Jain Rup Mandan

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

Page 56

Pañca-Parameşthis
43 (4) Sädhus have shaven heads; hair are suspected on some figures of sadhvis, but probably they
covered their heads with a scarf (odhani). (5) Water-vessel is not carried by either sädhus or sadhvis. (6) The coat of sadhvis is a gown-like thing whose border's lines are clearly marked. (7) Especially noteworthy, and our unfailing guide is No. J.8 of a standing Jina with head lost, and
having on two sides as attendants, not the usual Yakşas, but a sådhu on the right and a sadhvi on the left. Such a representation of the Tirtharkara image is singular. The sadhvi's two garments
a lower one and a gown or coat-are clearly visible. Here she has a shaven head. (8) The tablet representing ascetic Kanha, Fig. 21, No. J.623, Lucknow Museum (Smith's Jaina
Stupa, pl. xvii, p. 24), shows the same accessories for the Jaina monk-a piece of cloth held on left forearm, and a rajoharana, but no garment. The Tablet is dated in Samvat 95, i.e. 173 A.D. but the same types of figures of monks are available on pedestals dated in first two decades of the era noted on these sculptures, i.e. in the last two decades of the first century A.D. Modern scholars recognise this practice of holding the cloth-piece as the Ardha-fälaka-sampradaya. 15
Figure 212 illustrates a much later sculpture of Adinātha (belonging to the Digambara sect) from a Temple at Khajuraho. In the central panel, below the Jina, sit the Ācārya and his disciple facing each other with the Sthapanā between them. The pupil carries a scripture. A small thin broom of peacock's tail sometimes accompanies figures of Dig. Jaina monks as in Devgadh Temple 4. Wooden vessels used by these monks are also shown.
In a Jaina temple in Sevādi, Rajasthan, is worshipped a figure of a Svetāmbara ācārya sitting on a raised seat with the right foot hanging, the left tucked up and a yogapata running across the right leg. He carries a book in the left hand while the right one carrying a rosary is held in the vyakhyana mudrå. The broom is shown behind him, and a mukha-vastrikā piece rests on his right shoulder. The figure was installed in Samvat 1242 (or 1243) and is at present preserved in a shrine at Sevādi, old Jodhpur State. The monk wears a lower garment, while the mark of the Caddara above is worn out, but it can be inferred from a miniature painting of Sudharma and Jambūsvāmi from a palm-leaf MS16 in Cambay Bhandara.
Figure 214 represents a rare sculpture of a Svetambara Sadhvi now preserved in a shrine in Patan. She sits like the acārya in Sevädi image discussed above and wears an under and an upper garment. The right arm is mutilated, the left one holds a book. Figure 213 represents a Dig. Jaina nun figure worshipped in a shrine at Surat.
Figures of Ganadharas in miniature paintings of the Kalpa sūtra are well known, cf. Brown, K.P., pl. 39, figs. 130-34. Also see Figs. 170 and 167 illustrated here.
The Five Supreme Ones are worshipped collectively also, by representing them on one plaque, along with symbols of four other essentials of the Jaina religion. Such plaques are known as the Siddha-Cakra (Šve.) or the Navadevatā (Dig.).
Figure 38 is a representation in stone, from Nadol, Rajasthan, of the Five Parameşhins. Instead of the last four Padas of the Navapada diagram (called the Siddha-Cakra amongst the Svetā mbaras), only four double-lotuses are carved. A Svetambara Siddha-Cakra-Yantra is illustrated in Fig. 39, where the additional four padas are shown in four corners as om Hrim Namo Tavassa, Om Hrim Namo Damsanassa, Om Hrim Namo Nánassa, and Om Hrim Namo Carittassa. It will be seen that here invocations are offered to the abstract qualities and not to anthropomorphic deities. The whole diagram of the Siddha-Cakra is in the form of an eight-petalled lotus with different worthies arranged as follows: The Arhat is in the centre, the Siddha just above, the Ācārya to the left and the Sadhu to the right of the central figure. The Upadhyāya is just below the figure of the Arhat. The Arhat and the Siddha sit in the padmasana showing the dhyana mudrā while the remaining three Paramesphins sitting in the padmāsana carry some object in one hand while the other hand rests on the lap. As figures are not quite distinct in this bronze it is not possible to identify the symbols held by them. However, paintings of the Siddha-Cakra are also popular in Jaina worship. In paintings, each of these three dignitaries (excluding the Arhat and the Siddha) lets his left hand rest on the lap while the right hand, held in the vyakhyāna mudrā, carries the muha-patti, or the mouth-piece.