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CHAPTER XVII
MYTHS AND LEGENDS
JAINA LEGENDS OF MATHURA
Of the several legends recorded by Somadeva, that of the famous Jaina Stupa of Mathura is of outstanding interest, and narrated in detail in Yasastilaka Book VI; sections 17, 18.' It is wellknown that the ruins of the ancient Stupa were discovered in the course of excavations at the Kankāli Tila standing in the angle between the Agra and Govardhan roads during the season 1889-90.2 Somadeva gives an entirely different version of the story of foundation of the Stupa from that recorded in Jinaprabhasūri's Tirthakalpa, a work of the fourteenth century, and made known by Bühler many years ago. Somadeva is nearly four hundred years earlier than Jinaprabha, and probably records the earliest known version of the legend of the Stupa, which was regarded as of divine origin as early as the second century A. D. An inscription of the year 79, engraved on the left hand portion of the base of a large standing figure of a Jina found in the Kankali mound in the season 1890-91, records the fact that an image of the Tirthamkara Aranatha was set up at the Stupa, "built by the gods" (thupe devanirmite). "The sculpture belongs to the Kushan period, and the mode in which the date is expressed shows that the year 79 must be referred to the era used by the great Kushan kings. This year 79 falls within the reign of Vasudeva, one of whose inscriptions is expressly dated in the year 80." The important thing to note is that when the inscript ion in question was executed, "not later than A. D. 157 (79+78)", the Jaina Stupa of Mathura was already so old that it was regarded as the work of the gods. "It was probably, therefore, erected several centuries before the Christian era, and may have been at least as ancient as the oldest Buddhist Stūpa."3 According to Jinaprabha, the Stupa was built by the goddess Kubera for two Jaina saints named Dharmaruci and Dharmaghosa, and among the idols installed in its precincts the chief was that of Supärśvanatha. The Stupa was originally of gold, but later encased in brick as a safeguard against pillage. In the eighth century it was repaired by Bappabhaṭṭi Sūri, and at his request provided with a stone dome by King Ama. According to Somadeva, on the other hand, the Stupa was founded by the saint. Vajrakumāra,
1 See Chapter XVI.
2 See Vincent Smith: The Jaina Stupa and other Antiquities of Mathura, Allahabad,
1901.
3 Smith (op. cit.), pp. 12, 13.
4 Introduction to Pandit's edition of Gaüdavaho, p, cliii
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