Sambodhi 2012 Vol 35

Author(s): J B Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 60

50
Hampa Nagarahaiah
SAMBODHI and venerate the Nishidhis because it contains the relics of prominent ascetics who propagated their tenets by leading a disciplined life of recluse as prescribed in the Agamas. This tradition is a fossil reminiscent of worshipping relics. It is to be underlined that the earliest extant Jaina inscriptions in Karnataka are Nishidhis. Hundreds and hundreds of Nishidhi sculptures, reliefs and independent columns with inscriptions have come to light in Karnataka. Such free standing slabs/ columns, carved to venerate those who died heroically observing sallekhanā (Pk. sallehanā), the ritual of fasting into death, are executed with great skill, using minimum space for recording maximum events. These epitaphs are recorded history of social, cultural and religious data on beautifully sculptured stones. They narrate memorable incidents in the life of the deceased, on a single stone, by dividing the available space on the surface horizontally, into two, three or four parts. Sculptures carved in the relief narrate the incidents leading to death told from bottom upwards.
The Nishidhis may be with/without sculptures, or with/without inscriptions, but mostly the extant ones show sculptures in the beginning followed with the relevant record in the bottom. Building a mantapa on the spot around the Nishidhi column, as a mark of respect for the status of the departed soul is common. Such mantapas are prolific on the peak of Candragiri (Shravanabelagola). Instead of erecting inscribed pillars, a pair of feet may also be carved at the place of cremation. In the tradition of worship of nonanthropomorphic divine objects, the caraņas are preferred because, of all the limbs the feet are chosen as the most important and apt object of an iconic worship in the Jaina tradition from time immemorial. At Sammetagiri, Lord of Jaina Holy Hills, and other pilgrimage centers, the feet of Jinas and Ganadharas and other illustrious person's are worshipped. The pair of carana lānchana, hallowed feet, of Bhadrabaahu, the last and fifth Shrutakevalin, is chiseled in the centre of a full bloomed lotus on a huge boulder, in the small cave on the crest of Candragiri. A pair of feet carved on the ridge of a big boulder at Kurkyaal (Andhra Pradesh: Karimnagar Dt.), represent the feet of Poet Pampa(902-50).
Another variant or varieties of Nishidhis are the Mudiñjas found in Tulinadu. These simple monuments are mostly tombs built in fond memory of Bhattārakas or pontiffs of the local monastery. Mudiñjas are also erected to the memory of monks and persons of royal families. The Nishidhi columns erected for pontiffs and patriarchs at famous pilgrimage centers and other places are some times consecrated at the place of cremation and a pavilion of four or more pillars is built. But in style and structure Mudiñjas differ and form a style of its own." With divisions of each storey into a sloping roof after the style of the pagodas