Religion and Culture of the Jains

Author(s): D C Sirkar
Publisher: University of Calcutta

Page 46

SM. K. BAJPEYI
stones, was erected by the goddess Kuberā in honour of Supärśvanātha, the 7th Jina. Later on, at the time of Pārsvanātha, the 23rd Jina, the golden stūpa was surrounded by enclosure made of bricks, and a stone temple was built outside. Smith? holds that the stūpa is probably the oldest known building in India'. In this connection, mention may be made of the Vyavahāra-bhāşya' referring to a jewelled stūpa at Mathurā.
The inscriptions of Mathurā indicate the cult of the Jain Tirthankaras. Images of Rşabha, the first of the Tirthařkaras, are mentioned in Kuşāņa and Gupta records and testifies to the popularity of his worship in the age in question. Besides, four other Kuşāņa inscriptions 10 speak of the installation of the statues of the four Tirthankaras, viz. Sambhavanātha
rd), Santinātha (16th), Aristanemi (22nd) and Pārsvanātha (23rd). Of course Mahāvira, the last Jina, was much more popular, and inscriptions referring to the dedication of his image are numerous not only in the Kuşāņa periodii when Jainism was in a prosperous condition at Mathurā, but in the preceding age also, 12 Mahāvīra, more popularly called Vardha māna, was the name given to him at birth.
The first twenty-two Tirthankaras are considered to be mythical figures, and only the last two, viz., Pārsvanātha and
6 U. P. Shah (Studies in Jain Art, 1969, p. 12 and note) is of the opinion that, since from the beginning of excavations at the Kankālī Tilā, not a single specimen exposed the name of Supārsvanātha as a popular Jina there, and there is reference to Pārsvanatha in an inscription (Lüders' List, No. 110) at Mathurā, the stūpa was originally dedicated not to Supārsvanatha, but probably to Pārsvanātha.
7 Smith, loc. cit. 8 V. 27ff.
9 Lüders' List, Nos. 56, 69a, 117, 121 ; Lüders, Marh, Ins., ed. K. L. Janert, 1961, p. 35. In a Kuşāpa record (ibid., p. 52), Lüders reads the name Maha śalbha which he takes to be a mistake for Maharṣabha, i.e. Rşabha (loc. cit.).
10 Lüders, Math. Ins., p. 45; List., Nos. 26-27, 110.
11 Lüders, List, Nos. 18, 28, 31, 34, 39, 50, 74, 76, 102, 112, 115, 11819; Math. Ins., p. 53 ; Ep. Ind., Vol. XIX, p. 67.
12 D. R. Bhandarkar Volume, ed. B. C. Law, 1940, p. 282 ; Lüders' List, Nos. 59, 94, 103.