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The Jaina Stupa at Mathura: Art & Icons
is going out to call an ironsmith to break iron chain. On the reverse side the girl is standing with offerings and lotus flower to adore the saint (fig. 119, 120), as mentioned in the scripture like - putting one foot out of the door and one inside, etc. Thus the availability of life incidents of Mahāvīra, Candanabālā, Valkalchiri establish the antiquity of Agama-sūtras.
5.16 Chatra – The flat roof of Shrine:
The beautiful decorated square slab (accn. no. 76.12 MM., fig. 131) having eight auspicious motifs in front is acquired by Sharma R. C. from Padmanābha temple in Cobiā Pārā in Mathurā. It has full blown lotus exactly that comes over the image within. The running border on three sides has a running grove in which three vertical stone slabs (mostly having pores) were fixed. The fourth side has two holes on corner to receive the posts for supporting the roof. The horizontal linear space is carved with aștmangala motifs as seen on many shrines on the ceiling of the Garbhagriha where devotees are adoring the Jinas. Such type of flat roof small shrine with Jaina image within, is obtained from Budapest Hungary. Thus the earliest tradition of flat roof shrine is witnessed at Mathurā and even at Hungary.
5.17 Mathurā's Jaina images with special reference to Uşnişa:
The classic artists of Mathurā have produced gigantic images in round, continuously up to the end of Kuşāņa rule. Many Jaina images of this School obtained from the site of Kankālī Tīlā have depiction of caitya vrksa, pillar and Jaina motifs at their back and on sides. At Mathurā Jaina community was larger than that of Buddhists as in Kuşāņa and post Kuşāņa period more objects of art and inscriptions of Jaina sanctuaries have been found than Buddhist ones. Out of 132 Brāhmī inscriptions from Mathurā mentioned in “Luders' list of Brāhmī inscriptions’- 84 are credited to Jainas, while 33 are to Buddhas and 15 are not affiliated to particular creed. Therefore Mathurā was famous as a centre of Jainas first and continued upto the 50 years of reign of king Vasudeva as per the available image inscriptions. In the view of Laufer, Buddhism might have been strongly influenced by Jainsim.65 Bulhar comments regarding Jaina and Buddhist images as follows:
65 l) B. Laufer, Citra laksana, 1913, pp 17-18.
II) Dr. J.E.V.L. Leeuw, The Scythian Period, (Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1949), pp 153.
