Jaina Philosophy Historical Outline

Author(s): Narendra Nath Bhattacharya
Publisher: Munshiram Manoharlal Publisher's Pvt Ltd New Delhi

Page 60

Introduction 39
mutilated contains an account of the life of Kharavela from his childhood to the thirteenth year of his reign. It begins with an appeal to the Arhat and Siddha, which corresponds to the beginning of the five-fold from of homage still used among the Jains, and mentions the building of temples in honour of the Arhat as well as an image of the first Jina, which was carried away by the Nanda king. The record shows that Khāravela invaded Magadha and brought back the statue of the Kalinga Jina taken away by the hostile king and that he provided shelters for Jain monks at the Relic Depository of the Arhats on the Kumari (Udayagiri) hill, erected many pillars and repaired old temples. The revised reading, however, does not mention the KalingaJina statue. The second and the smaller inscription states that Khāravela's wife caused a cave to be prepared for the ascetics of Kalinga who believed in the Arhats. The meaning of these inscriptions, which were formerly believed to be Buddhist, was first made clear by Dr. Bhagavanlal Indraji who recognised the true names of king Khāravela and his predecessors and pointed out that Kharavela and his wife were patrons of Jainism.1
From the beginning of the Christian era Mathura became one of the strongest centres of Jainism. The earliest inscription from Mathura, assigned to the first century BC by Indraji, tells of the erection of a small temple in honour of the Arhat Vardhamana and also of the dedication of seats for the teachers-a cistern and a stone table. This temple, the inscription says, stood by the side of one built, a guild of tradesmen. The ruins of a Jain Stupa as well as two temples have been excavated in the mound called Kankali Tilā. A second century inscription found therein says that the Stupa was built by the gods, indicating its legendary antiquity. Such inscriptions suggest that the Jains had erected Stupas since long, as also the Canon refers to them (thuva). The Stūpas upon which the figures of the Arhats were erected were supposed to have been the work of gods suggesting that they had been standing since time immemorial. A characteristic production of the Jains of Mathura was the ayagapata or 'tablet of homage.' These were sculptured tablets containing inscriptions. A large number of dedicatory inscriptions of the Kuṣaṇa age from Mathura have come to light. They are all on the pedestals of statues. In many of them the dedicators gave not only their own names, but also those
1Konow in 40, I, pp. 14-42. Jayaswal in JBORS, III-IV, Lüders, List 1345, Barua in IHQ, XIV, pp. 459-485.