Studies in Jaina Art

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

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STUDIES IN JAINA ART
✓ci-cayane, but since caitya or cetiya was used also with reference to funeral relics and objects of worship or sanctuaies of Yakşas, etc., where bhakti predominates, is it possible to in fer that the term Daivata Caitya was used in order to differentiate such shrines from Yajñiya caityas or Yajñiya cityas as also from Mylaka caityas ?
The above analysis will show that Caityas existed in the pre-Buddha epoch, at least in the sixth century B.C., or say in the later part of the Sūtra period. These caityas were sanctuaries, holysteads, both with or without an icon, including dhātu-caityas. The description of the Pūrņabhadra Caitya in the Aupapātika shows that the text does not refer to any image of the Yakşa statue worshipped in it and the Pșthvi-Silk-patta at the stem of the Asoka tree in the forest-grove of the Caitya was possibly meant to represent the Pūrņabhadra Yakşa, or else the text as handed down in the Valabhi vācanā is incomplete. But the Antagadadasão refers to another shrine of Moggarapāņi Jakkha which did contain an image of the Mudgarapāni yakşa, so called because he held an iron club in his hand.1
Mahavira would not stay in the Yajñiya-cityas, Yajña-śālas. He stayed in Caityas which were certainly non-Vedic in character and at the same time were visited by a large number of the masses. It is therefore advisable to regard the Pūrņabhadra and such other Caityas: as essentially non-Vedic, non-Aryan in origin, one of the essential elements of which seems to be a big Caitya-vşkşa with a Silā-paţta below it. It is for this reason that both Buddhism and Jainism lay stress on the Caitya-výkşas in their worship. Let us see how a Caitya of Tirthankaras is described in the Jaina canonical works.
The Bhagavati sūtra discusses the supernatural powers of certain classes of Jaina monks who can fly to the mythical Nandiśvara-dvipa and worship the Caityas thereon. These ceiyaim are obviously the Sāśvata-Jina-āyatanās situated on the different mountains, also referred to as Siddhāyatanas in different texts. The stock description of a Siddhāyatana shows that there were mukhamandapas in front of each of the four entrances to the shrine, in front of each mukhamanda pa is a preksāgyha or theatre. In front of each theatre was a cetita-thūbha on a manipithiakā. In front of each stūpa was a jewelled platform above which were images of Jinas (Jina-padima) facing the stūpa. There were also jewelled platforms with a cetita-rukkha (caitya-vȚkşa )
1 Antagadadasão ( Āgamodaya Samiti ed.), sūtra 13, pp. 19 ff. 3 See, Yakshas, Part 1 and 2, by Dr. A. K. Coomaraswamy.
3 For a list of such Caityas from Jaina texts, see, Shah, U.P., Yaksa Worship In Early Jaina Literature, Journal of the Oriental Institute, Vol. III, no. 1.
"Bhagavati Sütra, 20. 9, sū. 684, 794.