Jinamanjari 2002 04 No 25

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

Page 10

serpent while its multiple hoods rise behind his head like a halo. He points out that several Mesopotamian seals show this exact motif-the body enwrapped by Serpents whose heads rise from behind the shoulders.
Other Instances
In an earlier article in this journal I enumerated a few other instances of Jain imagery that seem to go back to the Indus Valley and perhaps beyond it to ancient Mesopotamia. It is important to note that the mulabandhasana position in which the figures on the so-called (probably mistakenly) "Siva seals" are portrayed to be the position in which the Kalpa Sutra describes the enlightenment of Mahavira. "During the thirteenth year," the text says, “in the second month of summer, in the fourth fortnight ... not far from an old temple, in the field of the householder Samaga, under a sal tree, ... the Venerable One in a squatting position with joined heels, ... being engaged in deep meditation, reached the highest knowledge and intuition, which is called kevala.""
In a squatting position with joined heels" can only indicate mulabandhsana or a closely related asam such at utkatasana. This is the posture in which the figures on the Indus Valley "Siva seals" are seen." (Probably they should be seen as proto-Jain rather than protoSaiva, as Siva is never portrayed in this asam.) There is a possible Mesopotamian linkage also in the various animal figures on the tirthankara's palanquin, the animals surrounding the figures on the Indus seals, and the Mesopotamian practice of surrounding deities with animals in symmetrical arrangements."
A related parallel lies in the composition in one of the Indus Valley "Siva seals" in which a seated figure is surrounded symmetrically by upright serpents. This is said to be how Parsva was situated when he attained enlightenment; it is also common in the Mesopotamian imagery of Ningizzida.
The Symmetrical Flanking Device
The most basic iconographic structure in Indian religions in general and Jainism in particular is the symmetrical flanking arrangement -- an object on the central axis is heraldically flanked by identical objects on both sides. This icon of centrality is characteristically Sumerian and had not appeared in any of the world's iconographies prior to the Sumerians. From Sumer it seems to have diffused widely, both East and West, becoming basic to Greek as well