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STUDIES IN JAINA ART
It may also be noted that the Tablet No. VII (Q. 2 of Mathura Museum) installed by Vasu, also speaks of an āyāgasabha. The exact meaning of this āyāga-sabha in Jaina shrines cannot be made out but it may be inferred that it corresponds to the later Pausadhaśālās where a person enters upon a fast of three or more meals, and sits in meditation in order to practise certain tapa or propitiate a deity. The Ayagapatas, evolved from the earlier conception of Silapatas, may also have been worshipped in such an äyäga-sabha (or Pausadhasälä) in place of a Sthapana used to-day. This does not contradict the interpretation that they were placed as Silapaṭṭas under the Caitya-trees. For, in the same inscription (on the tablet of Vasu), the tablet is called a Silapaṭṭa.
Our analysis has further shown that the history of Jaina finds at Mathura dates from at least the Second Century B. C., and does not merely begin with the Kuṣāna age. It has also shown that cultural evidence in the Jaina canons requires a fresh critical study.
Cf.:-Bühler, Further Jaina Inscriptions from Mathura (New series). Ep. Ind., Vol. II, p. 198.
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