sramana is the teacher of Sivabhūti and since Sivabhūti's schism arose in 79 or 83 A.D. If we accept Jacobi's date of Mahavira's Nirvana around 467 B.C., the date of the schism of Sivakofi or Sivabhūti would be 142 A.D. In that case the cra used for the date in this Tablet of Kanha Samapa can be the
era of 78 A.D. 44. Also see Shah, U.P., Evolution of Jaina Iconography and
Symbolism, Aspects of Jaina Art and Architecture, paper
no. 6, pp. 49-74, and figs. 16-21. 45. The inscriptions on the pedestals of these images from
Mathura refer to ganas, sakhas, kulas, etc., found in the Svetambara Sthaviravali of the Kalpa-sūtra whereas the monks represented on pedestals are naked and often hold a piece of cloth on the elbow in such a way that the linga is covered from view. Whom they called arddhaphalakas in their times? They seem to be Jinakalpi monks who might be holding such a piece of cloth when they come out of seclusion into the society. Or, are they Yapaniyas? It is difficult to draw any definite conclusion. It is very likely that these sculptures from the Kankali Tila, Mathura are of an age when the Digambara-Svetambara schism had either not surfaced or at least had not reached Mathura. Otherwise we would have found figures of Jaina monks dressed as Svetambara monks, with at least one lower garment. The problem needs further investigation since names of some monks and most of the ganas, sakhas, kulas etc.
figure in Sve. accepted Sthavirāvali of the Kalpa-sütra. 46. Shah, U.P., Age of Differentiation of Digambara and
Svetämbara Images and the Earliest known Sverdmbara Bronzes, Bulletin of the Prince of Wales Museum, no. 1,
pp. 31ff. Akota Bronzes, p. 26, pls. 8a and 8b. 47. Traag: Therafan दिग्बासास्तरुणो रूपवाश्च कार्योऽहंतां देवः ।।
-Brhar-Samhita of Varahamihira, 58.45. The Pancasiddhantika of Varahamihira is dated in 327 Saka year according to S.K. Dikshit in Indian Culture, vol. VI, no. 2, pp. 191ff. Dikshit takes veda-3 in saprāśviveda-samkhye etc. Others take veda=4. Dikshit
says that in those days only three Vedas were recognised. 48. Prabhavaka-Carita of Prabhacandra (1334 v.s.), publi
shed in Singhi Jaina Serics, no. 13, pp. 8off, Upadesutarangini of Ratnamandira gani, p. 248; Pravacanaparikså of Dharmasagara, in Report of the Search of