Jaina Archaeological Heritage of Tamilnadu

Author(s): A Ekambarnathan
Publisher: Bharat Varshiya Digambar Jain Mahasabha

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. JAINA ARCHAEOLOGICAL HERITAGE OF TAMILNADU
portraits of a King and Queen and perhaps their preceptor on the pillars. Apart from this on the extensively painted ceiling, there is a carpet of floral designs embellished beautifully with swans and rosettes.
The ceilings of the sanctum and mandapa are covered with a depiction of a lotus pond alive and throbbing with activity. In this pond, there are monks gathering flowers, fish, duck, crocodiles and other animals, all within the same space signifying the universality of life and existence; but at the same time also suggesting that different physical forms are attained by souls on the merit of their performance of good or evil action. The calm countenance of the young monks as they perform their spiritual chore in serene rumination is in contrast to the vibrant and active nature of the other life forms such as fish or duck as they go about their natural activities stirring the entire area into life; even the lotuses which seem to sway in the gentle breeze effectively indicate movement. It is in quintessential, a calm celebration of life and living and perhaps wants to convey the purpose of life and the directions one must take to achieve deliverance from the cycles of birth and death.
This painting of the lotus pond is identified to be that of the "Katika Bhumi", which is a significant pavilion of the Samavasarana. The Samavasarana itself was perhaps adopted as a pivotal symbol of the Jaina religion by the monks as it conveyed the essence the Jaina religion. The term Samavasarana, as Ramachandran puts it, is a compound of two words, "sama" meaning general or common and "avarsara" meaning opportunity; effectively this renders the Samavasarana as a platform which gave equal
opportunity for any life form or soul, from animals to