Jain Journal 2010 07

Author(s): Satyaranjan Banerjee
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 37

Rupendra Kumar Chattopadhyay: Jaina Antiquities
37
The lower part of the image is broken. The extant image measures 75 cm x 45 cm and is plaqued on the north wall of the temple of Satpatta. The Jina stands in Kāvotsarga posture on a lotuspedestal. He has usnisa on its head and is flanked by two attendants. Miniature figures of Tirthankaras are carved along the edge of the stele. These miniature figures are however quite indistincet. This image, made of chlorite stone, is a fine piece of sculpture assumedly belonging to c. 12th century AD.
8.
An image of Jaina Yakshi Ambika was reported from this site during our exploration. The Devi image is defaced and abraded. It is made of chlorite stone and measures 45 cm x 19 cm (Pl. 8). The coiffure of the goddess depicts a stylized Kavari and she wears a long sari like garment and other usual ornaments. With tri-bhanga pose she is standing under the foliage of a mango-tree or Kalpataru. Above the branches of the tree is a seated Jina in dhyāna mudrā. She holds a frolicking little child (her younger son Prabhankara) with her left hand. Her right arm, once possibly holding a branch of a mango tree (amralumbi), is broken at elbow. A tiny figure of a lion is depicted on the pedestal. A similar Ambika image is presently in the collection of the Vishnupur Sahitya Parishad Museum, Vishnupur'.
7.
The present study region, i.c., a part of the Kumari-Kansavati valley with its uniuque geo-physical bearing, natural resources and the distribution of population and above all its material remains in the form of empirical archacological database, prompted us to gauge its archacological significance in a non-conventional way. By a nonconventional way, it is implied that the existing researches hardly provided any scope for the reconstruction of the past of this region by following the traditional nomenclatures, employed in defining its archaeological sequences. At the same time, the retrieved database obviously traces the history of mankind which definitely touches upor
Chattopadhyay, R.K., op. cit. 2010, p. 202.