Jinamanjari 2000 09 No 22

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

Page 11

from Lohānipur confirm that the worship ritual as well as the canonical description of the rules for the making of the images fall in the closing of the Mahāvira millennium and the beginning of the common era."
The earliest known work prescribing the rules for a Tīrtharkara or Jina image is the Brihatsamhita of Varahamihira belonging to 5th C.E. According to it, 'the God of the Arhata is to be represented as having beautiful countenance and the śrīvatsa mark on the chest, arms reaching the knees."12 The Mānasāra, another work on architecture, assigned to 6th C.E., also supplies some details about Jaina iconography. It specifies that “the image of Jina should have two arms, two eyes and the head should be clean shaven and there should be a topknot.”]3 Further, it mentions that "there should be no ornaments and no clothes on any part of the body. It should be straight, erect in sitting or standing posture. In the seated position, the two feet are placed on a lotus seat (padma pitha) the whole image being firm, bearing a meditative look. The hands should be placed with palms upwards. On the back should be a pinnacle or crocodile arch -makara toraņa. Above it should be the kalpa tree together with the royal elephant and such other images like the yakşas - vidyādharas and demi-gods."
The Jina images are identified on the basis of lāñcanas and sanadēvatas carved below their seats. However, the full parikara on Tīnthaņkara images is not found at Mathura of the Kuşāna period. Instead of the cāmaradhara yakşa attendees on either side, donor and his wife or more generally a monk on each side, or a monk and a nun are found at Mathura. The Jina sits on a simhasana with lions on two ends and the dharma-cakra in the centre flanked by monks, nuns, and the male and female votaries. The datable sculpture with lāñcana is of Nēminātha from Rajgir in Bihar with an inscription of Gupta period.!4 Furthermore, the antiquities from Mathura attest to the existence, amongst the Jainas, of the worship of the caitya-tree, the āyāgapatas and the aştamangalas" - svastika, triratna, stūpa, dharma-cakra, indrayashţi, purņamusha (the full vase), mina-yugala (pair of fishes), the padma (full-blown lotus) and darpaņa (mirror). Certain Jaina motifs we come across are the lotus with four petals which represent the four dignitaries in each direction with the Jina in the centre. Next comes the pañca parameśți and the brihat and laghu siddhacakra. Hemacandra refers to balipattas with figures of astamanagalas in the Jain shrines.
A detailed description of the Pūrņabhadra-caitya shrine in the Aupapātika-sūtra refers to a prthvi-silā-patta, which Dr. U.P. Shah regards, as a highly polished N.B.P. terracotta as it is soft to touch