Studies in Jaina Art

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

Page 84

SYMBOL WORSHIP IN JAINISM
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stone. The final editors of the text in the fifth century A.D. could not fully understand the older text as by that time the original specimens were lost and the editors were possibly confused. The plaque had either paintings or reliefs of animals, creepers etc. That it was a polished plaque, shining and reflecting like a mirror, is further suggested by the vacanāntara which calls it rūpakapratirupa-darśaniya,
Recent excavations at Kuśāmbi and Vaiśālī has shown that this beautiful polished ware was, available in different colours and sometimes painted also. The centre of this technique, or place of its origin is not known, but it seems that it was Magadha. Excavations at Kaušāmbi have shown the existence of this polished ware in pre-Mauryan layers, just below the foundations of the Ghoşitārāma, and hence we have little hesitation in holding that the Jaina varņaka of the Pșthvi Silāpatta and the Purņabhadra Ceitya is based upon genuine ancient traditions referring to an age antedating Mahāvira. The description of the Asoka tree is based on a very early tradition having its analogy in the reliefs at Bhārhut. A still lower circular or square open platform all round the tree, should have existed, for the worshippers to stand on, or sit in meditation or circumambulate round the tree as is suggested by fig. 32 of Barua's Bharhut Vol. III.
Another stage in the worship of a Caitya tree can be easily imagined in the erection of a pitha with silapattal on each of the four sides of a tree. This served as the fundamental conception of the early Caitya, open on four sides, Caturmukha shrine. This inference is confirmed by the elaborate account of Caitya-vrksas in the Samavasaraṇa of Adinātha described by Jinasena in his Adipurāņa. They are called Caitya-vskşas, because at their roots are placed on four sides, four images (caityas) of the Jinas. 2
The Caitya-trees of the Bhavanavāsi gods are described in a similar way
1 Cf. Le culte De L'Arbre Dans L'Inde Ancienne, Pl. XII, figs. A, E, F, Pl. XIII, figs. A, B, C, D, PI. XIV, fig. A. 2 Adipurāna, 22. 184-204, Vol. I, pp. 524-27:
ध्वजांशुकपरामृष्टानिर्मेघधनपद्धतिः ॥ १६३ ॥ xxमूर्धा छत्रत्रयं बिभ्रन्मुक्तालम्बनभूषितम् । विभोस्त्रिभुवनैश्वर्य विना वाचेव दर्शयन् ॥ १६४ ॥ भेजिरे बुध्नभागेऽस्य प्रतिमा दिक्चतुष्टये। जिनेश्वराणामिन्द्राय : समवाप्ताभिषेचनाः ॥ १६५ ॥ xx चैत्याधिष्ठितबुध्रत्वादूढतन्नामरूढ़यः ।
शाखिनोऽमी विभान्ति स्म सुरेन्द्र : प्राप्तपूजनाः ॥ २०१ ॥