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Jain Thought and Culture
Its roaring is often alluded to, and is called thundering 80 Both these aspect of its personality have been used by the Vedic seers In the Rigveda Rudra and Agni, both were compared with the 11011 Rudra owing to his thundering81 and Agni as it enters in the waters 82 Bhismanrga or dreaded lion became the symbol of royalty and on this account tiger skin was prescribed in ritual coronation 83 Inlater Vedic period its presence in itself came to be treated as auspicious Mention may be made of Chaturdama kesar184 in the list of auspicious objects assembled for Rama's coronation ceremony in the same way according to the Divyavadana85 it was one among the seven auspicious objects carried in procession before the Buddha in the Bhagavadgita,86 it has been mentioned among the folk divinities which were described as the Vibhutis of Krshna In Buddhist literature and art it represents Buddha—the 'Sakyasimha' 87 As has already been suggested sometime before Asoka some sort of dhvaja-cult around lion was prevalent in which it was worshipped as a god 88 Perhaps Jains took this as an auspicious symbol from the folk cult The Jain text Angavijja89 also lists it with the fifty five folk-gods
Apart from the animals the first and second group of objects seen in the dream by Devananda include celstial lake with flowers, garland, ocean, fire, chandra, surya, purnaghata and Sri Some of these objects represent the various spirits derived from nature,
80 One of the most striking things connected with the lion is his voice, which is excedingly grand and peculiarly striking He starties the forest with loud, deplored solemn roared, repeated in quick succession, each increasing in loudness to the third or fourth, when his voice dies away in five or six low muffled sounds very much resembling distinct thunder (as quoted in Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol XIV, P 681) 81 RV, II 33 11 82 Ibid , III 9 4 83 As referred by VS Agrawala in his Chakradhuaja, p 29
Ramayana, Ayodhyakanda, 14 36 38 85 Cowell (ed) P 45 86 Chapter X, Vibhutiyoga 87 In Divyavadana (p 45) Buddha is compared (not identified) to the Simha 88 See my thesis A Critical Study of Indian Art Motifs', p 407, (Unpublished but classified in the library of University of Rajasthan, Jaipur), Cf also, John Irwin, 'The Heliodorus pillar A Fresh Appraisal', Art and Archaeology Research Papers, No 6, 1974, p 9, Agrawala, VS, Chukradhvaja 89 Chapter--58 For representation see a Jain ayagapatta preserved in Lucknow Museum (J252) (Smith, op cit, pl XI, P 18)
