Jainism in South India and Some Jaina Epigraphs

Author(s): P B Desai
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur

Page 63

3. JAINISM IN TAMIL NAD
BK
posture and surmounted by the familiar canopy of triple umbrella. In the upper space near the deity are seen four small figures, two on each side. These probably represent the Sasanadevatas and Ganadharas. It is not known if the throne bore the usual cognizance of the Jina. If it bore one, it is obliterated. To the proper right of the main deity lies a prominent female figure, decorated with head-dress, ornaments on the neck and hands, and garment on the lower part of the body. She is standing on a seated lion, having her right leg bent at the knee, the right hand turned towards the waist and holding some object, and the left hand placed on the head of a child whose feet are planted on the hindmost part of the animal. Two dwarfs are standing near her to the proper right. Behind the bended right arm of this female figure is a tree. In the upper space to the right of the tree is a flywhisk. A similar object is depicted also to the left of the Tirthakara.
To the left of the main deity, which is the Tirthakara, are two figures which claim some prominence. They are standing with their hands hanging down in the kayotsarga posture, and their feet resting on a full-blown lotus, The figure immediately to the left bears the canopy of the triple umbrella. The other figure also appears to have borne a similar decoration; but it is obliteratad on account of damage. Signs of damage may be detected in other spots of the group also.
THEIR IDENTIFICATION: What deity is the central figure of the above description? The belief in regard to its identity with Anantanatha Tirthakara has no justification. The characteristic traits enumerated above do not square with the known iconographical features of Anantanātha Jina. The deciding factor in the present enquiry is, I think, the female figure. She must apparently be the Yakshini of the Tirthakara. Almost all the Yakshinis in the Digambara School of Iconography are endowed with four hands, and it is only in two cases that two hands are permitted. They are Ambika, the Yakshini of Neminatha and Siddhayika, the Yakshiņi of Mahavira. Ambika is described as riding on a lion and carrying in her two hands a bunch of mangoes and a child.' This description eminently suits the female figure of our group. Hence the Tirthakara here must be Neminatha. The tree in the sculptures must be his Kevala tree which is said to be Mahāvēņu (great bamboo) or Vetasa (cane).❜
There still remain to be identified the two figures standing on a a lotus to the left. They might be Parsvanatha and Mahavira, the 23rd and 24th Tirthakaras of the series, Neminatha being the 22nd. Otherwise, they could be identified as Padmaprabha and Naminatha who bear the red
1 B. C. Bhattacharya: Jaina Iconography, p. 42. 2 Ibid, p. 80.