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THE ORIENT
shrines with the image of the presiding deity of the family enshrined in it.
However, our purpose here is to survey only the early bronze images represented by the hoards discovered at Chausa, Vala and Akota, the former in Bihar and the latter two in Gujarat.
Jainism, being basically a moral code, recognized no supreme being, but deified its spiritual leaders. Early history of image worship in Jainism is thus restricted to the images of Jinas or Tirthankaras as is evident from the images of the early period. The antiquity of this practice cannot be traced beyond the Mauryan period. Sculptural and inscriptional evidence, however, securely establishes the practice of image worship among the Jainas.
The earliest stone image in the round is the nude male torso from Lohanipur which, on the basis of its polish, can be safely assigned to the Mauryan period. Inscriptional evidence in support of image worship is provided by the Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela which is assigned to 2nd century B.C. He mentions:
"Nandraja ritam cha Kalinga jinam sannivese" (sets up (the image) "the Jina of Kaling" which had
been taken away by king Nanda”). Though it is not clear whether the reference is to a stone or metal image, this is the earliest extant reference to image worship in India.
The earliest bronze image is of Parsvanatha (Figs. 120, 6) standing in kayotsarga and variously assigned to a period between 2nd century B.C. to 2nd cent. A.D., now preserved in the Prince of Wales Museum. Those who have advocated an early date relate it to the Lohanipur Torso on points of modelling, as also its archaic features which to them resembles the applique technique of Maurayan-Sunga terracottas. It is, however, not proper to make an evaluation of its archaic features in isolation, for the bronze itself is a product of archaic modelling. A reassessment of its dating seems necessary on the evidence provided by the bronzes from the Chausa hoard.
In the vear 1931 a hoard of about 18 bronze images was discovered from village Chausa near Buxar and is now preserved in the Patna Museum (Figs. 13 to 21). Peculiarly enough the hoard consists of images which can be assigned distinctly to the Kushana and Gupta styles. The former style is represented by nude standing images of Tirthankaras (Figs. 12-19) while the latter are characterised by seated images (Figs. 20-21). Invariably all the early bronzes show distinct features of that age such as broad shoulders, wide-round eyes (Figs. 13, 14, 16). either flat (Fig. 13) or bulkily modelled torso (Figs. 14, 15) and
