Materials Used for Jaina Inscriptions

Author(s): D B Diskalkar
Publisher: Z_Vijay_Vallabh_suri_Smarak_Granth_012060.pdf

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DISKALKAR: MATERIALS USED FOR JAINA INSCRIPTIONS
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Jaina images dated in the intervening period of 800 years have been found. Naturally Jaina inscriptions of the intervening period are comparatively rare. The inscriptions which accompany the images are often useful for their identification and dating, though the lāñchanas carved on the pedestals in the centre and the symbols and designs auspicious to Jainas such as svastika, vajra, sankha, bulls, elephant, goose, antelope, etc., are more helpful. The images of the Bodhisattvas and Tirthankaras found in Mathura are very similar. In that case the inscription on the pedestal is very helpful in identifying the image. In course of time Jaina iconography developed considerably ard a number of minor deities began to be worshipped. Images of some of these are accompanied by a miniature figure of a seated Tirthankara carved over head. Setting up of an image being considered very meritorious by the Jainas the images were naturally inscribed recording the name of the donor, date and other details. What a large number of Jaina inscriptions must have existed can be imagined from this! Jaina images are generally made of black stone but sometimes of white marble also. They are very beautifully carved and sometimes very finely glossed. But they are of a stereotyped form devoid of anatomical details. They are standing erect or sitting with folded hands They are perfectly naked among the Digambara Jainas. The question of nudity, however, does not arise if the statues are in a seated posture. Jaina statues of gigantic size are sometimes carved out of rocks in rock temples on hills in many parts of India. Some of them bear inscriptions but being exposed to the inclemencies of weather they have now become almost illegible. Many nude standing images of Tirthankaras, the largest of them being of Ādinātha and measuring 54' in height are carved on all sides of the Gwalior fort rocks. Some of them bear dated inscriptions which show that they were carved between 1440-1472 A.D. during the reigns of the Tomara kings, Dungarsimha and Kirtisimha.
Inscribed statues of Jaina saints and teachers and of rulers and śreşthis, who were great followers and patrons of Jainism are also found. Among the inscribed statues of Jaina saints may be mentioned the extraordinary colossal statue of Bahubali or Gomateśvara in Mysore state-fifty-seven feet in height and cut from a single rock. It contains short inscriptions in Kannad, Tamil and Marathi of the eleventh century A.D. Many images of Jaina saints are set upon mount Abu. Among the images of teachers may be mentioned an image of Devasena, pupil of Bhavanandin, at Vallimalai (A.R.S.I E. 1895, pr. 10) and among the in