Encyclopaedia of Jaina Studies Vol 01 Jaina Art and Architecture

Author(s): Sagarmal Jain, Others
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 350

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Encyclopaedia of Jaina Studies
tradition from Pallu (Bikaner, Rajasthan). Of the two identical figures, one is in the National Museum, Delhi (Acc. No. 1/6/278 Pl. 213) while the other is in the Ganga Golden Jubilee Museum, Bikaner (Acc. No. 203). These figures, belonging to c. mid 11th century A.D., show the four-armed goddess as standing in tribhanga on a lotus pedestal with a small figure of swan. The goddess benign in appearance is decked with beautifully and minutely carved ornaments and karandamukuta. The whole composition is endowed with divine radiance. The small face with slim and flexioned body reveals divine beauty and grace. She shows the varadakṣa, full-blown lotus, manuscript and water-vessel. The goddess is accompanied by two female figures playing on vīņā, topped by another two figures playing on flute, thus revealing the musical power of Sarasvati. What is particularly interesting about the image in the Ganga Golden Jubilee Museum, Bikaner, is the beautiful prabha torana, containing the two-armed figures of sixteen Maha-vidyas. The figures on the prabha-toraṇa possibly suggest that Sarasvati here has been conceived as the superintending goddess of all the Great Powers (Mahavidyās). Another figure of identical grace, composition and iconography is preserved in a Jaina temple at Ladnun (Nagaur, Rajasthan). The pedestal inscription of samvat 1219 (A.D. 1162) mentions that this image of Sarasvati was got prepared by Asa Devi, the wife of some śreṣthi.
Of the three Sarasvati figures preserved in the British Museum, London, one is exquisitely carved figure in marble (Acc. No. 1880-349). The figure is in Paramāra style and is datable to 11th century A.D. The four-armed goddess with goose-mount carries rosary and manuscript in two of her surviving hands. The composition of the parikara with Jina and attendant figures and also the diminutive figures of some unidentified goddesses suggest the importance attached to Sarasvati. The remaining two figures are obtained from Karnataka, one of which belongs to the 10th century A.D. The figure is in metal and the inscription
provides the name Sarasvati. The two armed goddess stands in tribhanga and carries lotus and manuscript. The other figure, in stone, is in Hoysala style of 12th century A.D. The highly ornate four-armed figure of Sarasvati is identical with the figures found at Humcha. LAKŞMİ OR SRI-DEVI
Laksmi or Śrī-Devi in both the sects of Jainism was accorded a venerated position as a goddess of wealth and prosperity from the very beginning. She was borrowed from the Brahmanical pantheon and hence she was shown with the identical iconographic features. Early Jaina texts like the Bhagavatī Sūtra (11.11.430) and the Kalpasūtra (Sūtra 37) refer to the goddess as Lakṣmi or Śrī-Lakṣmi but the visual renderings of the goddess are found only in about 9th century A.D. The earliest renderings of Laksmi are found in the midst of the 14 or 16 auspicious dreams carved invariably on the door-lintels of Jaina temples, namely Osian, Kumbharia, Delvada of Svetambara tradition and Deogadh, Khajuraho and Bilhari of Digambara tradition. The goddess is worshipped on the occasion of Dhanaterasa (before Diwali) when the women of Śvetambara tradition polish their jewellery and ornaments in honour of Lakṣmi.
All the Svetambara and Digambara Jaina texts including Kalpasūtra make reference to Abhiseka-Lakṣmi (or Gaja-Lakṣmi) as one of the 14 or 16 auspicious dreams seen by the respective mothers of all the 24 Jinas before their birth. The Kalpasūtra refers to twoarmed Śr-Lakṣmi, seated on lotus and holding lotuses in both the hands. She is being lustrated by the two elephants to be shown above the shoulders. In Jaina tradition like that of Brahmanical one, Lakṣmi is visualized in two main forms, namely Lakṣmi and Abhişeka-Lakṣmi. The Śvetambara texts invariably envisage two-armed Mahālakṣmi as bearing lotuses and riding on an elephant. The Digambara texts providing elephant for four-armed Śrī-Devi also prescribe flowers and lotus in two hands.
In Jaina art the forms of both Lakṣmi and AbhisekaLakṣmi are represented, the latter form was shown