Although the Jainas denied the existence of God and idol worship gradually they began to worship the images of the Tirthankaras. The earliest Jaina image unearthed from Lohanipur in Patna belongs to the Maurya or early Sunga period. The Hatigumpha inscription of Kharavela refers to the removal of a Jaina image from Magadha to Kalinga. Several Jaina images and Ayagapatas (votive tables) with Jaina figures and Ashtamangala (eight auspicious marks) have been discovered from Mathura. The followers of Jainism have created monuments of great merit. The Jaina cave temples at Udayagiti and Ellora and the Dilwara temples at Mount Abu are excellent specimens of the Jaina architecture and sculpture.
The colossal monolithic statue of Mahabali at Shravanbelgola (120 feet high) is a marvel by itself. The Jaina Ashtamangala or eight auspicious sings such as a Swastik, a mirron, an urn, a cane seat shaped like an hour glass, two fishes (yugma mina), a flower garland and a manuscript sometimes have been carved on the pedestal or other places. The images of Jina are characterized by their long hanging arms (in case of standing fingures) and the Sribatsa symbol, which were called as Kayotsarga.
The Jaina images also included a long list of Hindu divinities as Sri-Lakshmi, Ganesha, Kubera, Navagraha, Dikapalas, Sutras, Matrikas etc. They worshipped Goddess Saraswati in sixteen different forms and names (as Srutadevi, Vidyadevi, Rohini, Prajanapati etc) but with the same head. A large number of various types of Saraswati images are found in different Jaina temples (Dilwara to Khajuraho) belonging to Digambar as well as Swetambara sects. As a matter of fact a special festival is held in honour of Goddess Saraswati known as Janana-Panchami or Sruta Panchami.