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The Jaina pantheon includes the deities like Sarasvati and Gaṇeśa etc. which figure prominently in Hindu pantheon also. We have from the Jaina mound of Kankāli two headless female statues. One of them has not been identified, 35 the other is the figure of Sarasvati.36 The goddess is seated on a rectangular pedestal 'with her knees up.' She has a manuscript in her left hand and the right hand which was raised up is lost. There is a small attendant on her either side. The inscription on the pedestal consists of seven lines in Indo-scythic scripts.37
Besides the figures of Tīrthankaras and other deities of the Jaina pantheon the Mathura sculptures of Kankālī mound bear isolated symbols and designs auspicious to the Jainas, such as Svastika, Vajra, shell, bulls, elephants, goose and antelope,38 etc. Svastika to the Jainas is the emblem of Supārsvanatha, the 7th Jina, and Vajra is that of Dharmanatha, the 15th Jina, the shell is the cognizance of Neminatha, the 22nd Jina, elephant of Ajitanathā, the 2nd Jina, goose of Sumatinatha the 5th Jina, antelope of Santinatha, the 16th Jina and bull of Rishabhanatha, the 1st Jina. All these would show that the art of Kankālī mound was thoroughly imbued with the spirit of Jainism.
Reference:
1. The ideal of Jaina ascetic is the attainment of Nirvāņa - freedom from the bondage of Karma through self efforts. An ascetic in his striving for Nirvana endeavours 'to suppress the natural desire of a man to worship the higher powers. But it is not possible for any ordinary lay hearer to cling to the ideal of ascetics, which requires a stern and austere training. So the religious feelings of the jaina laity, it is natural, centered round the founders and expounders of the religion, (that is the Tirthankaras). This gave rise to the worship of the Jinas and in its train came also the worship of some deities of popular imagination, in Jainism. We know that the affections of the Buddhist laity also were directed to similar results (that is the worship of Buddha and a number of other deities). 2. Stevenson, The Heart of Jainism, p. 69.
3. J.B.O.R.S. Vol. liii, part iv, p. 458
4. There are literary evidences to show that the Nanda rulers were favourably disposed towards Jainism. Hemachandra Pariśishtaparva, Cantoes VII-VIII, C.J. Shah, Jainism in Northern India, p. 129
5. J.B.O.R.S., 1937 pp. 130-32.
6. Arthaśāstra, Mysore Oriental Series, p. 61.
7. C.J. Shah, Jainism in Northern India, p. 152.
तुलसी प्रज्ञा जुलाई - दिसम्बर, 2005
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