Ambika on Jaina Art and Literature

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

Page 52

With consort, Akoţā (Vadodara), c. mid 6th century
though exaggerated in certain respects in details. Ambikā is seated in lalita pose on a couchant lion, shown with bulging eyes and protruded tongue. The figure of Ambikā along with halo are attached on pitha, enriched by three bands of varied designs and a lotus pattern on its legs. The nimbus made of lotus petals and surrounded by a broad band of flames, is topped by the tiny figure of Pārsvanātha, sitting in dhyāna-mudrā. The halo surmounts the cross-bar of the back seat adorned with makara-mukha. The goddess bears an āmra-lumbi in right hand and a fruit in left. The younger son of Ambikā, as usual, sits in her left lap while the elder son stands nearby on the right. The image has a fragmentary inscription too, which is incised in characters assignable to latter half of the sixth century A.D.6 Ambikā has rather a plump face with broad jaws and long eyes. She is adorned with two heavy rings, ekāvali, a broad necklace and stanahāra with mangalamālā and a bell at its end. The lower garment (caranikā) worn in vikaccha fashion has a design of broad band interspersed with circular marks. The eloborate crown of Ambikā is made of a trikūta-mukutu with a big gem in the centre and a gavāksa motif or a solar representation at its top.
Another figure from Akotā (Fig. 3), datable to c. mid sixth century
38 Ambikā