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17. MYTHS AND LEGENDS
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son of Somadatta, during the reign of Patikavāhana, and there is no reference to its ever being made of gold.
The Jaina Stūpa of Mathurā seems to have existed in Somadeva's time, as is apparent from his statement that “the shrine is still known by the name of Devanirmita, "Built by the Gods". It may also be noted in this connection that the colossal image of Pārsvanátha, seated in meditation, found in the Kankāli mound at Mathură in 1889, and bearing an inscription dated Samvat 1036 or 980 A. D., was possibly built and installed within Somadeva's 'lifetime. The discovery of another colossal image of a Jina, also seated in meditation, at the same site, and bearing an inscription dated Samvat 1134 or 1078 A. D.,' gives evidence of the continuity of Jaina religious life at Mathurā sixty years after the sack of the city by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1018 A, D. As Dr. Führer says, “these ancient temples were used by the Jainas during the greater part of the eleventh century, and their destruction happened in very late times". As regards the great Stūpa, its site is at present a bare flat mound without any semblance of an ancient edifice on its surface. But a sculpture on a Torana lintel from the Kankāli Tilā, now preserved in the Luoknow Museum (J 535), shows the Stūpa as being worshipped by Kinnaras and Suparņas (half birds and half men), and gives us an idea of the general appearance of the monument as it originally stood. The reverse side of the lintel represents a procession probably on its way to the Stūpa (see illustrations). Vincent Smith describes the piece of masonry as the central portion of the lowest beam of a Toraņa archway in the railing round a Stūpa, and says that it may have belonged to the ancient Stūpa, and is certainly an early work, probably to be dated about 100 or 50 B. C.
. The existence of Jaina temples at Mathurā, called Uttaramathurā to distinguish it from Dakşiņamathurā or Madura in the Pandya country, is attested by another reference in Yaśastilaka VI. 10.8 Two temples were, in fact, discovered under the Kankāli Tilă. In the Museum Report for 1890-91 Dr. Führer writes that an inscription, incised on an oblong slab, gives the name
1 far varafoite GHIETI S I' Vol. II, p. 315. 2 Now in the Provincial Museum, Lucknow, J 143. The date is variously read as
1038 and 1036. Smith (op. cit., p. 4 and Agrawala: Guide-Book to the Archaeological Section of the Provincial Museum, p. 13. In the text of the inscription sent to
me by Dr. Agrawala the date is given as 1036. 3 J 145, Provincial Museum, Lucknow. 4 Smith (op. cit.), p. 4. 5 Smith (op. cit.), p. 22. 6 'उत्तरमथुरायां जिनेन्द्रमन्दिरवन्दारुहृदयदोहदवर्ती वर्तेऽहम् । 55
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