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Jaina Stories In Stone
in
The Delvāda Temples, Mt. Ābu.
Dr. Umakant P. Shah, M. A., Ph. D.
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Scenes from the life of Buddha, especially the Great Renunciation, as well as from Jātaka stories, are represented in numerous reliefs from Gandhāra, Bharhut, Sañchi, Mathurā, Amaravati, Nagarjunikonda and elsewhere in India. But little is known of similar representations from the lives of the Jaina Tīrthankaras.
Fortunately, a large number of reliefs in the ceilings of the Jaina temples at Delvāda, Mt. Abu, especially in the temples built by Vimala Saha and Tejahpāla, and in a group of temples at Kumbhāriā, near Abu, preserve for us beautifully carved representations depicting main events from the lives of different Tirthankaras like Chandraprabha, Munisuvrata, Santinātha, Neminātha, Pārsvanātha, Mahāvīra, as also from those of great men like Krishna, Bharata and Bahubali, or from the stories of monks like Ardrakumāra and others.
The different scenes are called Bhāvas by the late Muni Shri Jayantavijayaji at whose instance they have been given numbers, inscribed below each of them, for reference of visitors and scholars.
One such important Bhāva represented in the Vimala Vasahi as well as the Lunavasahi at Delvāda, Mt. Abu, is the story of the Great Renunciation by
Neminátha, the cousin brother of Krishna according to Jaina Purāņas. This scene, in the Lúnavasahī, built by minister Tejahpāla in 1240 A.D., is, in the words of Dr. Sankalia, 'perhaps more poignant in the swiftness and contrasts of its scenes than the gradual world weariness of Buddha'. This ceiling plaque in front of cell no. 11, is numbered as Bhava 22; in temple built by Vimala Sāha in C. 1031 A.D., the story of Neminātha is found in Bhāva 16, ceiling plaque in front of cell 10.
Prince Ariştanemi of Sauripura was the son of king Samudravijaya, a scion of the Yādava family and son of King Andhaka-Vșshni, Krishna was the son of Vasudeva, the youngest brother of Samudravijaya. Krishna killed king Jarāsandha of Magadha and made Dvārikā his capital city. Nemikumāra, or Aristanemi was both brave and strong but was, from his boyhood, averse to worldly pleasures and had no desire to marry.
Once upon a time Neminátha entered the armoury of Krishna and out of fun lifted up with ease the famous heavy mace of Krishna, tried the Sārnga-bow, turned round for a number of times the mighty Sudarśana-Chakra, and blew hard the famous conch of Krishna, the Pāñchajanya Sankha. This alarmed Krishna since no other person had ever
