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EPIGRAPHIC AND NUMISMATIC SOURCES
[PART VIII was originally a Jaina. He was converted to Saivism by the Saiva saint Tirujñāna-Sambandar, who is said to have defeated the Jainas in religious disputes and proved the 'superiority of Saivism by a series of miracles. In spite of the setback that the Jainas received in the Pandya court at the hands of the Saivas, a number of Jaina settlements survived in this region until the eleventh century and some of the successors of Kup Påndya, such as Srimāra Sri Vallabha (815-62) and Varaguna II, figure in their epigraphs as patrons of Jaina institutions like temples and monasteries.
It would therefore be reasonable to suppose that the asfa-mangala symbols on the early Pandya coins mentioned before may directly relate to the hold that Jainism had over this region. The coins fall into two categories :
(1) Elephant series Obverse : (a) Elephant to right, with a lamp with shaft in front of the
elephant. (b) aşta-margala symbols, seven or eight or less in number,
above the elephant. Reverse : fish.
(2) Horse series Obverse : (a) Horse to right. Triple umbrella above.
(6) Tree-in-railing, etc. Reverse : fish.
The aşta-mangalas or eight auspicious objects familiar to the Jainas are the svastika, Srivatsa, nandyāvarta (nandipada), varddhamanaka (powder-flask), bhadrâsana (throne-a particular type of seat), kalasa (full vase), darpana (mirror), matsya or matsya-yugala (pair of fish). They are usually represented as decorative motifs on architraves and on bali-paštas. Such symbols are also seen on some of the Jaina āyāga-patas of the Kushan age from Mathurā," though the set of aşta-margalas was not yet finalized. These symbols are also represented in miniature paintings of manuscripts and in scroll-paintings.
The Pandya copper coins are perhaps the only examples of coins with aşta-mangala symbols, and what is particularly interesting in them is that they are depicted in a row in much the same manner as is found on the lintel
1 See U.P. Shah, Studies in Jaina Art, Banaras, 1955, pp. 109-12. * Above, pp. 63 ff., plate 15.
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