Jinamanjari 2000 09 No 22

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

Page 28

clothed, and the right hand may be raised in the gesture of abhaya-mudra. Also, of the so-called āyāgapațas, none are Buddhist, and most can be identified through their inscriptions as Jaina. One further note of interest is that while the stūpa was still in the Jaina vocabulary at this time, it was on the wane, and would afterwards only be referred to in texts as subsidiary to the samavasaraṇa. 9 This development diverges strongly from Buddhism, which would emphasize the stūpa for centuries to come.
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Fig. 3. Tablet of the Jaina Monk Kanha, the gift of the wife of Dhanahastri, dated '95', ca. 20" wide, from Mathura, Lucknow Museum. Smith, op.cit., Plate XVII, Fig.2.
It is my belief that at Mathurā during the Kusāņa period there was a transition in Jainism's iconography, where the choice of the samavasaraņa as major religious symbol began to override the stūpa. One factor to strengthen this point of view would be the disappearance of the stūpa from Jaina art after the 2nd c. C. E. Along with this can be the reassessment of some of the Mathurā āyāgapațas as precursors to later samavasarana depictions.
I must differ with U.P. Shah, who stated, "It may be noted that not a single representation of the samavasarana is known
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