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Book Review
MARUTI NANDAN PRASAD TIWARI, Ambika in Jaina Art and
Literature, Bharatiya Jnanpith, New Delhi, 1989. Price Rs. 100.
Among the Jaina deities, Ambika occupies a significant position. This is borne out from the numerous literary references to her. The plastic and pictorial Jaina art portrays this goddess in variegated forms.
Mother goddess in ancient India represented the divinity of fertility and fecundity. In the Vedic-Puranic tradition she was treated as the inherent power of Nature. She was proginator and protector of children. The Jaina and Buddhist religions also gave a prominent position to her. This is discernible from the literary accounts and also from the portrayals in art.
Ambika was associated with Tirthankara Neminatha, the 22nd Jaina pontiff. Like Sarasvati and Cakresvari, Ambika acquired significant position in different regions of the country. Usually shown under the auspicious mango tree, she holds a child in her lap. Sometimes more than one child is shown with her.
So far no separate work on the origin and development of the Jaina Ambika was available. In the present study Dr. Maruti Nandan Prasad Tiwari has traced the origin of this goddess and has dealt with her manifestations in literature and art from the earliest time to the later phases. The author has spared no pains in discussing the iconographic concept, the forms and symbolism, associated with Ambika, in a chronological sequence. The salient regional features in the art of different areas of the country have clearly been brought out. These have been amplified by giving select illustrations from art.
A separate chapter has been devoted to Ambika as found in the pictorial art. Appendices A, B, and C respectively furnish details about the temples of Ambika, the Jaina Texts and their Dates and Eulogies to Ambika. A detailed Bibliography is given in Appendix D.
The present work is a model for further such studies related to important Indian deities. The author and the publisher deserve praise for this prestigious publication, which has tastefully been printed with nice illustrations and get-up.
-Prof. K. D. Bajpai
Jain Education International
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