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15
PARENTS OF THE TÎRTHANKARAS*
-Umakant P. Shah
The parents of the Tirthankaras have been paid due respect by followers of both the main Jaina sects, who have taken special care to record their names in the accounts of the lives of Tirthankaras of this Avasarpini age. The table appended at the end of this paper, gives their names according to both the traditions.
Worship of the parents of the Tîrthankaras appears to be of ancient origin. They are invoked in various rites, especially in the Pratishthavidhi,1" and it is interesting to note that even here the mothers are more frequently invoked than the fathers. In painting as well as sculpture, the mother is oftener represented. Aryavati in the Amohini Votive Tablet from Mathura, dated in the 42nd year of Sodâsa, is one of the earliest such specimen. It belongs to the early Kushana period, and depicts a standing lady (Aryavati) adored and worshipped by attendant figures one of whom holds a parasol over her. The lady is probably the mother of a Tîrthamkara, probably Mahâvîra. Several stone patas or plaques representing in relief all the twenty-four mothers-each in a separate compartment and carrying their sons on the lap-are known to have been installed in Jaina temples during the medieval period. The earliest of these known hitherto is preserved in a Svetambara Jaina temple at Osia in the former Jodhpur state, Rajasthan, and is dated V.S. 1075/A.D. 1018. I know of similar patas from Patan, Abu and Mt. Girnar, and many more exist in different Jaina temples.
The mothers of the Jaina saviours were widely worshipped
* Pramod Chandra (id.) Prince of Wales Museum Bulletin.
