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82 : Śramaņa, Vol 62, No. 4, Oct.-Dec. 2011 Mahāvīra, Neminātha, Sambhavanātha, Munisuvrata and Supārsvanātha. The figures of all the other Jinas were carved during the Gupta and post-Gupta periods, and many of these have been found in: Mathura (UP), Rajgir (Bihar), Durjanpur (Vidisha, MP), Akota (Gujarat) and Badami and Aihole (Bijapur, Karnataka). The innumerable Jina images created during the subsequent centuries have been found at a number of sites of the Svetāmbara and Digambara affiliations in North and South India. All the Jina images, invariably show the highest point of renunciation attained in their dhyāna and kāyotsarga mudrās, suggesting the attainment of both, mental and physical aparigraha. These postures indicate the Jinas' total unconcern with worldly possessions and their absorption in meditation and spirituality. In the case of Digambara images, even the drapery is renounced and they become 'sky-clad'. They are called Jina because they have become spiritual victors mainly through observance of ahiṁsā and aparigraha.
The aparigraha bhāva of Jinas, made them arhat and worthy of adoration -- not only by human and divine beings but also by the animal world. Many of the figures of Jinas are surrounded by trio of animals like elephants, lions, leogryph, makara (crocodile) as throne frame animal.
A remarkable strength of Indian artists and craftsmen of the past was their deep insight into the canons of their religion and the philosophic nuances of very complex ideas. Aparigraha, for example, is open to the range of interpretations, ranging from the purely objective one of limiting material possessions and consumption, to the more subjective one of eliminating the drive of craving and ownership. The sublime peak is of course the meeting of both these conditions in aparigraha where the soul is no longer vulnerable and the human being no longer encumbered. The artist was not only aware of these various steps in spiritual progress, but was capable of expressing the subtle concepts from scriptures through the gross medium of stone.
