Jain Rup Mandan

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

Page 92

CHAPTER SEVEN
Devādhideva Tirthankara
The supreme object of veneration in Jainism is variously invoked as a Tirthankara, 1. a Jina.2 or an Arhat.3 Hemacandra in his Abhidhāna-Cintamani kośa includes the Tirthankaras un ler une caiegory of Devădhidevas, i.e., God of Gods.
Varahamihira says that the Lord of the Arhatās (followers of Arhats, i.e., the Jainas) is to be represented with the arms reaching the knees (obviously when in a standing posture) and a sri-vat sa mark on the chest. Young and beautiful, he has a peaceful (pleasing) countenance while his garment is verily the quarters (i.e., he wears no garments).
According to the Mānasāra, a silpa text of about the sixth cent. A.D., the image of a Jina should have two arms and two eyes, and the head should be clean shaven and there should be no top-knot (uşnişa). It (the Jina image) should be in a straight erect or sitting posture. The legs should be uniformly straight and the two long arms should be in the same posture. In the sitting posture, the two feet are placed on the lotus-seat, the whole image being in a somewhat stiff attitude and bearing a look meditating on the Supreme Soul. The right and left hands should be placed (one upon the other) with the palm upwards. The image should be placed upon a throne in an erect sitting posture. At its top should be a pinnacle and a crocodile arch. Above, there should be the Kalpa-tree together with the royal elephant and such other figures. There should be no ornaments and no clothes on any part of the body of the Jina image which is usually beautiful. The sri-vatsa mark should be made in gold over the chest.5 Haribhadra Sūrie and others emphasise his pleasing countenance. According to the Digambara text Pratisthă-sároddhära of Pandit Asadhara (1228 A.D.), the eyes of the Jina should be centred on the tip of his nose ... The Jina image should also be accompanied by the eight präriharyas and the yakşas.?
Vasunandi Saiddhantika in his Pratisthāsārasamgraha8 (c. 12th cent. A.D.) referes to the sri-vatsa mark on the chest. The images of a Jina are further said to be accompanied by the eight prātihāryas. The soles of the feet show marks of the conch, the cakra, the goad, the lotus, the yara (oat), the chatra (umbrella), etc. The images of Tirthankaras are either in the standing (kayotsarga) or the sitting (paryarikasana, padmāsana) postures. The Jina figure is young and void of any garments.
In both the Svetāmbara and the Digambara traditions, images of each Tirthankara are obtained in both the postures. In the sitting postures they show the dhyāna-mudra with the hands resting one upon the other on the lap, with palm upwards. The Tirthankaras sit either in the padmasana posture (lotusposture, with legs crossed), or in the ardha-padmāsana (with one leg tucked up and the other tucked up but placed over the first, but not crossed, and the hands in the dhyana-nuudrå as in the padmāsana). The ardha-padmasana posture is mainly popular in South India amongst the Digambaras.
In the kājotsarga posture the Jina stands erect but not stiff, with hands hanging loose, straight and at ease, the eyes engaged in meditation as in the sitting posture.
No distinction is made in the selection of postures, all Tirthankaras being represented in both the postures by both the sects. However, Jaina texts have noted postures of various Jinas at the time of Nirvana. Twenty-one Tirthankaras obtained Nirvana while meditating in the kayotsarga posture whereas three attained it while meditating in the sitting posture. These three are Rşabha, Nemi and Mahavira according