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Jain Thought and Culture
The Mahavir Temple at Osian (district Jodhpur) is one of the superb specimens of 8th Century Built during the regime of Pratihara Valsaraja, it preserves a number of Vidya Devis on the exterior walls including chakresvarı An elegant 8-9th century sculpture of this goddess has recently been discovered at Weir in district Bharatpur Two marble statues of Jain Saraswati from Pallu in district Bikaner are world famous One of them is exhibited in the National Museum at New Delhi and the other in the Bikaner Museum Both of them are superb specimens of early Chauhana art in Rajasthan
The Akota Hoard of Jain bronzes also includes a super image of Jivantaswami showing 'Mahavir as a Prince but meditating in his own palace He has got a crown on his head in such images The cult of this aspect of Mahavir seems to have been quite popular in Jodhpur region from 9th to 11th Century AD A ninth century bronze from Jodhpur and two mediaeval stone images at Sirohi are very important relics in this connection In all of them, the Tirthankara is standing in Kayotsarga posture and has got a crown on the head 7 A first rate life size statue, datable to 10-11th century from Khimvsar (district Nagaur) and now in Jodhpur Museum also depicts, Mahavir as a Prince 9 This Jivantaswami sculpture is very well preserved and the execution is equally superb
The seulptural wealth at Osian, Abaneri and Didwana includes a few Yoga Narayana images, all of datable to the 8-9th Century and depicts Vishnu in meditating pose, the lower two hands are placed in baddhanjali pose whereas the upper ones carry the garland instead of the weapons of Vishnu It appears that these were carved under some Jain impact with the result that even the non-Vaishnavas might also be in a position to worship this type of images depicting mediating aspect of the deity No such dhyana in the Silpa texts 1s, of course, available so far All the more, these images have till now been procured at Pratihar centres of Jodhpur region Of this group, one elegant specimen of black stone from Didwana is now exhibited in Sardar Museum at Jodhpur The entire composition in the statue gives some Jain appearance
It was no wonder if such
7 UP Shah, Journal of Indian Museums, XI, 1955, pp 49 60, figures 1 3,
8 RC Agrawala, Brahma Vidya (Adyar Library Bulletin), XXII pp 32-34 and plate
9 RC Agrawala, Journal of Indian Museums, X, pp 21-22, figure 5
