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Art and Architecture / 243
citrakhanda and vişnukānta columns, with all their details are intact in situ. Regarding the sculptural details of the vimāna a noted feature is the decorated majestic elephant on all the three sides.
8.6.5. Recently, on 14-01-99, I found in the same temple a graceful Arhat Pārśva sculpture , carved to perfection on a slab containing a dated (C. E. 902-03) Sankrit inscription on the backside. The epigraph was noticed earlier but not the lovely scuplture of eminence on the otherside, since the slab was fixed to the wall. The tablet has marvellous sculptures on both the sides. On one side, in the very beginning, before the commencement of the inscription, is the sculpture of a caityālaya motif. It has three compartments, framed inside the four pillars. On the right side is the relief of a cow and a calf. In the centre is the figure of Jina seated in padmāsana on a lion throne capped with tripple umbrella and the fly whisk bearers in flank. On the left side is Ambikā yakşi seated in lalitāsana (Sukhāsana) posture under the mangogrove, holding a bunch of mango fruits in her right hand, the left hand being a varada-hasta, and the lion being her vāhana. A male person standing to her left is her son. Because Ambikā alias Kuşmāņdi is an attendant deity of Nēminātha, the 22nd Tirthankara, the centre figure in the panel can be considered as Nēminātha Jina.
8.6.3.1. On the otherside of the tablet is the extreemly superb sculpture Jina Pārsva with kamathopa-sarga motif, depicting the episode of tormentation of Kamatha. Charged with vengeance, Kamatha lashed heavy rains, hurled huge boulders, created thunder storm and deputed evil spirits to shake Pārsva from his trance, but in vain. The sylvan deities appeared and yakși Padmãvati holding the staff of the diamond studded parasol stood to the right, symbolising the benefic aspect of the diety, and the malefic aspect of Kamatha is shown on the left side. Similar stelae are met at Hombuja
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