Jain Rup Mandan

SR No.: 001961
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Umakant P Shah
Publisher: Abhinav Publications
Publication Year: 1987
Total Pages: 466
Language: English
Classification: Book_English & Art
File Size: 27 MB

Page 275

Jaina-Rupa-Maṇḍana
We have thus seen that Nana-Ishtar-Anahita, closely associated with one another and often identified, have two aspects; one, that of a mother-goddess and peaceful and the other, that of a war-goddess and therefore terrific. We have noted above the two aspects of Arya; one, peaceful, as Durga, and the other, terrific, as Koṭṭakiriya or Koṭṭavyā (Mahiṣāsuramarddini). The conception of Durga-Aryä seems to have as its prototype this Nana riding on the lion. The Jaina yakşı Ambika similarly has the Nana-Durgā conception as its prototype and imbibes also the mother-goddess aspect of Ishtar referred to above. Anahita too has two aspects, one peaceful, connected with waters, and the other terrific, as a wargoddess. As Hanaway has pointed out in his analysis of the Iranian legend of Darab Nama, Anahita is associated with waters and fish. In India, too, certain aspects of the Devi (Camuṇḍã for example) are sometimes associated with fish. Câmuṇḍā and Kāli are terrific aspects of the Devi wearing a garland of skulls and/or holding a severed head in one hand. As shown above, Anahita was offered severed heads.
Mukherjee 191 has discussed and illustrated a unique gold medal, coin or token, in the British Museum, displaying, on the obverse, a female figure wearing a turreted crown (similar to turreted crown worn by Tyche on Imperial Parthian coins), clad in a loose robe or chiton reaching down to the feet, and noiam in her half-raised right hand the stalk of a half-opened lotus. Her left hand, clutching a part of her garment, is placed on her left thigh (kati-hasta ?). A Kharoshthi inscription on the obverse refers to Ampa, the deity of Pakhalavadi, i.e., Pushkalavati or Pushkaravati of ancient Gandhara (modern Charsadda region of Pakistan). The city-goddess aspect of the deity is also emphasized by her turreted head-dress. According to Mukherjee: "The expression Ampa may stand for Ampa or Amva or Ambă. The term Ambă denotes, inter alia, a mother as well as Durga, the consort of Siva." Mukherjee is right in his interpretation because on the reverse is a figure of a bull with a Greek legend deciphered as "Tauros" and a Kharoshthi inscription reading (U)şabhe. This distinguishes the goddess as Siva's consort. In this context Mukherjee has also mentioned that "a lady holding a lotus, delineated by the side of the figure of Oesho, on some coins of Huvishka, is described as Ommo." Oesho is perhaps based on some Prakrit rendering of Vṛşa. Vrsa or Bull on several early Indian coins is considered to be theriomorphic representation of Śiva. Ommo either stands for Uma or for Amma (Amba ?). Uma is another name of Durga or Amba. Mukherjee writes: "If the Ommo refers to Uma, her relation with Amba, the citygoddess, is indicated by the flower held by her. On a few other pieces of Huvishka, the female figure, standing by the side of Oesho, is referred to as Nana. This numismatic evidence thus distinguishes Nana as a consort of Śiva and identifies, or at least associates, her with Uma, alias Ambā."192
262
The process of assimilation and fusion of different concepts and forms that goes on in the iconography of any pantheon forms an interesting subject of study. Hanaway has made some illuminating remarks regarding the Iranian goddess Anahita. He writes:193 "The rock reliefs, coins, and silver objects testify to the existence of Anahita worship, in one form or another, until at least the seventh century and probably later. Thus there would have been sufficient opportunity for the worship of this goddess to assume various popular or non-official forms, and for it to penetrate and be penetrated by folk-lore and popular story-telling. In such a process the standard iconographical or symbolic elements will assume new forms as they move into new milieus and contexts. They will shed some of their characteristic features, acquire others not previously possessed, and emphasize or suppress certain of their original aspects so as to render the new forms in some measure unlike their source."
There is no literary or archaeological evidence so far discovered which can show the origin or existence of the Jaina Ambika before the fifth century A.D. The earliest literary reference to AmbăKuşmandi Vidya occurs in the Svopajña commentary on the Višeṣavasyaka-bhâşya of Jinabhadra gani Kṣamāśramaņa, left incomplete and completed by Koṭṭācārya in the sixth century A.D. The earliest image of the Jaina Ambika so far discovered is on a metal image of Rṣabhanatha (or Santinatha) from Akota, installed by this very Jinabhadra in the sixth century as proved on the basis of the inscription on the back of the image. 104
So far we have been able to establish the relation between the Jaina Ambika and the Brahmanical Durga, both having their origin in the ancient Nana-Nanaia-Ishtar. Also the relation between the