The Pārśvanātha āyāgapaṭa, is a large stone slab discovered in Kankali (area of

Mathura Mathura () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Mathura district in the states and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located south-east of Delhi; and about from the town of Vrindavan. In ancient ti ...

) which has an image of Parshvanatha, dating back to reign

Sodasa Sodasa (Kharosthi: , ; Middle Brahmi script: , , also , ) was an Indo-Scythian Northern Satrap and ruler of Mathura during the later part of the 1st century BCE or the early part of 1st century CE. He was the son of Rajuvula, the Great Satr ...

, of

Indo-Scythian The Indo-Scythians, also known as Indo-Sakas, were a group of nomadic people of Iranian peoples, Iranic Scythians, Scythian origin who migrated from Central Asia southward into the present-day regions of Afghanistan, Eastern Iran and the northwe ...

Northern Satrap The Northern Satraps (Brahmi: , ''Kṣatrapa'', "Satraps" or , ''Mahakṣatrapa'', "Great Satraps"), or sometimes Satraps of Mathura, or Northern Sakas, are a dynasty of Indo-Scythian ("Saka") rulers who held sway over the area of Punjab and Math ...

, the ruler

in Mathura. The tablet in the

State Museum Lucknow State Museum, Lucknow is a prominent museum located in the capital city of Uttar Pradesh, India. The museum is in the Nawab Wajid Ali Shah Zoological Gardens, Banarasi Bagh, Lucknow. The museum was established in 1863 from the collection of C ...

(room J.253). It is an important example of

Mathura art The Art of Mathura refers to a particular school of Indian art, almost entirely surviving Sculpture in the Indian subcontinent, in the form of sculpture, starting in the 2nd century BCE, which centered on the city of Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, Mat ...

Description

This votive tablet, which is essentially an

ayagapata Ayagapata (Hindi:अयागपट्ट) or Ayagapatta is a type of votive slab associated with worship in Jainism. Background Numerous such stone tablets discovered during excavations at ancient Jain sites like Kankali Tila near Mathura in I ...

, though not so called, represents an image of Parshvanatha in the center surrounded by a bunches of lotus. Parshvanatha is depicted in

lotus position Lotus position or Padmasana () is a cross-legged sitting meditation posture, meditation pose from History of India, ancient India, in which each foot is placed on the opposite thigh. It is an ancient asana in yoga, predating hatha yoga, and ...

seated on a pedestal with a seven-hooded

sesha Shesha (), also known by his epithets Sheshanaga () and Adishesha (), is a serpentine demigod (naga) and king of the serpents (Nagaraja), as well as a primordial being of creation in Hinduism. In the Puranas, Shesha is said to hold all the pl ...

hood above his head. The iconography flanked by two ''ardhaphalaka monks'' with ''colapatta'' draped over left arms, with their hands in ''

añjali mudrā ''Añjali Mudrā'' () is a hand gesture mainly associated with Indian religions and arts, encountered throughout Asia. It is a part of Indian classical dance such as Bharatanatyam, yoga practice, and forms part of the greeting Namaste. Among th ...

''. Similar to ''Dhanamitra ayagapata'', Parshvanatha is in dhyāna mudrā with ankle crossed in padmasana position and

shrivatsa The Shrivatsa (Sanskrit: ; IAST: ''Śrīvatsa,'' ) is an ancient symbol, considered auspicious in Hinduism and other Indian religious traditions. Hinduism Origin Shrivatsa means "Beloved of Shri", an epithet of Vishnu, and a reference to ...

on the chest. The moulding of sawtooth design below the pedestal on which ''Jina'' is seated is considered to be a version of

Mount Meru Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु)—also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahāmeru—is a sacred, five-peaked mountain present within Hindu, Jain and Buddhist cosmologies, revered as the centre of all physical, metaphysical and spiritua ...

type of pedestal, which underscores ''Jina'' seated on the axis of the world. Surrounding the central circle in a larger concentric ring with four

nandavarta The Nandavarta or Nandyavarta is one of the eight auspicious symbols of Jainism for the Śvetāmbara sect. It is an ashtamangala which is used for worship, and could be made with rice grains.''Jainism The World of Conquerors'', par Natubhai Shah, ...

, between each interstice of nandavarta is a half-opened lotus flanked by two smaller buds. In four spandrels there are carvings of different motifs namely an elephant frolicking with lotuses, a seated lion, honeysuckle, and rearing gryphons with lotus in their mouth. There is a carving of a grapevine growing out of a pot at the median on the left border.

Inscription

The inscription at the base is much mutilated. The characters are of an archaic type before the Kushan era. What is left of the record reads as follows:

Date

The Parsvanatha ayagapata was originally dated back to 1st century BCE by

Bühler Bühler is a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland. History Bühler is first mentioned in 1479 as ''Ullrich Büllershoff''. Geography Bühler has an area, , of . Of this area, 62.7% is used for agricultural purpo ...

. However, was later identified by Quintanilla to be datable to CE during the reign

, of

, the ruler

in Mathura.

References

Citations

Sources

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External links

{{Jainism topics, state=collapsed Mathura art Jain art