Mahavira Jain Vidyalay Suvarna Mahotsav Granth Part 1

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

Page 690

GLIMPSES OF JAINISM THROUGH ARCHAEOLOGY IN U.P. : 219
from Mahoba, the capital of the Chandelas, in the Hamirpur district, and certain other areas of Jhansi district in Bundelkhand, are dedicated to this cult.
Although the aesthetic excellence acquired during the Gupta Age seems to degenerate, yet the iconography of these images is much more advanced. The art is no more creative and the sculptor simply tries to carry on the canonical injunctions abiding with the set artistic patterns of the past. Stress is laid more on the ornamentation and multiplication of the forms whereas the creative genius of the Gupta-art fails to occupy the same position. Due to lack of balanced modelling, the facial features and contours of the body become sharp and prominent but the supreme serenity and poise to exhibit the inner strength of a divine conqueror (Jina) are conspicuous by their absence. Thus the communicating power of the art has altogether gone and images behave like puppets of a mute-show.
The stone used for the Mahoba Jaina Sculptures is black basalt which the artists commonly employed as a material to produce images. The pedestal has undergone a further change. It is supported by two dwarf pillars and a pair of lions with lavish ornamentation. Donors, both male and female, of the statue, stand half concealed behind these pilasters. An ornamental cloth hangs down between the two lions beneath where the particular symbol of the Tirthankara is placed. To the right and left of the principal statue, may stand its respective Yaksa and yakşi and the Chauri-bearers. On the upper part on both sides, figures of Gandharvas, Nāgas and Ganas carrying garlands or drums are seen flying to pay homage to the Jina. Each of these two groups is surmounted by an elephant standing on lotus flowers and offering garland with its lifted trunk. All the twentyfour Tirthankaras may also be carved on one panel showing Mahāvira in the centre surrounded by the remaining pontiffs. Another familiar device was to carve out a stele exhibiting four standing nude figures of the Jina on all the four sides of the stone (Sarvatobhadra-pratimā) (see fig. 4). A statue of Pārsvanātha in black stone from Mahoba, now preserved in the State Museum, Lucknow, and dated in Samvat 1253 = 1196 A.D. is illustrated here in fig. 5.
Miniature-Paintings :
Signs of degeneration and deterioration of plastic art became universal in the domain of Indian art, the wealthy patronage of the Jainas could not remain contented with this dying media of visual