Deshbhushanji Aacharya Abhinandan Granth

SR No.: 012045
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: R C Gupta
Publisher: Deshbhushanji Maharaj Trust
Publication Year: 1987
Total Pages: 1766
Language: Hindi, English
Classification: Smruti_Granth & Articles
File Size: 56 MB

Page 1475

Several other figures portraying the Dikpalas with six hands each are found on other pillars in different directions also but they are so mutilated that except the fact that several sets of the Dikpalas were carved on pillars set in different parts of the temple, nothing else can be made out.
That there was at least one set of the Dikpalini-Matrikas each with only four hands can be guessed from the figure of Kauberi on one of the pillars wherein she is depicted in Ardhaparyankasana with the Varad Mudra and a bowl in the lower right and the lower left hands respectively. The Upper right hand is holding the top of Nakulaka whose tail is held in her upper left hand. No vehicle is given.
Along with other images, several isolated imags of the Dik palini-Matrikas are also found in Chittor and other adjoining places. Some of them are :
(1) Aindri
One image of this goddess in Dvibhanga and with four hands and elephant vehicle is found in the Rshabhadevji Temple (Shata-Bisa Dehara), Chittor. She has the Varad Mudra plus an Aksamala, staff, goad, and a Kalash in her hands. This temple was originally built in cir. XI-XII cen. A.D. and repaired in XV cen. It has been again repaired in the recent times.
(2) Yamya
One image of Yamya in Dvibhanga was fixed in the steps on the northern bank of the Baghela 1 anks Eklingji. She had a pen, a staff, a cock and a paper in her four hands. No vehicle was given. Now this piece is stolen away.
(3) Varuni
One image of this goddess in Ardhaparyankasana and with four hands and crocodile vehicle is found in the Pitalivanji Jain Temple, Kumbhalgadh (a cir. XV cen. A.D. structure). The goddess has the Varad Mudra, a goad, a noose, and a Kalash in her hands. Ordinarily, this goddess can be identified as Vajrankusba also. i.e., one of the sixteen Vidyas in the Jain tradition. But she can as well be Varuni as another such piece in Ardhaparyan kasana and with a crocodile vehicle is found in the Rshabhadevji Temple (Shata-Bisa Dehara). Chittor, also. Goddess Vajrankusha has an elephant for her vehicle.
(4) Vayavi
One image of this goddess in Dvibhanga and with four hands is found again in Rshabhdevji Temple, Chittor. She has four hands which are endowed with the Varad Mudratan Aksamala, (Lost), a Gatvanga, and a Kalash. Deer is also given below as her vehicle.
An analysis of the above data should suggest that the concept of the Dikpalini-Matrikas as auxiliary deities was for the first time introduced by Siddharaj Jaisingh in the Rudramal in XI cen. A.D. Perhaps, it had something to do with the portrayal of these Matrikas in Orissa in XIII cen. A.D. as evidenced by the images in the Anant Vasudev Temple, built by Chandradevi it the Later Ganga Period in 1278 A.D. in Bhubaneshvar.
Siddharaj Jaisingh was greatly influenced by the Jain Acharyas and had reportedly built some Jain
1. Diparnava 23/57. 2. Panigrahi, K. C.: Archaeological Remains at Bhubaneshvar (Calcutta : 1941), pp. 70-71. For the
date of this temple see Harekrushna Mahta : The History of Orissa (Cuttack : 1959), Vol. 1, p. 291. 3. Shastri, op. cit., p. 318.
जैन इतिहास, कला और संस्कृति