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IIO
STUDIES IN JAINA ART
four symbols, shows the Srivatsa, another type of svastika with bent ends, and two more symbols which cannot be properly identified. Some of these symbols occur on other Ayāga pațas. A much better preserved set of eight symbols, is however obtained on the Ayagapata set up by Sihanadika (J. 249, Lucknow Museum) with inscription in characters earlier than that of the age of Kaniska.s Here in the lower panel are shown, the tri-ratna, the full-blown flower, the sthapana ( is it the bhadrāsana? 4 ) and the maigala-kalasa ( fullvase). In the pannel at the top are a pair of fish, an unidentified symbol, the śrivatsa and the powder-flask (vardhamanaka ).
It is thus reasonable to infer that in the Kuşāņa age, the set of the Aştamangalas was not finally settled and that the earlier tradition as obtained on these Āyāga patas, especially the Āyāgapața of Sihanādika, shows a slightly different set from the one known to us. In this older tradition represented on the Āyāga pațas, the nandyāvarta and the darpana are omitted and the fullgrown lotus and another unidentified symbol are used. The Mathurā finds represent a stage anterior to the tradition recorded in the Jaina canons avail
i Smith, Jaina Stūpa, pl. XI, ५ Cf. Smith, JS., pl. IX., p. 16. 3 Smith, Ibid., pl. VII., p. 14.
4 Bhadrāsana is described elaborately by later texts like the Vişnuaharmottara (c. sixth century A. D.), cf.:
भद्रासनं नरेन्द्रस्य क्षीरवृक्षण कारयेत्। उच्छायश्च तथा तस्य अध्ययं तु समं भवेत् ॥ हस्तत्रयं तथाविष्टं विस्तरेण तु कारयेत् ।
आयामश्चास्य कर्तव्यो विस्तरेणार्धसम्मित : ॥ चतुरस्रं तु कर्तव्यं राज्ञो भद्रासनं शुभम् । नाष्टास्त्रं न तथा वृत्तं न च दीर्घ भृगूत्तम ।। सुवर्णरुप्यताम्रश्च चित्रं कार्य विशेषत: । रत्नैः प्रशस्तैर्न तथा न रत्नप्रतिरूपकैः ।। चत्वारः पुरुषास्तत्र विन्यस्ता भृगुनन्दन । द्विगुणाश्च तथा सिंहास्तेभ्यस्तु द्विगुणास्तथा ॥ भद्रासनं तत्र भवेन्नृपस्य तलेन पूर्ण ससुखं पराय॑म् । वैयघ्रचर्मास्तरणं सुखार्थ वरासनं तस्य समामनन्ति ।।
Visnudharmotlara, and khanda, 14 adh., p. 178. 6 Especially see, हर्षचरित, एक सांस्कृतिक अध्ययन (Hindi) by Dr. Vasudeva Sarana Agrawala, p. 120, where he has referred to Aştamangala-mālās from Sanchi reliefs. The mangalakas are more than eight at Sānchi. Gradually they came to be fixed as eight.
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