Ambika on Jaina Art and Literature

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

Page 84

Deogarh
Deogarh, in Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh, has undoubtedly been one of the richest centres of Jaina religious art in India. There live in the ambience of Deogarh the superhuman Jaina Tirthankaras, their Yaksas and Yaksis and others in inanimate stone who have out-lived their human creators. The iconographic remains of Deogarh, spread-over ninth (A.D. 862) to the 12th century A.D., are the product exclusively of the Digambara sect. Besides the Jina images, a profuse amount of the figures of Yaksas and Yaksis are also available at the site. The Yaksis, of course, enjoyed a more favoured position at the site than their male counterparts, the Yakşas. This is evident by the greater number of independent figures of the Yakşīs and also by the fact that all the 24 Yaksīs are sculptured collectively all along the exterior wall of the temple No. 12 (A.D. 862) at the site, this being the earliest-known instance of the collective rendering of the 24 Yakşīs. On the merit of the frequency of her visual representation, Ambikā appears to have enjoyed the most exalted position among all the Yaksis at Deogarh. She is represented at the site by over 50 sculptures, excluding the tiny figures carved on the pedestal of different Jinas.?
As elsewhere, the figures of Ambikā at Deogarh also lack in variety in respect of iconographic forms. The exquisitely carved figures of Ambikā range in date from ninth (A.D. 862) to the 12th century A.D. She is portrayed either as standing or sitting in lalita pose with one leg hanging down and the other being folded. The formal posture is of more frequent occurrence. Ambikā, usually decked with dhoti, necklaces, stana-hāra, bejewelled coiffure, bracelets, armlets and anklets, is represented in two varieties of forms namely, the two-armed and the four-armed, the latter being represented only by three instances. The paucity of the four-armed figures at the site suggests that the artists of Deogarh were tradition abiding. Over the head of Ambikā there invariably appears a diminutive figure of her Jina Neminātha and the branches of mango tree, spread all along.
The two-armed Ambika always holds an amra-lumbi in the right hand while with left she supports a child, either seated in lap or standing by her side. However, in two instances, Ambikā carries a lotus in the right hand while in one instance the hand rests on the head of her second son, standing by her side. Thus the amra-lumbi
70 Ambikā.