Jaina Art and Architecture Vol 01

Author(s): A Ghosh
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

Page 96

MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300
[PART 1
sojourn at Mathura most probably halted at the Bhapdira-udyang which was the abode of Yaksa Sudarsana. Apparently, the bhandira-tree or -grove was sacred to the Jainas on account of its association with Mahåvira.
While most of the available dyāga-patas, which form a class by themselves, have been assigned a pre-Kaniska date, a few no doubt belong to the Kushan period. The carvings on most of these ayaga-patas are exuberant and reflect the zeal and skill of the artists in weaving a good number of motifs, both indigenous and of foreign inspiration, into compositions of surprising excellence (plate 14) for beautifying these cherished objects of sanctity. The religious character of these āyāgd-patas is evident not only by the available inscriptions (referring to the setting up of the dyāga-patas for the worship of the Arhats) but by the depiction of stūpas (plates 1 and 2B), figures of Tirthankaras (plates 14 and 15), caitya-vskșa, dharma-cakra (plate 16) and auspicious symbols, including asta-margalas, particularly sacred to Jainism.
As suggested by Shah,' the precursor of the dyaga-pajas might have been the pudhavi-sila-pasta (prthvi-sila-patta) placed on a small platform at the foot of vrksa-caityas, sacred to the sylvan folk-divinitio Yakşas and Någas. In early reliefs we find devotees worshipping such vacant vedis or altars below the trees. Such vedis were conceived as of high sanctity, being the sacred seat and symbolizing the physical presence of the invisible divinities. The latter were worshipped by the local people who used to put various offerings, including floral, on these vedis. The worship of folk-divinities is of hoary antiquity and has survived in many parts of India even now in the cult of gråma-devatas.
The representations of Jinas and stupas on the âyäga-patas tend to prove that these slabs perched on the vedis or pithas did not serve merely as arghyaparjas or bali-pajjas, where flowers and other offerings were deposited for worshipping the Jinas and stūpas, as in the case of the purely ornamental slabs. On the contrary, these representations would suggest that these ayaga-patase were themselves, like the image of the Arhat at the deva-nirmita stūpa, were objects of worship, a presumption supported by the manner in which the sprinkling of flowers is depicted on two of the dydga-patas in front of the stupa represented on the tympanum in question. Just as the pious dedication of the
+ Shab, op. cit., pp. 109-12; V.S. Agrawala, 'Astamangalakamala', Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art, New Series, 11, 1967-68, pp. 1-3.
* Shah, op. cit., p. 69.
• In this connexion Bühler's remarks are noteworthy : 'Aydga occurs in the Ramdyana, 1, 32, 12 (Bo. ed.) and is explained by the commentator as ydaniyade vard, a deity to be worship ped, i.e. an object of homage,' Epigraphia India, 1, p. 396, n. 28.