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AMBIKA IN JAINA ART AND LITERATURE
endeavours to give a detailed and critical assessment of the origin and development of Jaina Yakşi Ambikā. Acknowledged as the Yaksi of the 22nd Jina Arista-nemi or Neminātha, Ambikā enjoys an exalted position in Jaina worship. The popular worship of Mother representing fertility cult was adopted by the Jainas in the form of an early Yaksi Bahu-putrikā. By the close of the sixth century A.D., she got transformed into Yaksi Ambikā. The study portrays the evolution of the forms of Ambikā in the Jaina literature and iconographic texts with their visual manifestation in sculpture and painting. The work is based on a detailed and comprehensive study of the images of Ambikā from the sites which in past had been the centres of Jaina activities, namely Khajurāho, Osiān, Deogarh, Mathurā, Kumbhāriā, Mt. Ābū, Ellorā etc. The appendices, illustrations and a detailed bibliography will be found useful by the students of this and allied subjects.
