Jinamanjari 2000 09 No 22

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

Page 42

Fig. 13. Detail of manastambha, showing caturmukha Jina in gandhakutri. (Photo by A.W. Norton)
Caturmukha
The Jaina caturmukha sculptures of the Kuṣāṇa period could also be indicative of this important and developing them. The caturmukha showing seated Tirthankaras may be a reference behind a Kuṣāņa plaque from Mathura. (fig. 4) Mitra has pointed out the possibility that the four Jinas seated in pairs on either side of a stūpa may mean that they are actually placed at the four gates. 29 Ayagapaṭas showing only a frontal view of the Jina can surely be read as the caturmukha image at the centre of a samavasaraṇa. (fig. 4) Many later examples, carved and painted, indicate such an interpretation. (figs. 9, 11) The caturmukha form itself is described as the centre for both the Digambara and Śvetāmbara samavasaraṇa. Shown with a central tree, or enclosed in a shrine (gandhakuți), it symbolizes the central place where a devotee may hear the message of salvation.
The
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