Jain Stupa and Other Antiquities of Mathura

Author(s): Vincent A Smith
Publisher: Vincent A Smith

Page 20

( 3 ) four basements of Jing statues, inscribed Samvat 1134 ;
six bascs of Buddha statues inscribed and dated in the regnal yoars of the Indo-Scythian rulers Iuvishka, Kanishka, and Vasudeva;
an inscribed statue of the Bodhisattva Amogha Siddhartha of the first century A. D.; 10 inscribed Buddhist statues of the Indo-Scythinn period; a colossal pillar with the life-size figure of a dancing-girl ; 19 Buddhist railing pillars of various sizes and patterns; 16 cross-bars of Buddhist railings; 12 pieces of copings of Buddhist railings; a richly sculptured door.jamb, 10 foot high, of a Buddha temple of the Indo-Scythian period; a beautifully carved stone umbrella, four feet in diameter, of Buddhist Stapa ;' a four-faced lion capital of the time of the Andhras; 24 exquisitely sculptured panels, some of which are inscribed in charactor of the Indo-Heythinn period; a large slab, inscribed in the so-called shell charactors, excavated from the Kankali Tila at Muthura."
The work was continued during the season 1889-90 when the Jain Stapa and the western Jain temple belonging to the Digambara sect were exposed : 80 images of Tirthainkaras, 120 pieces of stone railings, many miscellaneous sculptures, and numerous inscriptions, of which 17 belong to the Indo-Scythian (Kushan) period, from the year 5 to the year 86, were exhumed.
The most fruitful work was done in 1890-91. In the Museum Report for that year Dr. Fuhrer writes :
"Liberal grants by the Local Government in the Public Works Department and the Miseum Committee have enabled the Curator to finish the excavations of the Kunkali Tila at Mathura during the cold scason of 1890-91. The results of his work far surpass those of the previous two years, as the new finds form important additions to our knowledge of Indian history and art.
"He forwarded to tho Museum 737 fino pieces of sculpture, comprising berutifully-linished panels, doorways, Toranas, columns, completo railings with copinys and bars, statues of Tirthumkaras, &c.
" Amongst these sculptures is one which apparently possesses very considerable archeological interest. It is a Torana bearing a relief which represents a Stapa worshipped by Centaurs and Harpies, or, as the Hindus would say, Kinnaras and Garudas or Suparnas. :
“Centaurs have been found on the Buddhist sculptures at Bharhut' and Gayat, while Mathurd has furnishod the Silenus groups and Hercules strangling the Nomoan lion. This new find is a further addition to the monuments which prove the influence of [Icllenistic art among the Hindus of the last centuries preceding our era.
"Sixty-two of these sculptures are inscribed, bearing dates varying from 150 B. C. to A. D. 1023. On a beautifully carved Torana there is a brief dedication, written in an anciont l'rakrit dialect and in characters which appear a Nittle more archaic than these of Dhanabhuti': inscriptions on the gateway of the Bharhut Stúpa, dated in the reign of the Sungas, or about B. C. 150.
A second inscription, incised in two lines on on oblong slab, gives us the name of the founder of one of the teinples excavated last year. Its characters do not differ ruch from those used in the earliest dlated inscriptions of the Indo-Scythic period. As two temples have been discovered under the KankAli Tila, the natural inference from these inscriptions would be that one of them was built before 160 B. C. and the other considerably later, about the beginning of our era. Unfortunately, another circumstance has come to light which requires a modification of this assumption. The Curator has found several sculptures which have been carved out of more ancient ones.
"Thus, a pilaster bearing an inscription in characters of the Indo-Scythic period has been cut out of the back of an ancient naked Jimu. Again, there is a small statue with a similar inscription cut out of the back of a sculptured panel bearing on the obverse a rather archaic inscription. These facts prove that the Jainas of the Indo-Beythic period at Mathura used for their sculptures materials from an older temple. Hence the discovery of the Toranu, with its very archaic inscription, shows indeed that there war & Jaina templu in Mathura before B. C. 150.
Probably the umbrella figured in Plate XXIII, port, which is 4" fuet in diameter. • Plate XV, post. . I am informed on good authority that the correct spelling of this name is Barbut. • Probably Plate XII, post.