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Art and Architecture
Goddess stamped on gold foil closely resembling Earth-Goddess from Lauria Nandangarh; another standing female figure heavily draped, having an elaborate fan-like coiffure, marked by some auspicious symbols fixed in the hair. A remarkable decorative design is found on a large disc of gold leaf, consisting of rows of whorls with six wavy arms going round a centre, an intricate form of Avarta, covering the whole field in a symmetrical way of forming an intricate Vjūha.
Amongst other relics are pots, covered bowls, round relic-caskets, including one made of cut and polished crystal with a lid beautified on the top of a fish-design, most minutely worked and highly polished, which gives an indication of the extremely fine workmanship of the lapidarists, who lived and worked in the sixth or fifth century B.C.
The Jaina stupa of Mathura is known to be the work of the gods, from the inscription of the second century A.D.1 It was probably, therefore, erected several centuries before the Christian era. Jinaprabhasūri, an author of the fourteenth century, has preserved the legend of the foundation and repair of this 'stūpa built by the gods' in his work Tirthakalpa2 which is based on ancient materials. This account confirms the belief that the original stupa, a small one, was a mound of earth which concealed a miniature stūpa of gold and gems. Later on, it was encased by larger stupas of bricks and stones. Some scholars ascribe the original one to the third century B.C. while others go as far back as to the sixth century B.C. If the ascription of the original stupa to the sixth century B.C. is right, it would be the oldest known specimen of religious architecture.
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MATERIAL
As very few structures of so carly a period are surviving, a fair idea of the materials used may also be formed from 1. V. A. SMITH: The Jain Stupa and other Antiquities of Mathura, p. 12. 2. According to this work, the Stupa was originally of gold, adorned with precious stones, and was erected in honour of the seventh Jina, Suparivanatha; by Kubera Yakshi at the desire of two ascetics named Dharmaruchi and Dharmaghosha. During the time of the twentythird Jina, Parsvanatha, the golden stupa was encased in bricks, and a stone temple was built outside. The Sanctuary was restored in honour of Parsvanatha by Bappa Bhattasari, thirteen hundred years after the Lord Vira had reached perfection.
