Jainism Early Faith of Ashoka

Author(s): Edward Thomas
Publisher: Trubner and Company London

Page 43

THE EARLY FAITH OF AŞOKA.
of the young Buddha are adverted to as, “qui est apparu par l'effet de la racine de la vertu des précédents Djinas."
The importance of these indications will be better appreciated, when it is understood that the twenty-four statues of the Jaina saints were all formed upon a single model, being indistinguishable, the one from the other, except by the chinas or subordinate marks on the pedestals, which constituted the discriminating lakshanas or mudrás of each individual Tirthankara. These crypto-devices were, in other cases, exhibited as frontal marks, or delegated to convenient positions on the breast and other parts of the nude statue. In this sense, Jainism may be said to have been a religion of signs and symbols, comprehending many simple objects furnished by nature and further associated with enigmatical and Tantric devices, the import of which is a mystery to modern intelligence.
The following is a list of the twenty-four JAINA TIRTHANKARAS, WITH THEIR PARENTAGE AND
DISCRIMINATING SYMBOLS.? NAMES.
SYMBOLs. Art. 1. Rishabha, of the race of Ikshwáku,
Prathama Jina, " the first Jina" . a Bull 2. Ajita, son of Jitaşatru . . . . . . an Elephant 3. Sambhava, son of Jitári . . . . . a Horse 4. Abhinandana, son of Sambara . . . . an Ape 5. Sumati, son of Megha . . . . . . a Curlew 6. Padmaprabha, son of Sridhara ... a Lotus 7. Supárswa, son of Pratishtha . . . . a Swastika Cre 8. Chandraprabha, son of Mahásena .. the Moon sro 9. Pushpadanta, or Suvidhi, son of Supriya an Alligator 10. Șitala, son of Dridharatha . .... a Șrivatsa
1 In modern times, Mr. Hodgson tells us, he was able to discriminate statues, which passed with the vulgar for any god their priests chose to name, by the crucial test of their “minute accompaniments” and “frontal appendages.”— J.R.A.S. Vol. XVIII. p. 395. See, also, the Chinesg-Buddhist inscription from Keu-Yung Kwan, with its mudrds, and Mr. Wylie's remarks upon dhdranis. J.R.A.S. Vol. V. N.s. p. 22.
2 Colebrooke's Essays, vol. ii. p. 187; As. Res. vol. ix. p. 305. Mr. Burgess, Indian Antiquary, 1873, vol. i. p. 134.