Ambika on Jaina Art and Literature

Author(s): Maruti Nandan Prasad Tiwari
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

Page 32

the Jaina adaptations of the Sapta-matrkās in this context."'4 According to Debala Mitra : "The name Ambikā and the mount lion are clear indications of her borrowal by the Jainas from the Brahminical pantheon. Her holding of a child also points to the conception of the Mātrkās. At the same time, the figures of Buddhist Hārīti have a close iconographical resemblance with the icons of Amrā. The Jaina conception of this divinity is thus an amalgam of different ideas."5 And Kalipada Mitra observes : "It seems that the Jainas have taken the ideas of Ambikā from the Hindu goddess Ambika together with her vehicle, the lion. Hindu Ambikā is also called Ambā (Mother). Ambā is Amrā. From Ambā to Amrā is an early step... It should be remembered that Kūsmāndi is also another name of Durgā who was regarded as the protection deity of the Kūsmāndās, a hilly class attached to Siva.''6 And finally S.K. Jain thus explains the same point: "Ambika or Kūsmāndi Yakshini of Neminātha seems to be borrowed form of Simhavāhini Durga in as much as her names and vehicle. The attribute of child in her lap also tends to identify her with Ambā, the Mother Goddess."
But if we examine the basic concept of Jaina Ambikā in historical perspective, we find that virtually she has nothing in common with Durgā or Ambikā of Brahminical pantheon. The origin of Ambikā can well be traced in the earlier worship of Bahu-putrikā Yaksi, known to Jainism in its earlier days in Magadha. Bahu-putrikā represents the popularity of mother goddess or fertility cult known to Jainism, her dispositions suggested by the appellation Bahu-putrikā. In one of the Jaina Tantric passages (Ambikä-tādamka, c. 13th century A.D.) it is clearly stated that, by the worship of Ambikā, the devotees are blessed with children (putraṁ labhate).8 The rendering of a bunch of mangoes in her hand and also the shade of a mango tree over her head are also suggestive of her association with fertility. It was only at a later stage between the 10th and 13th century A.D. that some features of Sakti cult were induced in Jaina Yaksi Ambikā, as is evidenced by the details available in different iconographic texts wherein she is conceived with some such attributes as goad, noose, vajra, ghantā, sword and disc to manifest her sakti or power aspect. During the period between the 12th and the 13th century A.D. she was also endowed with such appellations and attributes, both in literature and art, which at once suggest her affinity with Brahminic Durgā or Ambikā. Some of the stotras devoted to Ambikä in the Bhairava-Padma
18 Ambikā