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It is interesting to note that, in the Jaina Kalpa-sūtra, lives of only four Jinas - Rşabhanātha, Neminātha, Pārsvanātha and Mahāvira are described in detail and probably formed tbe theme of the original text. A glance at the stylised summary treatment of the remaining Tirthařkaras lends doubt to their antiquity and would suggest later additions, especially because the view seems to obtain support from the absence of images of twenty (out of twenty-four) Tirthankaras at the Kankāli Tilä, Mathurā, at least in the early Kuşåna period. It would seem that details regarding the other Tirthankaras were added towards the close of the Kuşāna period, before the Mathuri-vācanā (Council at Mathurā to re-edit and preserve the Jaina canons) took place under the chairmanship of Arya Skandila (c. 300-320 A. D.).
The Kalpa-sūtra mentions no congnizance for any of the Tirthankaras. The Āvas yaka-niryukti at one place refers to mark of the bull (which is the cognizance of Rsabhanātha) on the body of the first Tirthankara Rşabhanātha), in a context which explains the names of the twenty-four Tirthankaras.
Cognizances are not mentioned in the ancient lists of atiśayas or supernatural attributes of a Jina. Of the thirty-four atiśayas, eight are regarded as the mahā-pratihāryas (chief attendant attributes) which are figured on a sculpture or a painting of a Tirthankara. These eight are : the Asoka tree, scattering of flowers by gods, heavenly music, fly-whisks, lion-seat, prabhāmandala (halo), heavenly drum-beating, and divine umbrella. A critical study of all the texts giving lists of atiśayas and a comparison with all available early sculptures suggest that the list of the eight mahā-pratihāryas took its final shape probably towards the close of the Gupta period. Later sculptures or paintings of the Tirthankaras show further elaboration in the details of the parikara or paraphernelia attendant upon a Jina, which seems to date from the early mediaeval period.
The lāñchanas or cognizances of Jinas are not found in known Digambara or Svetāmbara texts upto c. 7th-8th centuries A.D. But in art, their first appearance is known form a sculpture of Neminátha, on the Vaibharagiri, Rajgir, having an inscription in Gupta characters referring to Candragupta (Candragupta II according to R. P. Chanda). Here a conch is placed on each side of the cakra-puruşa in the centre of the pedestal. The recently discovered images installed by Maharajādhiraja Ramagupta, identified as elder brother of Candragupta, show no cognizance.
114 / JAINTHOLOGY
