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CHAPTER 7]
EAST INDIA
period. Fit for the residence of Jaina monks, the caves are spacious oblong chambers with an arched ceiling rising from an inconspicuous ledge, the latter projecting above the vertical walls. An early feature of the western cave is the sloping jambs of the door, the opening at the base being wider than that at the top an irrational imitation of wooden constructions in live rock. This cave, which is larger than the eastern one, is provided with a small squarish window, also with plain sloping sides. There are traces of high polish on the walls. The existence of sockets show the prior existence of doorleaves.
The only early Jaina remains so far discovered at Pataliputra (Patna) are from Lohanipur (Patna). The site yielded two nude stone torsos, the lower portion of a head, a mutilated arm or leg and the plinth of a brick structure (2.68 m. square), on the footing of which was found a worn-out silver punchmarked coin. Unfortunately the discovery was not followed by planned excavation, with the result that we are left in the dark about the remains of one of the earliest Jaina establishments. The fragmentary head and one (plate 21A) of the two torsos, both of sandstone, bear the characteristic Mauryan polish. Evidently, they belonged to the Mauryan times. The head, which is too large for the torso, apparently belonged to another sculpture. The portion above the tip of the nose is not extant; to judge from the available portion, the face with firm lips was roundish. Though a large, portion of the two arms of the polished torso is missing, the figure was apparently in kayotsarga-pose with arms falling along the thighs, a presumption supported not only by the rendering of the extant upper part of the arms and the pose of the body but by the indications of fractures left on the thighs where the palms or wrists touched. The figure no doubt represents a Tirthankara. The modelling of the torso, which is in the round, is fairly naturalistic, bearing the imprint of a master hand. In sculptural qualities it is on a plane much superior to the other torso (plate 21B) of Lohanipur. The arms of the latter, which also are in kayotsarga-pose, are disproportionately short. Rendered in the tradition of the primitive Yakşa statues, this torso is probably not earlier than the first century B.C.
The accidental discovery of a hoard of eighteen Jaina bronzes at Chausa (District Bhojpur) opens before us the possibility of the find of early Jaina monuments at the place or in its neighbourhood. Unfortunately, here, too,
1K.P. Jayaswal, Jaina image of Maurya period', Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society, XXIII, 1937, pp. 130-32; A. Banerji-Sastri, Mauryan sculptures from Lobanipur, Paton', Ibid., XXVI, 1940, pp. 120-24.
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