Svasti

Author(s): Nalini Balbir
Publisher: K S Muddappa Smaraka Trust

Page 41

SVASTI - Essays in Honour of Prof. Hampa Nagarajaiah
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images (Pratimäsarvatobhadrikā, Saka era 18 96 A.D., 32 110 A.D.) and Ayagapata (Ayagapato). These inscriptions invariably give the word 'Arhat" for the Jinas, which show that Arhat was the earliest adjective used for the Jinas and the words Jina and Tirthankara came only subsequently.
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The concept and visual forms both of Jina and Buddha crystallized in Kusana images reveal points of commonality. The assimilation of the features of yogi (meditative posture and half-shut eyes), mahāpuruşa (long arms, ears and halo) and cakravartin (lion throne, fly-whisk bearing attendants) into the iconic forms of both the Jina and Buddha reveal cultural synthesis and commonality.
Although Mathura yielded a few examples of Sunga period mainly in the form of āyāgapatas, yet as a prolific and formative centre of Jaina art it flourished only during the Kuṣāna age3 (1"-2nd cent. A.D.). The excavations at Kankāli Tīlā, Mathura, yielded a vast amount of Jaina vestiges ranging in date from c. 100 B.C. to 1177 A.D. The Kuṣāņa Jaina sculptures from Mathură are of special iconographic significance since they exhibit a formative stage in the development of Jaina images, which served as models for further development throughout the subsequent centuries. The vast amount of Jaina images includes, besides the ayagapatas, independent Jina figures, Pratimasarvatobhadrikä (Jina Caumukhi), Sarasvati, Naigameşï and also the narrative scenes from the lives of Rṣbhanätha and Mahāvīra.
The Jina figures of Kuşāņa art may be divided into four contexts: the ayagapalas, independent figures, Jina Caumukhi and the slab with narratives from the lives of the Jinas. The figures on the ayagapatas are always seated in the dhyana-mudra, while those on the Caumukhi are invariably standing in the käyotsarga-mudra. The Jinas, either standing or sitting, do not show any trace of drapery, which, however, fully conform to the Agamic tradition. Some of the scholars, however, hold that the nudity of the Kusana Jina figures from Mathura is suggestive of their being the product of the Digambara sect but the presence exclusively of Svetämbara theme and feature in two cases: narrative panel showing the transfer of embryo of Mahavira (State Museum, Lucknow, J. 626) and a slab showing the figure of Kanha Śramana (State Museum, Lucknow, J. 623) with a piece of cloth hanging from his folded wrist to cover his genitals, poses a puzzling question as to their exact sectarian affiliation.
We would like here to mention that the Acaranga-sätra (c. 2nd century B.C.) frequently refers to both the acelaka (sky-clad) and sacelaka (draped) ways of living for Jaina friars. The Uttaradhyayana-sūtra (c. 2nd century B.C.) also mentions the acelaka and sacelaka ways for the Jaina munis as per need of situation. As we know, the authority of the Agama texts, belonging to the Śvetämbara and hence of the
3 Maruti Nandan Pd. Tiwari, Elements of Jaina Iconography, Varanasi, 1983, pp. 1-10; "Prayag Mandala mein Jaina Dharma aur Kala", Prayag Kshetriya Itihasa Visheshānk (Bhāratīya Itihāsa Sankalan Samiti Patrika), (Edits.) Dr. S N Roy etc., No. 2, Varanasi, 1984, pp. 210-215; U.P. Shah, 'Beginnings of Jaina Iconography', Bulletin of Museums and Archaeology in U.P., No. 9, June 1972, pp. 3-6.