Ambika on Jaina Art and Literature

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

Page 64

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Ambikä
12). Ambikā in all the cases sits in lalita-pose on lion mount and holds ämra-lumbi and child (in lap). However, in two instances, Ambika bears either sword or merely a fruit, in place of an amra-lumbi. These figures are carved on the west facade and the door-sill of the Santinātha temple.
However, in three examples from Kumbharia, Ambikä possesses four arms. All these figures are in the form of Jina-samyukta images, enshrined in the deva-kulikā Nos. 11 (A.D. 1081) and 12 of the Santinātha, and deva-kulikā No 5 of the Neminatha, temples. In all these instances, Ambika holds amra-lumbi in three hands while the fourth hand (lower left) supports a child, seated in lap and touching her breast. The source of this form of Ambika holding amra-lumbi in three of her four hands is apparently the earlier form of two-armed Ambikā.
An identical figure of four-armed Ambika bearing amra-lumbi in three hands and child (in lap) in the fourth one is obtained from a Jaina temple at Iḍar (V.S. 1230/A.D. 1173). The child in lap holds a fruit in left hand while his right hand is raised to pluck a mango fruit. The elder son, however, stands on right and holds a fruit in one hand.
Delvāḍa
The Delvada (Mt. Abu, Rajasthan) Jaina temples are world famous for their architectural beauty and marvellous carvings, appearing more like metallic work, in marble. The serene and supple-bodied figures in the Vimala Vasahi and Lūņa Vasahi are chiselled with excellent workmanship showing highly ornate figures with slim and sharp body. The small and tender faces and the delicate treatment in the rendering of different limbs of the figures are bewitching. The beauty in figural renderings is more like a feminine beauty. There are three main temples, known as the Vimala Vasahi, Lūņa Vasahi and the Kharatara Vasahi, dedicated respectively to Rṣabhanatha, Neminatha and Parsvanatha. As already pointed out, Ambikā enjoyed a very exalted position at Delvada and all other Jaina sites in western India right from the 10th to the 16th century A.D.
The Vimala Vasahi, built in A.D. 1031-32 (samvat 1088), with its ranga-mandapa, bhramikā and 54 deva-kulikās added between A.D. 1145-49, has numerous figures of Ambika wherein she mostly appears on the thrones of different Jina images. She is carved with