Studies in Jaina Art

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

Page 85

72
STUDIES IN JAINA ART
by the Tiloyapanṇatti. It confirms the belief that at some stage elaborate lower platforms were erected all round the tree, a practice which is seen even. to-day in Indian towns and villages,
Before proceeding to the examination of Jaina lists of Caitya-vrksas and the conception behind them, it must be remembered that this tree-worship, popular in ancient times, noticed in the Vedas, formed an important part of the religious beliefs and practices of the masses with whom the Buddha or the Jina was mainly concerned in his opposition to the Vedic priestly class and its rituals, The spirits dwelling in the trees were Nägas, Yaksas or Gandharvas etc., 2 easily approachable without the help of complex sacrificial details. It is such Caityas, with udyänas having Caitya-trees in them, that Mahavira is generally reported to have stayed in during his wanderings, before and after becoming a Tirthankara, obviously because firstly the area was accessible to all types of people and ascetics, secondly because it was the best place for propagation of one's school of thought. People used to sit in worship under such trees and in such moments Buddha and Mahavira obtained Enlightenment. Rhys Davids notes, "while in all the oldest accounts of Gotama's attainment of Buddha-hood there is no mention of the tree under which he was sitting at the time, yet already in a Suttanta it is incidentally mentioned that this event. took place under a Pippala tree." This practice of meditating under trees, is what Buddha seems to have appealed to, as suggested by Rhy Davids, when at the end of some earnest dialogue he used to close it with an appeal: "Here are the trees: Think this matter out." Thus the belief that Buddha obtained enlightenment under a Pippala tree, or that Mahavira obtained it under a Sala tree may be based on facts, and when lists of other Buddhas or
1 cf. छोभूमुहरुंदा चोदाणि पीडाणि ।
पीढोवरि बहुमज्मे रम्मा चेहन्ति तदुमा ॥ ३३ ॥ xxत्तादित्ता पंडानालादिरमणिजा ॥ ३६ ॥
2
affezdu du gefanaı asanamàngar | जीवप्पत्तिलयाणं होति निमित्तासि ते खियमा ॥ ३७ ॥ चेत्ततरूणं मूले पत्तकं चउदिसासु पंचेव । चेति जिणपडिमा पलियंकठिया सुरेहिं महणिजा ॥ ३८ ॥ चडतोरणामिरामा अट्टमहामंगलेहि सोहिल्ला |
वररयणणिम्मिदेहिं माणत्थम्मेहि अरम्मा ॥ ३६ ॥
-Tiloyapanṇatli, 3. 33-39, Vol. I, p. 115.
See also, Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, p. 232.
Cf. Bhagavati satra, 3.2, sū. 144 which describes Mahavira as meditating under a tree on a Prthviśilapaṭṭa.
• Buddhist India, pp. 230-31.