Mahavira Jain Vidyalay Suvarna Mahotsav Granth Part 1

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

Page 683

214 : SHRI MAHAVIRA JAINA VIDYALAYA GOLDEN JUBILEE VOLUME
were offshoots of one and the same cult. At Mathura, Jainism commanded equal respect from both men and women, rulers and the ruled, nomads and the civilized and the foreigners as well as local inhabitants.
Mathura, one of the ancient image-preparing centres of India, seems to have been subjugated by the Sakas, a nomadic tribe from Central Asia, somewhere during the early years of the Christian era. At that time, Mathura was a seat of religious learning. King Khāravela of Orissa, who went to Mathura in order to release his captured army generals during the eighth year of his reign made charitable endowments to the Brāhmaṇas and the Ārhatas.1 The above inscriptional statement leaves no doubt that Jainism was at its helm at Mathura in the last quarter of the first Century B.C. The earliest figures of the Yaksas (fig. 1 of a Yakşi) and Nāgas from Mathura and its vicinity which represent folk-art of the country probably belonged to the Brāhmaṇical creed. Needless to say, Jainism must have formed a nucleus to attract the intelligentsia and the royal patronage at Mathura. The Sakas proved no exception to that. A dated inscription of the year 72 during the reign of Mahākşatrapa Sodasa from the Kankāli mound, Mathura, specifically suggests that the practice of offering sacred stone slabs (Ayāgapațas), to pay homage to the Arhats, had already come in vogue. The other epigraphic documents of sodāsa are dated in the Vikrama Samvat, thus the date assignable to the present inscription would fall in 15 A.D.2 The rule of the Kuşānas, after the Šakas, gave an unprecedented impetus to Jaina art. Many Tirthankara images in spotted red sandstone belonging to the Kuşāņa age are preserved in the Archaeological Museum, Mathura, and the State Museum, Lucknow. After the Kuşāņas, the other imperial power which arose in North India is that of the Guptas who were staunch followers of Vaisnava cult. Consequently, the growth of Jainism had to meet a long setback in the domain of art and culture of Uttar Pradesh. However, the activities of Jaina patrons who hailed mainly from the business community did not remain at standstill. We find a few but excellent pieces of the Jaina art from different places in U. P. which belong to the Gupta period. But the revival of Jainism, which started in the post-Gupta age, is marked during the rule of the Chandelas who gave a zealous support to the cause of Jainism.
1 Ind. Ant. 1926, p. 145. 2 Ep. Ind. Vol. XIV, pp. 139–141.