________________
Four More Popular Yakṣiņis
263
above goddesses and Hariti, Bahuputrika, is obvious. But the Jaina Ambikä's association with the mangotree deserves further investigation.
Since the yakṣas in ancient Indian literature are known as sylvan deities, Ambika-yakşi's association with a tree is natural and should not be surprising. However none of the other Jaina yakṣas and yakşinis in the group of sasanadevatas of the different Tirthankaras are shown sitting or standing under a
tree.
We know that the conception of the Jaina Ambika is strongly influenced by the conception of a Mother-Goddess and by the Brahmanical deity Durga. Mother-Goddesses in Brahmanical rites are to be invoked with Amra-pallavas (tender leaves of a mango-tree) according to the Katyayana Smrti. Again, in a group of sculptures of Ganesa (Vinayaka), obtained from Bengal and Bihar,195 Gaṇeśa is shown standing or sitting under a canopy or torana (suggestive of a tree) of mangoes. This characteristic of Gaṇeśa, standing or sitting or dancing under a mango-tree, seems to have been based on a hitherto untraced literary tradition which very well preserved the original Yakṣa character of the Hindu Gaṇeśa or Vinayaka.
The Yajnavalkya Smṛti, acaradhyaya,196 chp. IX, which seems to be an abridgement and versification of the XIV khanda of the second puruşa of the Manavagṛhyasūtra, refers to the worship of Vinayakas (verse 1). They are Šalakaṭankaļa, Kuṣmaṇḍarājuputra, Usmita and Devayajana (verse 2). The signs manifested by persons possessed by these are referred and the penance for removal of these obstacles is described and the mantras for the Vinayakas are given. Then we find: Vinayakasya jananim upatisthet= tato Ambikām (v. 30). The following prayer for Ambika is prescribed at night: "O Lady of Prosperity (bhagavati), give me prosperity, O Lady of Good Complexion (varnavati), give me good complexion, O Lady possessing many sons, give me sons, O Lady of Beauty, give me beauty, O Lady having everything, grant me all desires."
These passages not only explain the purpose of Ambika's name Kuşmāṇḍini but also explain her association with Ganesa (Vinayaka) and Kubera (lord of the yakṣas) in the mediaeval image no. D.7 in the Mathura Museum. We have also seen that in a certain group of sculptures Ganeśa is associated with the mango-tree. Yakṣa worship is intimately associated with tree-worship and water cosmology as demonstrated by Coomaraswamy.
It can be demonstrated that a goddess with one or two children, standing under a mango-tree and associated with waters, existed in c. fifth century A.D. and continued later; the conception might have for its basis some earlier one or more mother-goddesses. The conception of Ganga-the river-goddess who, with Yamuna, was a favourite deity on the door frames of the Gupta period-fulfils all the above requirements and shows the above iconographic characteristics. One of the most beautiful specimens of this river-goddess, from Besnagar, now in the Boston Museum, illustrated by Coomaraswamy,197 shows its close similarity with the conception of the Jaina Ambika. Catherine Glynn tried to trace the origin of this type of the Ganga image and showed parallelism with the image of the Sudarsana Yakṣi from Bharhut (second century B.C.),198 The child is absent but the mango on two sides of the head of the Yakşi and the form of the vahana below are noteworthy. Glynn identifies the tree in the Bharhut example with the tree in the Besnagar figure of Ganga referred to above and calls it "tree of fertility". In the Besnagar example it is clearly a mango-tree.
Ganga is associated with children which she bore to Santanu according to the Mahabharata. She destroyed eight of them. Thus both the malefic and the benefic aspects of Ganga as a Mother Goddess are retained along with her treatment as a River Goddess. 199 Further investigation into the origin of the iconography of Ganga will be welcome.
It seems that there existed a conception of a yaksi or a śālabhañjikā or a goddess standing under a mango-tree and having a child by her side. This conception was the prototype of the form of Ganga, the Jaina Ambika and the Brahmanical Tripurasundari. This is inferred from a figure on the entrance doorway of cave 19 at Ajanta and some figures in Ellora cave 21. In the sculpture from Besnagar illustrated by Coomaraswamy, we find the river goddess standing under a mango-tree, with a bird (parrot ?) perched
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
