Mahavira Jain Vidyalay Suvarna Mahotsav Granth Part 1

Author(s): Mahavir Jain Vidyalaya Mumbai
Publisher: Mahavir Jain Vidyalay

Page 628

SOME INSCRIPTIONS AND IMAGES ON MOUNT SATRUNJAYA : 163
associated with some auspicious events in the life of Rşabha, the first Tirthankara. It is also said that a temple was dedicated to Rşabhanātha, on this mountain. Pundarīkasvāmi, the first Ganadhara of Rşabha, obtained emancipation on this sacred mountain and a memorial to him, in the form of a shrine with his image, was raised here. Since then, the mountain came to be called Pundarīkagiri.?
We shall now refer to a few images and inscriptions which throw more light on the art and antiquity of this site.
Fig. 1 illustrates a beautiful marble image of Puņdarikasvāmi installed in the first cell adjacent to the staircase, beside the main entrance to chief shrine of Rşabhanátha (Adinātha) on this mountain. This sculpture, fortunately well-preserved, is about 2.5 feet in height and about 1.5 ft. broad at base. The pedestal or the lowermost part of the sculpture has an inscription in four lines.3 A big lotus with an ornamental long stalk springs from the top of the pedestal, and divides the whole sculpture into two sections. The upper section shows a figure of Pundarikasvāmi, sitting in the padmāsana, dhyānamudrā, on a cushion-like seat placed on the full-blown lotus. There is a back-rest whose two ends show lions supporting the horizontal bar resting on two pillars. Above are two divine garland-bearers, and on top the chatra or the umbrella. The figure of the Ganadhara could easily be mistaken for that of a Tirthankara, if the inscription had not specifically shown that it represented Pundarikasvāmī.
Below the lotus, the two sides of the stalk further form two sections, the centre being occupied by the sthāpanā. To the right of the sthāpanā sits a Jaina monk, a Guru, in the act of giving a discourse to the two disciples sitting in front, with folded hands, on the other side of the sthāpanā.
This is one of the finest examples of sculptural art of Gujarat in V. S. 1064 (=1006 A.D.), the date of the inscription. Unfortunately part of the beauty of this sculpture is marred by modern black paints,
2 For a fuller account, see Shah, Ambalal Premchand, Jaina
Tīrthasarvasamgraha (in Gujarati, Ahmedabad), pp. 98-108. 3 The inscription was first published by Shah, Umakant Premanand,
in Jaina Satya-Prakāśa (Gujarati Journal, Ahmedabad) Volume 17, No. 3, pp. 51-58. For understanding the symbolism of Sthāpanā (also called Sthapanācārya) see, Shah, U.P., Studies in Jaina Art (Banaras, 1955), pp. 113-115.