Jinamanjari 2002 04 No 25

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

Page 23

later, Cicero and Socrates of ancient Greece explored them in the West.
The literary evidence which relates to the theisistic concept in Jainism as seen in the Jivanta Mahdvira image dated circa sixth B.C.E., and by the fourth B.C.E., the development of wood caitya system shows archaeological evidence. The mulabandha and kayotsarga yoga postures which have been referred in the ancient Jain texts, the Acārāgasūtra and the Kalpasūtra, are found in the Indus Valley Civilization (c.2300-1750 B.C.E.), the earliest civilization of India. The figures on the seals from Mohanjadaro and also a male torso from Harappa remind of the Jina images on account of their nudity and posture, identical with the kāyotsarga-mudra, all this much comparable with the Lohanipur torso." The worship of the Jinas thus can be traced to an ancient times in Mohanjadaro, Harappa and Lohanipur period. The earliest known Jina image from Lohanipur (c. third B.C.E.), terracotta Jina figure of c. third B.C.E. from Ayodhya, the Hathigumpha inscriptions of Kalinga country emperor Khäravela, and two early bronze images of Lord Parsva of c. second-first B.C.E., ] and pre-Kuśāna Jaina ascetic figure in the Manchapuri cave of Orissa in eastern part of India show unique Jaina iconographic characteristics and the antiquity of art and architecture in Jainism. Thus, Jaina iconography can be classified into three periods: (1) stage of genesis assigned to the Indus Valley period. (2) stage of evolution with iconic growth, from sixth to second B.C.E., alluding to the Mauryan age on the basis of Lohanipur nude torso. (3) stage of development, early first B.C.E. when rock-cut friezes (Manchapuri cave) appeared. Jose Pereira noting the features of Jain images rightly has expressed that "there is perhaps no other tradition of image making, and certainly not in India, which draws so heavily on the idea of the sage in contemplation standing with arms hanging loose at sides or sitting cross-legged. Both these must not have the line of the robe (of the Buddhist) or of the sacred thread (of the brahmin). According to him, this specific Jain generic idea of a contemplating sage has four surrounding layers to the core - the first is symbols employed to indicate identity or personality; second is iconographic organism is the concept of sasanadevatas from a relatively early period; the third layer is a miscellaneous assortment of deities and the fourth layer is that of the samavasarana episode, the first sermon of the Jinas. The images are generally [often] decorated with eight inscribed pratihayyas simhasana, divyadhvani, cāmrendra, bhamandala, asokavrakša, catratraya, dundubhi and puspavrasti."
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