Studies in Jaina Art

Author(s): Umakant P Shah
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 24

A BRIEF SURVEY OF JAINA ART IN THE NORTH
II
symbols like the svastika, the Srivatsa mark, the full-blown lotus, a pair of fish etc., as also images of Tirthařkaras in the kāyotsarga and dhyāna mudrā, the goddess Sarasvati, and a few other demi-gods. All the figures of Tirthařkaras are nude, showing that the difference between images of the Digambaras (sky-clad, worshipping nude images) and the Svetämbaras (whiterobed, adoring Tirthankara figures wearing a lower garment) was posterior to the Kuşāņa period. Recognising symbols ( Lāñchana ) of the various Tirthankaras were not evolved and the pedestals of Jina figures contained devotional scenes of the dharmacakra usually placed with its rim to the front on a pillar. Tirthaikaras were recognised with the help of inscriptions on pedestals giving their names. Scenes of the five auspicions events (pañca-kalyāṇakas) from the life of each Jina were carved, possibly as a decorative motif, as can be inferred from a fragment showing the goat-headed Nemesa who is famous in Svetambara Jaina texts for his act of transferring the embryo of Mahavira from a Brāhmin lady to a Kşatriya one. Another remarkable specimen of Sunga period, No. J. 354. Lucknow Museum, probably represents the dance of Nilāñjanā before King Rşabha' (fig. 5). A Tablet of Homage was set up by Amohini representing Aryavati a respectable lady, in royal costume with an attendant holding a parasol. This Aryavati probably represents the Mother of a Jina (more likely of Mahāvira), since parents of the Jinas received special veneration from the earliest times. Other noteworthy finds include an image of Sarasvati, the earliest discovered representation of this goddess in India, and four-fold Jina figures (pratima-sarvato-bhadrikā of inscriptions) with Adinatha, Pārsva and two other Jinas, one on each side. These figures are based upon the ancient Jaina tradition of Samavasaraņa? square or circular
I See Lüders, List of Brāhmi Inscriptions, Epigraphia Indica, X, Appendix.
2 Shah, U.P., Journal of the University of Bombay, Sept. 1941, 198 f. Fig. 1.
3 Buhler, Specimens of Jaina Sculptures from Mathura, Epigraphia Indica, Vol. II, 311 ff.
For the story of the Dance, see C. R. Jain, Rşabhadeva, p. 108. Agrawala V. S., Jain Antiquary, Vol. X (1944), pp. 1-5, suggests a different interpretation and identifies it as a scene of birth-celebration of Mahāvira, but my suggestion helps us to identify the standing figures as Lokāntika gods and would seem to be more probable.
5 Smith, op.cit., pl. XIV., p. 21 ; Agrawala, V. S., Guide to Lucknow Museum, p. 14, Fig. I.
8 Smith, op.cit., pp. 46 ff. pl. xc. ? D. R. Bhandarkar, Jaina Iconography, Indian Antiquary, pp. 125-30,
153 ff.