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Four More Popular Yakṣinis
The Vimala vasahi, Abu, provides a number of images of this type. One such specimen from the south-west corner of the ceiling of the sabhamaṇḍapa of Vimala's shrine is illustrated in figure 154 in this book. It dates from around v.s. 1201-1144 A.D. when Pṛthvipala rebuilt the sabhamaṇḍapa. A beautiful loose bronze image of this variety from a cell in the same shrine was illustrated by us in our article on the iconography of the Jaina Ambika. 110 This bronze dates from c. eleventh century A.D. Images of this variety are found at Gandhaval, M.P., in the Santinatha and Neminatha temples in Kumbharia and at many other places in Gujarat. An image of this type is preserved in the Baroda Museum.
No literary dhyana for this form is yet known. Perhaps the two-armed form served as a model for this form by multiplying the amra-lumbi symbol in the two upper hands, to produce an artistic effect. A painting of Ambika from the palm-leaf manuscript of Neminatha-Carita, dated in v.s. 1198=1142 A.D. preserved in the Santinatha Bhandara, Cambay, represents the goddess in this form.111 She has a golden complexion. Here the child is held by the right lower hand instead of the right one as in the above figures. A painting on the last folio of a palm-leaf ms. of the Jñātādharmakatha sūtra, in the collection of Shri Rajendrasinhji Singhi of Calcutta, shows the same four-armed form but the right lower hand of the goddess is here held in the varada mudra while the left lower hand holds the child on the lap.112 The two upper hands carry the amra-lumbi. The second son is standing near the right leg of the devi. Coomaraswamy had published an old Jaina painted Pața on cloth probably done in the fifteenth century.113 In the centre is Parsvanatha and the figure on his extreme left is Ambika carrying the amralumbi in her two upper hands; her right lower hand is held in the varada-mudra while the left one grasps the child. A sculpture on the outer wall of the Jaina shrine at Ranakpur, Rajasthan, shows the same form (Fig. 199). In a sculpture in a Jaina shrine at Cambay, the right lower hand of the goddess, held in the varada mudra, carries the rosary, all other symbols remain the same.
A palm-leaf ms. of Pandavacarita in the Santinatha Bhaṇḍāra, Cambay, contains on the first folio a painting of Ambikä-devi.114 Under a full-grown mango-tree is seated Ambika holding the amra-lumbi in both the upper hands. The left lower hand is held in the varada mudra while the right lower hand holds the child. A lion on the left represents the vahana of the goddess. Below the end of her scarf on the right is seen only half of the figure of her second child.
An earlier brass image of Ambika sitting in the lalitäsana, preserved in the Museum of Indian Historical Research Institute, St. Xavier's College, Bombay, and dated in v.s. 1198 1141 A.D., shows the citron instead of the varada in the right lower hand of the goddess. 115
Another metal image of Ambika, dated v.s. 1505-1448 A.D., preserved in the same Institute, illustrates yet another variety of four-armed Ambika images. As usual, the two upper arms hold the amra-lumbi but both the lower ones are engaged in supporting her two sons on her laps.116 According to Yaksa-Yakşi-lakṣaṇa, a work of the Digambara sect, Dharma-devi or Ambika is seated with two sons on her lap, one on each thigh. Two of the arms hold the sons, one left arm shows a bunch of mangoflowers while the corresponding right is extended towards the lion, her vahana.117
In another form based on a Canarese (Karnataka) tradition given by T.N. Ramachandran,118 Dharmadevi shows, in the two upper hands, the sword and the cakra (disc), while the two lower hands are placed on her lap as a support to the seated sons.
Burgess had published a drawing prepared from the Canarese (Karnataka) tradition collected by Alexander Rea.119 According to Burgess, "the Yakşi is Kusmiņḍini... four armed, with two children on her lap and lion as her cognizance. She is the only attendant who has not the front right hand in the varada-hasta attitude." In the drawing she is shown holding a sword and a cakra in the right and the left upper hands respectively while the two lower ones support the sons seated on the thighs. In these drawings of Burgess, what we know as abhaya mudra is described as varada.
Digambara tradition provides an interesting form of Ambika found amongst the wall-paintings of Jina-Kanchi. Here she is represented sitting in padmasana with four arms. Her two upper hands show the goad and the noose, while the right and the left lower ones exhibit the abhaya and the varada mudra respectively, 120
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