Jain Rup Mandan

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

Page 95

82
16. Sänti
17.
Kunthu
18. Ara
19. Malli
20.
21. Nami
22. Nemi
23. Pārsva
24. Mahavira Varddhamana
Munisuvrata
16. Upasanta 17. Guptisena 18. Atipārsva
19. Supariva
20. Marudeva 21. Samakoṣṭha 22. Agnisena
23. Agnigupta 24. Värişena
The Airavata-Kşetra list of the Samavāyānga sūtra is not clear. The Pravacanasaroddhāra (Śve.), verses 296-303, gives a slightly different list for the Airavata-Kṣetra.
Jaina-Rupa-Mandana
The Kalpa-sūtra tradition of twenty-four Jinas of this age is certainly older than c. 300 A.D. when Agastyasimha suri commented on it in his Daśa-Curņi. The Caturvimsati-stava or the Logassa-sutta attributed to Bhadrabahu I (170 years after Mahavira's Nirvana) pays homage to twenty-four Tirthankaras. The Nayadhammakahão, a conical text, refers to the life of Mallinatha, the nineteenth Jina. The available text of Nayadhammakahão perhaps dates from c. fourth century A.D. Mallinatha is here described as a princess, which is the Svetambara tradition, whereas the Digambaras regard Mallinatha as a male. (The Digambara sect believes that females cannot obtain the Kevalajñāna. 22) The Sthānanga sūtra refers to various Jinas in sutra 108 and notes their complexions.
The Avasyaka-niryukti (gāthās 949-951) refers to a Jaina stupa of Munisuvrata at a place called Viśālā. Even though the extant text of the Avaśyaka-niryukti does not seem to be earlier than the second century A.D., the stupa referred to must be placed in an earlier period.
Belief in the twenty-four Tirthankaras is also known to the Bhagavati-sūtra, śataka 16, uddeśa 5. This sutra further refers to Munisuvrata in other context, while the Sthānanga refers to Malli, Pārsva and Ariṣṭanemi (in sūtras 229, 381). It may therefore be concluded that belief in twenty-four Tirthankaras existed in the beginnings of the Christian Era and probably dates from at least a century or two earlier. All these Jaina canonical Anga texts are regarded as works of direct disciples of Mahāvīra, but since the texts of the available editions usually follow the Mathura Council edition of c. early fourth century A.D., it is difficult to say how much older is the belief in twenty-four Tirthankaras. The Kalpa-sūtra describes in detail lives of only the first (Rṣabha), the twenty-second (Nemi), the twenty-third (Pārsva) and the twenty-fourth Tirthankara (Mahavira). Details regarding lives of the remaining Jinas given in Kalpa-sūtra are scanty and in stereotyped formula form. Further investigation into the problem is necessary.
During the Kuṣaṇa period, at Mathura, sculptures of the different Tirthankaras showed no cognizances (läñchanas, recognising symbols), excepting Rṣabhanatha who showed locks of hair on back and shoulders, and Parsvanatha who had a canopy of seven snake-hoods overhead, all other Jina images could be identified only with the help of their names mentioned in the votive inscriptions on their pedestals.
During the Kuşāņa period at Mathura we find evidence of worship of at least a few of the list of the 24 Tirthankaras, namely, Rṣabhanatha, Sambhavanatha, Munisuvrata, Neminatha, Pārsvanatha and Mahavira.23 The famous pedestal of an image once supposed to be of Arhat Nandyavarta and dated in the year 299 (year 199 according to Van Lohuizen-de-Leeuw) is now identified as an image of Munisuvrata (the twentieth Jina) by K.D. Bajpai who has corrected the older reading of the inscription on the pedestal.24 Smith published an image from Kankali Tila, Mathura, which, according to the inscription on it, is of Sambhavanatha, the third Jina, installed in the year 9. Image no. J.19 in the Lucknow Museum is of Sambhavanatha according to the inscription on it. Fig. no. J.8 in the same museum has an inscription which calls it an image of Aristanemi. Some more images of Arişṭanemi, partly mutilated, also from Mathura, have been identified. Often one finds in sculptures of Arişṭanemi a figure of Kṛṣṇa standing on one side and of Balarama standing on the other side of the central figure of Neminatha.