________________ 262 : Lalit Kumar Rsipalita. Till then, the date of Rsipalita as fixed by Sagarmal Jain seems most logical. Undoubtedly, it should be attributed to a period not later than the first century, B.C. Notes & References 1. Devindatthao (Devendrastava), Subhash Kothari and Suresh Sisodiya (trans.), Agam Ahimsa Samata evam Prakrit Samsthana, Udaipur, 1988 (in Hindi). 2. Ibid, p. xxii. Inspite of its being an early text, the Ardhamagadhi variants have given place to the Maharastri Prakrta by the editors. Editors invariably face a dilemma, when the date of a work is not certain. This makes the editor's task more challenging in the reconstruction of the original text. 3. Ibid., p. xxi 4. The classification of gods is found in all the ancient religions of India. In Jainism gods are classified as Bhavanapati, Vyantara, Jyotiska and Vaimanika. Ona comparative study of Indian religions one finds parallels in the classification of various gods. However, in Jaina religion the Jyotiska gods have been put in a separate class. This class of gods include sun, moon, planet, constellation and stray star. These are dealt in detail because of highly complex cosmological concept which Jainas had evolved in course of time. The Suryaprajnapti is one of the earliest treatise of the Jaina cosmology which is attributed to the third century B.C. But it is silent about the Vimanas of the Jyotiska gods. 5. S.P. Gupta, The Roots of Indian Art, Delhi, 1980, pp. 124-25. 6. A detailed study on the Symbolism of the Sarnath Lion Capital will be published soon by the present author. 7. Devindatthao, gatha 209. 8. Ibid., gatha, 216. 9. Gupta, RIA, pp. 189-192, fig. 2-5. 10. Ibid., p. 197 - 198, fig. 8. $ Asst: Curator L.D. Museum Ahmedabad.
