Jaina Art and Architecture Vol 01

Author(s): A Ghosh
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

Page 67

CHAPTER 61
MATHURA
EARLY JAINA RELICS
While these late literary traditions are yet to be substantiated by other evidence, it is certain on the basis of the archaeological data that the religion got a firm footing at Mathurd by the second century B.C. The faith continued to flourish in this centre despite the political changes which led first to the establishment of the rule of a Saka Satrapal family under Raðjuvula and Sodāsa (Sondása) and ultimately to the suzerainty of the Kushans, Under the latter Mathura became an exceptionally rich and populous city, a congenial soil for the prosperity of different cults, Brahmapical, Buddhist and Jaina. In fect the Kushan period witnessed a tremendous outburst of creative activity in the ateliers of this cosmopolitan city, with the result that this important religiqus seat became a prolific centre of art and architecture. The wealth of the Vaiśya caste, particularly the opulent mercantile class (sreşthin, sarthaväha, vånija, gandhika and others), who formed an appreciable percentage of the laydevotees, contributed to a large extent to the prosperity of the Jaina monuments. This is evident from the dedicatory records of the members of families engaged in trade, commerce and industry. At the same time it may be noted that the almost unceasing demand of the followers of different creeds, not only of Mathurā but of a large part of northern India, on the artists of this period left them hardly any leisure to bestow special attention to their creations and forced them to resort to mechanical mass-production with an adverse effect on artistic merit. The figures were not only conventionalized but were often flat and insipid.
The Mathură school of art of the period under consideration was essentially Indian in character, inheriting the age-old art-tradition, root and branch, of Madhyadeśa, as typified by the primitive statues of Yakşas and the early products of Bharhut and Sanchi. However, it was open and expansive enough to introduce freely foreign motifs received through the north-west, partly to satisfy the composite character of the clientele. The principal medium of its expression was the mottled red sandstone quarried from places like Sikri, Rupbas and Tantpur.
The existence of a Jaina shrinc (posada) as early as the middle of the second century B.C. is proved by an inscription recording the dedication of a posada-torana by a śrävaka namod Uttaradásaka. Another inscription, incised on a piece of a carved lintel and belonging to the period immediately before
Epigrantia ledica, II, 1893-94, p. 198; H. Lüders, List of Brdhnet Inscriptions, 1912, Do. 93.