Jainism and Karnataka Culture

SR No.: 011062
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: S R Sharma
Publisher: Karnataka Historical Research Society Dharwar
Publication Year: 1940
Total Pages: 263
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 9 MB

Page 158

II8
CONTRIBUTIONS TO LITERATURE, ETC.
abundance and variety of these sculptures which, in a sense, give expression to the later and emotionalised Jainism that we shall comment upon in a later chapter. There are not a few traces of the early tree and serpent worship of the Dravidians in Jaina sculptures; and the five, seven, or thousand headed nāga is everywhere present in the Jaina temples. It is in fact, as Fergusson observes, the nāga that binds together and gives unity to the various religions of South India; and snake images are very frequent about Jaina temples, particularly in Mysore and Kanara.158 In the Caturmukha Basti, at Gersoppa, there is, among the various Digambara figures huddled together, one of Pārsvanātha with a beautifully carved sésa-phaņā, as also in the exquisite seated marble figure still worshipped at Śravaņa Be!go!a. Hindu or Brāhmanical influence is also traceable in the sculptures of Indra or Sakra, Garuda, Saraswati, Laxmi, etc.,169 striking examples of which are found in the figure of Laxmi bathed by two elephants at the entrance of the great enclosure round the Gummața at Belgoļa, and in the huge seated figure of Indra which has given the name of Indra Sabhā to one of the most interesting caves at Ellora. This naturally leads us to a consideration of Jaina excavations in Karnāțaka, which are perhaps more numerous in the Bombay division than anywhere else in the peninsula.
" The varying practical requirements of the cult of each religion, of course, had an effect on the nature of the buildings required for particular purposes,” observes Smith, ; 160 and the striking paucity of Jaina caves, as compared with either Buddhist or Brāhmanical ones, is a strong commentary upon those who adversely reflect upon the ascetic nature of the Jaina religion. The importance attached to the lay community, as well as, the active part played in worldly life by the Jaina
153 Cf. Fergusson, op. cit., I, pp. 42-44 and 41 n 1; ibid. II, p. 79. 169 Ibid., pp. 4-5; Cf. Bühler, Indian Sect of the Jainas, App. by
Burgess, Jaing Mythology, p. 61 f. 160 Smith, op. cit., p. 9.