Image of the Sole Female Jain Tirthankar Discovered

From The Daily Star:

1,800-year-old terracotta discovered
Staff Correspondent, Khulna

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Khulna office of the Archaeology Department has discovered an 1,800-year-old terracotta plaque bearing the image of the only female Jain Tirthankar, Mallinath.

The rare terracotta piece was discovered after digging a large mound of earth at Damdampir of Manirampur upazila in Jessore on December 18 but the discovery was kept secret for security reasons.

"We did not immediately disclose the facts about this particular discovery for security reasons," said Shihabuddin Mohammad Akbar, director of the Khulna regional office of Archaeology Department.

He said the digging began in 2004-05 financial year under the direct supervision of the Khulna Archaeology Department office.

Besides the seven-inch-long red sandstone terracotta image of Jain Mallinath, more antiques including earthenware from the 200-year-old Jain dynasty were discovered at the site, Shihabuddin said.

He said Mallinath was the daughter of Kumbharaja of Mithila and Prabhavati. Mallinath was 19th of the 24 Jain Tirthankars.

Shihabuddin expects that more antiques will be found at the site where digging work is still going on.