Jinamanjari 2001 09 No 24

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

Page 10

the Gupta dynasty. It appears that this development sharpened the distinction of the Svetambaras from the Digambara Jainas.
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Apart from the characteristics of the Gupta images and their association with particular religious practices, we sind that in the post-Gupta period the tradition of worshipping Tirthankuras along with many gods and goddesses were beginning to hecome prominent in both the Digambaras and Svetambaras traditions. Jaina sculptures from the seventh to eighth centuries C.L. also begin to be distinguished in that the Tirthunkaras images are attended with identifiable images such as Saraswati, Ambika, Kubera, Naga, and so on. The introduction of the twenty-four yaksas and the same number of yaksinis as attendants of the Tirthankaras was becoming well developed by the close of the eighth century C.E. Later on the practice of putting eight planets on two sides of a Tirthankara was developed in the eastern school of medieval art. In the western school, the eight planets were generally carved on the pedestal of the statue of a Tirthankara. After 1200 C.E. we also have the figures of the months of the twenty-four Jinas, each with a child in their lap. All these sculptures are made mostly of bronze or stone (it is suggested that because stone statues were being damaged by invaders, the Jaina community began to cast metal images as an alternative, and Nalanda became the center of such activities. 41 The Jaina literature also refers to wood carving. Wood images were carved during the Pala rule in eastern India. *2 Thus we see that in the later centuries, Jainism was propagated through the medium of Jaina art.
Jaina monuments also help us in determing the position of Jainism. Several temples of both Digambaras and Svetambaras are found throughout all states of India and in all four architectural styles - Nagara, Vesara, Dravid, and Kalinga -- however, in the eastern Indian region we don't find all the styles being used. The temples of Parasnatha, Rajgriha, Champapaur, Deoli, Charra, Teleuppi, Pakbirra, Khandagiri and Udaigiri tend to use a more artistic style, especially after the eleventh century.43 The Jaina literary evidence suggests the existence of Jaina temples in almost all important place of eastern India, but a very few are in existence in the present times. There are instance to show that the Jainas pulled their