Ambika on Jaina Art and Literature

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

Page 81

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Ellora (Cave 33), A.D. 810-880 (p. 62)
seated in lalitásana on a high pedestal. The figures in most of the cases are excellent showing an advancement upon the earlier figures of Ambikă from Aihole and Bādāmi. Ambikā with her slightly tilted body, suggesting relaxed posture, rests against a cushioned pillow, a characteristic of the Rāstrakūta images inherited from the Chālukyas. The small and smiling faces of Ambikā with a remarkable slenderness and rhythmic linear movement in body alongwith pleasing ornaments, are typical of the Rāştrakūta art.
In all the examples, there appears a rampant lion under the feet of the goddess and beautifully delineated mango tree overhead with different birds and animals, like parrot, monkey, carved on its branches, which at once remind us of the images of Ambikā from Aihole. The goddess bedecked in different ornaments, specially with pleasing variety in coiffure, is provided with an oblong halo. Ambikā is usually accompanied by her younger son Prabhankara only, seated in lap or standing nearby. In all the instance she holds a bunch of mangoes and a son (or a fruit) in the right and left hands. In the images where Ambikā holds fruit in her left hand, the son (nude) is usually carved standing along her side. The necklace and girdle of her son are beautiful and also natural because such beaded necklace and girdles are usually worn by the children of early age even upto this day.
The most striking, rather intriguing, point in the images of Ambikā from Ellora is the rendering of a bearded devotee (sādhu) on left flank in most of the instances. The sādhu (?) wearing a loin-cloth with a short patkä on the front and thick band like yajñopavīta, holds a long parasol in his right hand while his left hand is raised in the attitude of appreciation of the goddess. In few instances, there also stands a male attendant, either holding a flower or fly-whisk, on the right. However, the definite identification of bearded devotee is not possible. Sometimes Ambikā is attended by female attendants too. Thus Ambika in Ellora is without any variety and variation in respect of her iconographic form.
Ambikā 67