________________
234
Sumati-Jñana period are not reported from anywhere in Madhya Pradesh but cave no. 1 of Udaigiri may be taken into account. This seems to be the only extant example of a Jain monument of Gupta period. The possibility of the making of other Jain shrines in this area cannot be over sighted. They might have been built for the installation of the images, which can be exposed through the excavations and clearance of debris only.
Apart from the sculptural representation of the Jinas of Gupta period, the inscriptions related with the Jain activities also attract the attention, which furnish the information regarding construction of Jain monastery', donation" and installation of the Jaina images. Such a inscription of the reign of Kumaragupta I was reported from cave no. 1 at Udaigiri (Gupta era 106) which mentions about the installation of a Parsvanatha image by a person named Shankara. 12 A beautiful Pārsvanātha image is installed in the same cave at present, but it is of later period. The sculpture of Pārsvanātha of the reign of Kumaragupta I is not located at present.
The Gupta period marked a turning point for the Jain art and architecture in Madhya Pradesh. It developed here strength to strength and time to time with the invention of new ideas, techniques, styles and idioms. The cognizances were finally fixed for all the Tirthañkaras by c. 8th century AD. The astapratihāryas, śāsanadevatās etc. found their respective places in the sculptures and numerous Jain institutions came into being. The Pratiharas followed Gupta tradition of art in northern Madhya Pradesh and the Chandellas and the Paramaras in Bundelkhand and Malwa region respectively. The activities of Jainism were accelerated in M. P. under the patronage of early medieval dynasties. A large number of Jain temples and sculptures are witness of such activities. The Jain institutions namely gana, goshthi, samgha, anvaya and gachchha were established. A good number of Jaina manuscripts were written by the pontiffs, āchāryas and Pratishthāchāryas particularly in Gwalior which are now preserved in various Jain Bhandaras and museums of India and abroad.
NOTES & REFERENCE 1. Brihtakalpabhasya, 1.3.277. 2. The famous image of inscribed Manibhadra yaksha is found from Pawaya and preserved in the Gujari Mahal Museum, Gwalior. It belongs to the Kushana period. 3. A Jain stupa at Kankali Tila and a large number of relief sculptures from Mathura are witness of the enormous growth of Jainism during Saka-Kudhana times. 4. G. M. Gai, Three Inscriptions of Ramgupta, JOI, vol. 18. part 3. pp. 247-51. 5. I visited Tumain in 2005 with my research scholar Sri Navneet Kumar Jain to document the temples and sculptures. We found this sculpture lying in a field within thick vegitation in the outskirt of village Tumain. K. D. Bajpai has reported an inscription of Kumaragupta from this place during excavation. This site has revealed a well-developed Gupta settlement and the ruins of some Brahmanical temples. Hence, the possibility of a Jain temple cannot be ignored here. See our article No. 25 in the same volume. 6. U. P. Shah, Central India, Jain art and architecture, Delhi, p. 136. 7. Jyoti Prasad Jain, The Jain Sources of the History of Ancient India, Delhi, 1964, p. 268. 8. These images were seen by the author displayed in open air in Rajendra Udyan, Panna in 1983. 9. This cave is built in partly rock-cut and partly structural mode. 10. Epigraphia Indica, vol. 20, p. 61. 11. Ibid, p. 65-68, no. 15. 12. Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, vol. 3. p. 258-60, no. 61.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
