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Jaina Monuments of Orissa
He found a rude Jaina image in standing posture, which is believed by the villagers to be a murty of Gangamãi and goats and sheep are sacrificed to propitiate it. He felt that some day or other it will be proved that almost all the stone images in Jeypore once belonged to the Jaina pantheon. The village, Jaina nagari, is still in existence near Jeypore.44
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It is known from the Jaina scriptures of Aryanga and Acharanga Sutta that long before the commencement of the Christian era, the Jaina preachers explored the unreclaimed forest tract that extends from the district of Manbhum in Bihar to the Vizagpatam Agency in order to spread their religion among the hill tribes. The Jaina Sravakas or laymen traversed the jungle mahal or Jharakhand in pursuit of mineral wealth.45
It is also evident that Koraput district formed parts of the Kingdom of the Eastern Gangas, the Somavamsis and the Telugu Chodas some of whose rulers allowed Jainism to flourish along with other religions of the land.
An image of Padmavati, the Sasanadevt of the twenty-third Tirthankara of the Jaina pantheon, is kept in the open mandapa in front of the Sarvesvara temple of Nandapur. It was originally brought from village Mali Nuagaon located 5 km. away from Nandapur a few years back as known from the local people. She is carved seated in lalita pose on a lotus pedestal below which her vehicle, elephant is visible. A canopy of five hooded snake protects her at the top. She is four handed of which one is damaged. The attributes in other three hands are a branch of a tree, varada mudra, and a paralu. Her tutelary deity, Pärsvanatha is found depicted in yogasana pose at the top with the canopy of a seven hooded snake over head. Chauri bearers and the flying figures with garlands flank the Tirthankara near the pedestal and at the top respectively. The Sasanadevi is lavishly furnished with decorative ornaments like girdle, necklace, armlets, anklets, bangles and earrings. She has been given a coat of lime wash by the people attached to the temple. Loose figures of Padmavati are extremely rare in occurrence in Orissa.
Standing in picturesque isolation in the midst of shrub forest (at the foot of Panagiri hill) in Koraput district is a Jaina monument near the village Suai (Fig. 112) within an oval enclosure with a low wall all around is a series, of some ten small shrines, but the entire site is much damaged and only two of the shrines are still standing. It would appear that each was a triratha structure with a low tower topped with an amalaka. The shrines contain slabs carved with Jaina Tirthankara and Sasanadevi figures with identifying marks immediately below their thrones. Unfortunately all the images are highly weather beaten and outlines are blurred. From the entire hoard two slabs depict the figures of Chakreśvari and Rohini, the Sasanadevis of Rṣabhanatha and
44. O. Malley (Ed.), Bengal District Gazetteer, Singbhum Sareikela and Kharsuan. 1910, p. 25. 45. O. Malley, Bengal District Gazetteer, Singhbhum, Sareikela and Kharsuan, 1910, p. 25,
