Religion and Culture of the Jains

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

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RELIGION AND CULTURE OF THE JAINS
supposed to be derived from the Sanskrit word āryaka meaning 'honourable' or 'worthy of reverence.'28 The word has been translated as a 'tablet of homage or worship'.20 It is an ornamental slab with the statue of a Jina or some other venerable object at the centre. The slabs are usually of considerable artistic merit. Besides, the erection of silāpaṭas, āyagasabhä, toraṇa, etc., in honour of the Arhats, is mentioned in inscriptions, 80
The words bhagavā Nemeso bhaga... (the divine Naigamesa, the divine...)1 in archaic characters are engraved on a sculptural panel representing a seated male figure with goat's head, and a male and some female figures standing, one of the latter with a child in her lap. As suggested by Bühler, Nemesa is mentioned as Harinegamesi in the Kalpasūtra, as Naigameşin in the Neminathacarita and as Nejameșa or Naigameya in other works. Sometimes he is figured with the head of a ram or goat or antelope. He is connected with the procreation of children, and his representation in the inscribed panel, according to Bühler, illustrates a legend in the Kalpasūtra.93 The story is that Harinegamesi at the command of Indra, king of the gods, transferred the embryo of Mahāvira from the womb of Devanandā, a Brāhmaṇa woman, to that of Triśalā, a a Ksatriya lady.
An inscription 34 of the time of Mahākṣatrapa Soḍāsa dated in the year 72 (16 A.D.) records that Amohini, a female laydisciple of the Kautsa race, established a statue of an Aryavati for the worship of the Arhats. Āryavati, according to Bühler, 35 was a royal lady who had some importance in Jain legends.
28 See V. S. Agrawala, in JUPHS, Vol. XVI, Pt. I, p. 59. 29 See Bühler, in Ep. Ind., Vol. II, p. 314.
30 Lüders' List, Nos. 93, 102, 108.
31 Ep. Ind., Vol. II, p. 200.
32 Ibid., pp. 314-18.
33 SBE, Vol. XXII, pp. 218-19.
34 Lüders' List, No. 59.
35 Academy, Vol. XXXIX, p. 374.