Studies in Jaina Art

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

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STUDIES IN JAINA ART
A third explanation is also possible. Asoka is said to have employed yakşa' artists, according to Tārānātha who speaks of Nāga and Deva art as well. The art of the Mathură Stūpa was here said to have been the work of what was supposed to be · Deva-school.'
Jinapratha sūri further says that here Jinabhadra gani Kşamāśramaņa (c. 500-600 A.D.) saved the manuscript of Mahāniśitha sūtra (from destruction), i.e., he recovered the text and saved it from oblivion. When the stúpa fell in ruins, at the instance of Bappa bhatti sūri (c. 826 V.S.-770 A.D.), it was covered with a superstructure having figures of Ambikā, Kșetrapāla and Cillaniyā (?).
The Devanirmita Stūpa at Mathurā is thus one of the earliest known stūpas in India and should be assigned to the eighth century B.C., especially because the title given to it is in accord with the Satapatha Brāhmaṇa tradition. 1
The Sirkap stūpa with the motif of the double-headed eagle has been regarded as a Jaina stupa on the analogy of the arched niches in the stūpa relief of the Mathură Ayāga pața dedicated by Loņasobhikā.? Marshall associated the Sirkapa stūpa with Jainism only because he could not connect it with Buddhism, but the total absence of any Jaina antiquity in the site recovered hitherto, need not be overlooked. Jaina tradition never speaks of a stūpa at Taxila, they only say that Bāhubali established here the worship of the Dharmacakra. We should therefore await further discoveries before calling it a Jaina stūpa. It may incidentally be noted that the Tablet of Lonasobhikä illustrated the type of a Jaina stūpa structure.
If Jináprabha's account of the repairs by Bappabhatti is currect, then, the present writer feels that the stūpa at Kankāli Țīlā is not likely to be the site of the Devanirmita stūpa as it is not likely that even a few sculptures of Bappabhațți's age could not survive at the site, and because Jinaprabha's account does not refer to any repairs in the Kuşāņa age. He seems to have believed that the brick-structure was not covered with stones before Bappabhatti's age.
1 Avasyaka Vrtti, p. 454 on Niryukti gathā 1012. Also cf. Byhat-KalpaBhāsya, VI. 6275 and comm.; also Vol. V. 5824.
i Though spoken of as a description of the original appearance of the stūpa, Jina prabha's description of it is of its last appearance, the talk about of gold and jewels is however poetic:-तो तीए देवीए कंचणघडिओ रयणचिंचईओ अणेगसरपरिवरिओ तोरणज्ज्ञयमालालंकिओ सिहरोवरि छत्तत्तयसाली......मेहलातिगमंडियो। इविकार मेहलाए चाउहिसं पंचवरणरयणमंयाई बिबांई। तत्थमूलपडिमा सिरिसुपाससामिणो पटाविया। Than it was covered with bricks with an image of Pārśva in front. Op. cit., pp. 17-18.
2 A Guide to Taxila, pl. XIII, p. 88. Smith, Js. pl. XII.