Jain stupa

Jain votive plaque with Jain stupa, the "Vasu Śilāpaṭa" ayagapata, 1st century CE, excavated from Kankali Tila, Mathura.^[1]
The inscription reads:
"Adoration to the Arhat Vardhamana. The daughter of the matron (?) courtesan Lonasobhika (Lavanasobhika), the disciple of the ascetics, the junior (?) courtesan Vasu has erected a shrine of the Arhat, a hall of homage (ayagasabha), cistern and a stone slab at the sanctuary of theNirgrantha Arhats, together with her mother, her daughter, her son and her whole household in honour of the Arhats."^[2]

TheJain stupa was a type ofstupa erected by theJains for devotional purposes. A Jain stupa dated to the 1st century BCE-1st century CE was excavated atMathura in the 19th century, in theKankali Tila mound.^[3]

Jain legends state that the earliest Jain stupa was built in the 8th century BCE, before the time of theJinaParsvanatha.^[4]

There is a possibly that the Jains adopted stupa worships from the Buddhists, but that is an unsettled point.^[5] However the Jain stupa has a peculiar cylindrical three-tier structure, which is quite reminiscent of theSamavasarana, by which it was apparently ultimately replaced as an object of worship.^[6] The name for stupa as used in Jain inscriptions is the standard word"thupe".^[6]

A Jain stupa dated to the 1st century BCE-1st century CE was excavated atMathura in the 19th century, in theKankali Tila mound.^[3]

• 
  View of the Jain Stupa as excavated at Kankali Tila, c. 1889
• 
  Plan of the stupa at Kankali Tila
• 
  Cross-section of the stupa at Kankali Tila

Numerous associated religious works of art were also discovered during the excavations.^[3] Many of these are votive tablets, calledayagapatas.^[7] They are numerous, and some of the earliest ones have been dated to circa 50-20 BCE.^[8]

According to Jain legends, five Jain stupas were built in Mathura.^[6]

The Jain devotional reliefs calledAyagapatas, particularly that dedicated by Vasu, shows a probable design of the Jain stupa.^[6] The stupa drum is set on a high platform, and accessed by a flight of stairs and an ornatetorana gate, quite similar in style to the toranas ofSanchi.^[6] Niches with images can be seen in front of the platform.^[6] The drum of the stupa is elongated and cylindrical, and formed of three superposed tiers separated by railings and decorated bands.^[6] The stupa starts to round off only above these three tiers.^[6] The platform may have been squared, withPersepolitan-type columns in each corner, similar to those seen in the Vasu Ayagapata.^[6] On the Vasu ayagapata, one of the Persepolitan pillars is surmounted by aDharmachakra wheel, and the other pillar was probably surmounted by an animal, as seen in other similar ayagapatas.^[6]

The Sivayasa ayagapata shows clearly twotriratna symbols on top of the torana, as well as a centralflame palmette design.^[6]

• 
  Jain torana withtriratna symbols andflame palmette designs on top.^[6]
• 
  "Persian Achaemenian" stylecapitals appearing inayagapatas, Mathura, 15-50 CE.^[9][10][11]

By 100 BCE, a relief from Mathura is known, theKankali Tila architrave, representingcentaurs worshipping a Jain stupa.^[14][15]

Here again the Jain stupa in the middle of the relief is of cylindrical type with a three-tier design, separated by three horizontal railings.^[6]

These reliefs are among the first known examples ofJain sculpture.^[16] The centaurs appearing in the Mathura reliefs, as in other places such asBodh Gaya, are generally considered as Western borrowings.^[17]Robert Graves (relying on the work ofGeorges Dumézil,^[18] who argued for tracing the centaurs back to theIndianGandharva), speculated that the centaurs were a dimly remembered, pre-Hellenic fraternal earth cult who had the horse as atotem.^[19]

• Jain temple
• Vaddamanu

• Sangave, Vilas Adinath (1980),Jain Community: A Social Survey (2nd ed.), Bombay:Popular Prakashan,ISBN 978-0-317-12346-3

• Jain architecture
• Jain temples

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