Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c13.s4.5

c13.s4.5

We are informed of an interesting fact by the *Vyavahārasūtra-bhāshya* that the Buddhist wanted to encroach upon the Jaina Stūpa claiming it as their own but after six months of quarrel the king gave a decision in the favour of the Jaina Saṅgha. The fact seems to be that quite in proximity of the Jaina Stūpa almost across the road the Buddhists also built a Stūpa of their own at the site now called Bhūteśvara where a large number of Buddhist railing pillars have been found. Since in the earlier Jaina Stūpa which was intact at that time there were no images to show its religious affiliation, as we have seen above in the description of the Padmavaravedikā, the Buddhists laid claim to its possession but were thwarted in their attempt by royal intervention. In persuance of the art movement during the Kushāṇa period the Jaina community, however, seems to have decided to build a new Stūpa with the same kind of lithic sculptures on the railing pillars as was the style of the age and of which numerous specimens have been found.