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ART-OBJECTS IN MUSEUMS
[PARTX upper right portion are damaged and lost and the part that still remains depicts the seated images of the Tirtharkaras in dhyana-mudra. The halo with a beaded border and locks flowing on the shoulders prove it to be a figure of Rşablanatha. The pedestal in front has the seated figures of his Yaksa and Yaksi carrying the usual attributes in their four hands. It is interesting to note that unlike the images of the Tirthaakaras of north India (excluding Bengal), the sculptures from south India and the Deccan are invariably shown without a srivatsa-mark on the chest; and this can also be noted in all such images mentioned below. The image bears a dedicatory inscription of about the twelfth century.
Another caubisi of a Tirtharkara shows the miniature figures of the twenty-three Tirtharkaras inside ornamental scrolls executed on both sides of the main image. The nude figure with rounded limbs, a flat torso and prominent knee-joints lack the vitality and grace of many of the Jaina images from the Deccan. His Sāsana-devatās are seated on his either side. The piece can be assigned to twelfth-thirteenth century.
A Cālukyan image of a nude Tirthankara from the Deccan shows him standing in the usual pose under a triple umbrella crowned by a kirttimukha at the top. The attributes of his attending Yaksa and Yakşi figures are lost. A stylized makara-rider is depicted on either side of the deity. The image bears an obliterated inscription of circa twelfth century on the front base.
A nicely-executed image of Pārsvanātha shows him seated in meditation with his hands resting in the lap and palm facing upwards (plate 319A). He is shaded by the seven hoods of a cobra. Above the hoods are shown a triple umbrella and a kirttimukha emanating flowery scrolls and thus forming a decoration for the stele of the image. The facial expression of the Jina reveals that he is above all worldly attachments. A male attendant holding a flywhisk is standing near his head on either side offering him a fruit-like object. Dharapendra and Padmāvati, his Yakşa and Yakşi, are seated under a threehooded cobra on their respective vāhanas, an elephant and a cobra. The image may be regarded as a very fine piece of Calukya period, circa twelfth century.
Among several images of the Jaina deities from south India and the Deccan, an image of Pārsvanātha, wrongly published as Mahavira, shows him
1C. Sivaramamurti, 'Geographical and chronological factors in Indian iconography, Ancient India, 6, 1950, pp. 44-46.
* W.S. Hadaway, Notes on two Jaina metal images', Rūpam, Calcutta, 17, Jan. 1924, p. 48, fig. facing p. 49.
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