Studies in Jaina Art

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

Page 26

A BRIEF SURVEY OF JAINA ART IN THE NORTH
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twenty monastic cells, arranged in three lines, with a very early form of Caitya window ornament over cave B.' Cave F is a primitive cell, flat roofed, originally with four pillars, the back being like a semi-circular apse. Cave K in this group has two cells with carvings of the auspicious pot-and-foliage ( mangalakalasa) and other symbols like the srivatsa, svastika, bhadrāsana, minayugala, etc. found on the Mathurā āyāgapaļas. These symbols could not conclusively establish the Jaina character of these dwellings but the discovery of a mutilated inscribed slab (burried in front of cell I) of the time of the grandson of Jayadāman (Rudrasena, the son of Rudradāman), referring to those who have obtained Kevala-jñāna and conquered death and old age shows that at least in the second century A. D. 2 the caves were in the hands of the Jainas. The absende of any other Buddhist symbol or the stūpa is significant. It would not be wrong to suppose that the Jainas had a monastic establishment near Girnar. Other groups of early caves in Saurāṣtra, at Taļājā and Sānā, assigned to this period by Burgess, do not supply sufficient evidence regarding the faith to whom they were dedicated. 3 The presence of a stūpa in each of the two groups of Taļäjä and Sānä shows that they probably belonged to the Buddhists since none of the well known Jaina caves in India show stūpa-worship. Pre-Gupta and Gupta Periods
of the so-called dark period very few antiquities have come to light, But a few Jaina bronzes from Chausā near Buxur ( Bihār), now in the Patnā. Museum, though of crude workmansirip, are valuable since they show the continuity and extent of influence of the Mathura School (Fig. 17); some of them show Gandhāra influence,
The cult image of the Kuşāna period, which, in the words of Coomaraswamy, was a magnificent primitive, clumsy, passes through a gradual evolution and takes its place in architecture of the Gupta age, 5 Some of the Chausā bronzes belong to this period but the transition would be better marked when stone specimen are discovered.
To this period is assigned the Son-Bhandara cave, Rājgir ( Bihar), which has an inscription in characters of c. Ist or 2nd century A.D. stating that Muni Vairadeva, jewel among teachers and of great lustre, caused to be excavated
1.2.3 Burgess, Antiquities of Kathiawad and Kuchh, Archæological Survey of India, New Imperial Series, II, 139 ff. Sankalia, H. D., Archæology of Gujarat, 47-53. Age of Imperial Unity, p. 418 suggests he was Dāmayasada or Rudrasimha I.
4 A few more halls are reported to have been discovered recently on one side of the hill at Talājā, by Shri M. N. Deshpande of the Western Circle, Baroda. They are being cleaned.
6 Coomaraswamy, History of Indian and Indonesian Art, 71.