Jainism in India

Author(s): Ganesh Lalwani
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 55

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JAINISM IN INDIA
altar, there is an image of Parsvanatha in padmāsana posture with seven hoods on his head. On the south wall there are five altars of which two have lost their deities. In the north, there are extant two nude images in kāyotsarga posture. In the centre there is an altar 6 ft. 8 inches in length which holds a Jaina image. On the southern altar there are seated two Jaina nude images in padmāsana.
Among the images on the Urbahi Gate of the fort, the biggest is that of Lord Adinatha, which is at least 57 ft. in height. Some of these are broken but quite a few have escaped the ravages of time.
On the road from Gwalior to Laskar there is a place called Baba Bawdi. At a distance of about a furlong and a half from the highway, at an elevation beneath the fort there are carved a number of Jaina images in kāyotsarga or pædmāsana posture. These are unique in their vastness and are unsurpassed by any elsewhere. On the right of the tank there is a massive image in khadgāsana beneath which there is a vast inscription which indicates the date of its installation as being V.S. 1525 during the reign of Kirti Simha, the son of Dungar Simha of the Tomara dynasty. The face of all these images had been mutilated during the Muslim period and of some even other limbs, a standing symbol of Islamic intolerance. Some of these were besmeared with mud as if they were burried therein. But these were discovered during the commotion of 1847.
Devkund--The Devkund is alternatively known as Cadobh. At one time it was an important place of Jaina cuiture. Jaina temples of the time of the Kacchapaghata dynasty are still extant here and these were supplemented by new consiructions. An inscription that has been recovered mentions of five Digambara ācāryas, Devasena, Kulabhusana. Durlabhasena Ambai asena and Santisena of the Ladbagad guna. Of these Devasena was an outstanding scholar whose erudition was universally recognised. On a mound near the said Devkund there is an inscription dated 1152 on which is engraved the sandals of Devasena. This inscription has three columns and beneath the mound is a broken image on which is written 'Sri Deva', apparently the abbreviation of the fuller Sri Devasena. Gwalior must have been an ancient seat of the Bhattarakas of whom the most outstanding had been Devasena, Vimalasena, Bhavasena, Sahasrakirti, Gunakirti, Yasahkirti, Malayakirti and Gunabhadra. Of these Devasena, Yasahkirti and Gunabhadra were writers of many books in Apabhramsa.
The inscription of Devkund is hig'ily significant. It was inscribed during the reign of Vikram Simha, son of Vijaypala of the Kachhapa