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Preface
Namo Arihantanam
Namo Ayariyanam
Mathura is considered as one of the most sacred city in India since ancient time. The city was also held in high esteem for Jaina Sangha, as per literature and findings. This book on 'Jainism at Mathura' reveals the history of Jainism through available images and sculptures of Jaina stupa and other sanctuaries from Mathura.
Namo Siddhanam
The most prestigious stupas available in India are at Sanchi, Bharhut and Mathura. Out of them, only one existing at Sanchi belongs to Buddhism. The other two at Mathura and Bharhut were excavated in 19th century by various ASI officers but were in bad condition of preservation, hence both sites were closed and the available artefacts were sent to Lucknow and Calcutta museums respectively. The stupa at Mathura was dedicated to 7th and 23rd Jain Tirthankaras, as per the scriptures and obtained artefacts, while Bharhut stupa was considered Buddhist as per available sculptures.
The Jaina stupa site - Kankali Tila, at Mathura was famous as "Deva Nirmita' among local people as referred by Growse in 'Mathura-A District Memoir', also more than three images excavated from the site hold such words. In this research work all excavated sculptures and their references in Jaina scriptures are utilized before coming to any conclusion. At Mathura historical evidences are recorded from 200 B.C. to 1200 A.D. on sculptures. Thus at one place, Jainas' fourfold community's history with genealogy of preceptors are available in Brahmi and Devanagari script. The inscriptions match with 'Theravali' of Kalpasutra and Nandisutra. The obtained images of medieval period are of both Svetambara and Digambara traditions. The folk art of Mathura- the women enjoying their routine work like playing a ball, going to adore the shrine with offerings, performing Garba dance, lighting a lamp, gathering sala flowers, playing a harp, seeing a mirror, squeezing hair after bath etc. could be seen on sculptures available from this Jaina site. Most of the material is in Lucknow, Delhi, Mathura, Calcutta, London and other museums of the world.
