Mahavira and his Teaching

Author(s): C C Shah, Rishabhdas Ranka, Dalsukh Malvania
Publisher: Bhagwan Mahavir 2500th Nirvan Mahotsava Samiti

Page 437

JINA IMAGES IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM,
KHAJURĀHO Maruti Nandan Prasad Tiwari Khajurāho has yielded over four hundred Jaina images, spread over the tenth to the twelfth century. Of these, more than one hundred and fifty images represent the Jinas in two customary postures, namely, the kā yotsarga-mudrā (standing erect with both arms reaching up to the knees) and the dhyāna-mudrā (seated crosslegged with upturned palms placed one over the other), the latter being of more frequent occurrence. The Jaina sculptures of Khajurāho are the products exclusively of the Digambara sect.!
The Archaeological Museum at Khajurāho possesses a small collection covering some fourteen of the Khajuraho Jaina images. Of the fourteen, some nine sculptures, including a door-lintel and a Jaina quadruple (Sarvatobhadra pratimā) represent Jinas.2 All these images carved in buff sandstone vary approximately from 56" X 31" to 26" X 16" in dimensions. In the present paper I wish to say about the Jina images.
The Jina images of Khajuraho represent a fully developed stage of representing Jina iconographically with the full cortege 1. It is indicated by the fact that the Jinas are represented as sky-clad, the
nudity being clearly ascertained in some of the seated Jina figures even, where the hands land in the lap are damaged. The association of the building activity at Khajuraho with the Digambaras is further evidenced by the occurrence of the depiction of the sixteen auspicious dreams at the site in place of the fourteen as usual with the Svetāmbaras. These dreams were seen by the respective mothers of all the twenty-four Jinas soon after the origination of their embryo. The remaining five show the figures of Jaina goddesses, namely, Ambikā, Manovegā (more correctly fourteenth Vidyādevi Acchuptā), two Jaina couples (probably the parents of the Jinas) and a Jaina Mātrikā (without any Jaina characteristic)
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