Lord Parshwanath as Vishnu, Padmavati as Durga!

[Guest guest]

Lord Parshwanath as Vishnu, Padmavati as Durga!

Recently I visited Udaygiri-Khandgiri caves near Bhuvaneshwar in

Orissa. While other devotee Jains were putting their heads on the feet

of Lord Adinath and others at the Jain temple on the hill, I took a

chance to visit a so called Hindu temple in the mid of the hill.

 

This Hindu temple is nothing but two Jain caves with beautiful ancient

Jain idols. Jain pilgrims rarely visit these caves and miss many

things that they must know.

 

Please read the comlete story with photographs at:

http://jainsamachar.blogspot.com/

 

-Mahavir Sanglikar

[Guest guest]

Dear Mahavir,

 

There is no doubt that what you saw at Khandagiri Hill near

Bhubaneswar represents a case of Hindu appropriation of Jaina images

for cultic purposes, yet the picture here is somewhat more

complicated than the one you gave due to the following factors:

 

1) the gradual decline of Udaygiri and Khandagiri Hills as important

seats of Jaina worship in Orissa during the later medieval period,

and particularly after the beginning of the Muslim rule in that

country in A.D. 1568, which made this appropriation of cult icons

possible;

 

2) the markedly Hindu inspiration behind many of the medieval images

of Jaina goddesses you saw at the two caves you describe in your

blog post at

 

http://jainsamachar.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html

 

In this last connection, let me mention the following elements of

continuity between Jaina and Hindu worship at these caves.

 

In the Baaraabhuj Gumpha (Cave 8), all of the 24 tiirthankaras with

their yaks.iis (or s'aasanadeviis) carved below them are shown. Art

historian Debala Mitra dates these reliefs to the 11th-12th century

A.D. On the left wall of the verandah of the cave the yaks.ii

Cakres'varii is depicted in a large, twelve-armed image. The Hindu

shrine this medieval Jaina cave has been converted into draws its

name from this very image, worshipped by the Hindus as Maa

Baaraabhuj, 'Twelve-armed Mother' -- an old designation for twelve-

armed Durgaa images worshipped in Orissa. Facing this, another large

image, representing the Jaina yaks.ii Rohin.ii, is presently

worshipped by the Hindus as Maa Kaalii or Maa Paarvatii. The images

of the remaining 24 Jaina goddesses accompanying the tiirthankaras

in many cases resemble those of the corresponding Hindu goddesses --

compare their IDs as proposed by Debala Mitra in the link I give

below.

 

The other cave you saw, the Navamuni Gumpha (Cave 9), shows seven

among the most important Jaina yaks.iis (or s'aasanadeviis) carved

in relief in a row. The goddesses represented here are Cakres'varii,

Rohin.ii, Prajn~apti, Vajras'r.nkhalaa, Gaandhaarii, Padmaavatii,

and Ambikaa. The number seven probably shows a borrowing of the

Saptamaatr.kaa tradition of S'aivism-S'aaktism into medieval Jainism

at the regional level. Indeed, this set of seven images, preceded by

an image of Gan.es'a, is iconographically very similar to some Hindu

Saptamaatr.kaa sets of Orissa dating from the 8th century A.D. (note

that an image of Gan.es'a invariably accompanies those of

Saptamaatr.kas in Orissa as in many other parts of India, though in

this case he is usually shown last in the series). In particular,

some of these seven yaks.iis have the features of the Hindu

goddesses Indraan.ii, Kaumaarii and Vais.n.avii. It must be also

noticed that Saptamaatr.kaas find no mention in Jaina works. Yet,

there are other instances of sets of seven Jaina goddesses carved as

the retinue of Ambikaa (e.g., in the Mathura Museum). I also recall

that some scholar has been speculating in the past that the Navamuni

Gumpha reliefs may date from the late Gupta epoch, yet this seems

far-fetched to me. On the opposite edge, Debala Mitra dates these

reliefs to the 11th century A.D. based on the presence in the cave

of an inscription of the Somavams'ii king Udyotakes'ari. However, as

I have mentioned before the yaks.ii reliefs in this cave are likely

to be earlier in age.

 

The lists of names of the yaks.iis/s'aasanadeviis depicted in these

two Jaina caves at Bhubaneswar can be found in Umakant Premanand

Shah's book at

 

http://tinyurl.com/4nzl24

 

Best,

Francesco Brighenti