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JAINA BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Devala MITRA. Some Jaina antiquities from Bankura, West Bengal (of A. S. Bactters, Vol. xxiv, No. 2, 1958), Calcutta, 1960, Pp. 131-134.
Bankura was a stronghold of the sect of the Jainas. The medieaval Jaina remains will be submerged when the Kangsabati dam Project is completed. The sculptural and architectural pieces should be removed to a place of safety so that they may be studied by future scholars,
Ambikānagar– The village in Ranibandh and P. S.) is situated on the confluence of the Kangsabati and Kumari, 36 miles south-west of Bankura railway station. The village owes its name to its presiding deity, Ambikā, who is now worshipped in a modern brick temple, built over the ruined plinth of an image (ht. 47'). Description given. Pl. 1-A. The deity, though worshipped as a Brahmanical goddess, is Ambikā, the śāsana-devi of the 22nd Tirthankara Neminātha.
At the back of the temple of Ambikā is a ruined sandstone temple standing to a height of 11'8" Pls. I-B and II), originally Jaina but now appropriated for the worship of the Brahmanical god Śiva. The temple resembling architectonically the Salleśvara and Sādeśvara temples of Dihar may belong to the 11th century A. D. Description given. The linga within the temple was most probably, dedicated to Rishabhanātha, whose image (ht. 3'2", br. 1'6") now lies by the side of the linga. The image belongs to a period not later than the 11th century. Description of the image is given. The back-slab is relieved with miniature figures of twenty-four Tirthankaras. Inside the temple has been found the head of a Jaina Tirthankara. Near the temple was found, under a tree, another image of a Tirthankara. That the village was a thriving Jaina centre is proved by the existence of a few more mutilated Jaina images. Two of them, one headless and the other fairly complete, are now in worship in the house of a local villager.
Chitgiri-Immediately opposite Ambikānagar is Chitgiri, situated on the north bank of the Kangsabati at its confluence with Kumari. A red sandstone temple, now dunuded completely, contains an image of a Tirthankara (Pl. III-B), now lying over the scanty remains. Description of the image is given. The back slab is relieved with four more Tirthankaras, The image may be of the 16th Tirthankara śāntinātha. The date of the image seems to be earlier than that of Rishabhanātha at Ambikānagar,
Barkola-About 24 miles east of Ambikānagar is the village of Barkola, where once stood a Jaina temple, made of bricks. Forces of nature, aided by the vandalism of a man, have brought about virtually a complete destruction of the temple. Its foundation has also been disturbed by brick hunters. From the ruins, a local person has collected : (1) a stone pedestal, (2) three stone complete images, (3) two
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