Jain Temples of Rajasthan

Author(s): Sehdav Kumar
Publisher: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Art Abhinav Publications

Page 40

Ksatriyani Trišala. The Jain legend tells us that Sakra himself brought the infant tirthankara to the top of Mount Meru, the mountain of gods, for the divine bath. Joining a host of nymphs, the 'Lord of Celestials' himself danced; and Indra and Ajātasatru, a great ruler on earth and a contemporary of Mahāvīra, waved the cauri before the tirtharkara.
Though the legend of the transfer of the embryo by Naigameşin is narrated in the context of Mahävira, but it is associated with other tirthańkaras as well. Naigameşin has the body of a human being and the face of a goat. He is shown in the eleventh course in the rangamandapa in Vimalavasāhi, as well as on two ceilings in the portico adjacent to the rangamandapa in Lunavasāhi.
The Pratihāras are shown as door-guardians, or are presented on pillar-shafts. Both kinnaras, whose lower half is like that of a bird and the upper half corresponds to a human being, and vidyadharas - 'the denizens of the air' - adorn the ceilings, or support the vidyādevis as bracket figures.
The universe is in the shape of a man standing in the
vaisaha posture, with his hands on his hips, filled with substance having the characteristics of permanence, origination, perishing; at the bottom resembling a cane stand, in the middle a jhallari, and at the top a muraja
composed as follows: It is filled with three worlds and its first world are seven earths surrounded by very strong, thick water... The three worlds are classified into lower,
middle and upper...
-Trisastišalākåpuruşacaritra, vol. 1
I he Jain cosmology perceives the universe in the shape of a man, with a body like an hour-glass; the top part resembles a muraja, a kind of cylindrical drum; the middle part has the shape of a cymbal - a jhallari - or a circular shape.
This universe is filled with different beings at different levels. The gods and goddesses dwell in the upper world of the highest heavens, and they perform many tasks: as guardian spirits of the tirtharkaras, as their attendants, as performers of their worship, as guardians of directions, as players of divine music and as goddesses of magic. As such, they comprise a pantheon of deities with prescribed duties, status and appearances. These divine beings are divided into the following classes: I. Gods of the lower world a. Bhavanapati (underground beings and elements of nature
etc.) b. Vyantara (beings of the woods and the atmosphere) C. Jyotiska (the heavenly bodies, stars, planets, etc.)
On pages 20-21 Paticakalyanaka - five aus picious events in the life of
jina, on ceiling in the Pár vanitha temple, Kumbharia, Rajasthan. Also shown are Naigamepin, with goat head, and goddess Lakami, in fourteen ausplclous dreams.