Lessons of Ahimsa and Anekanta for Contemporary Life

Author(s): Tara Sethia
Publisher: California State Polytechnic University Pomona

Page 136

Sonya Quintanilla, "Exemplars of Anekanta and Ahimsa"
Soḍāsa (ca. C.E. 15), features a figure that is best identified as a yakṣi who has been subsumed within Jainism (Figure 20). Similarly, at the broken edge of the lowest register of the tympanum we discussed above (Figure 7), is a representation of a seated goddess being venerated by female devotees. In this way the Ardhaphalakas exhibited an inclusivist attitude towards local divinities, embracing them within their own religion. This was apparently attractive to women who were not obliged to abandon their traditional divinities associated with childbirth and prosperity when they embraced Jainism. Consequently, women made up a large segment of the lay Jain population of early Mathura, and they were some of the most generous donors and patrons of Jain sites.
One special yakṣa deity incorporated into the Jain pantheon by the Ardhaphalakas, like other yakṣas, yakṣis, and nāgas was the goat-headed yakṣa associated with childbirth, called Naigamesin. A damaged image of Naigameşin stands guard at the entrance of an Ardhaphālaka Jain stupa (Figure 5), while another is found on a gateway architrave (Figure 21). Both images, which date to the first century C.E., may represent early incorporation of Naigameṣin into Jainism, possibly even before the rise of the tradition regarding the transfer of the embryo of Mahāvīra found in the Svetambara canons. Fertility goddesses are also carved on the Jain architrave with Naigameṣin (Figure 21). The Ardhaphalaka incorporation of the yakṣa cult into their open and tolerant form of Jainism also included the worship of trees, as seen in a detail from a Jain āyāgapaṭa.
Not only did the Ardhaphalakas include divinities and practices from other religious groups, but the art historical evidence shows that they also encouraged foreigners to be followers of their religion. In the lower register of a tympanum dating to the Kushan Period (Figure 9) Scythians in non-Indian dress consisting of tunics, trousers and boots worship a seated Jain goddess, who is flanked by Naigameṣin and another male
For Private & Re2gonal Use Only