Jain Temples of Rajasthan

Author(s): Sehdav Kumar
Publisher: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Art Abhinav Publications

Page 35

MAT
1
RON
.
tural and aesthetic coherence. It also had to be responsive to its own iconographic traditions, many of which were highly eclectic. Thus despite these restrictions, and whatever constraints the image of the jina placed on the sculptor's imagination, the freedom of the artist seemed to know no bounds in other areas.
In the Jain temples the twenty-four tirtharkaras are the principal objects of worship and they occupy the foremost position in the Jain pantheon. The attendant gods -- the sásanadevatas - are next in order, and they are represented either on their own or in attendance to a tirtharikara. The säsanadevatās are yaksas and yaksis and they are often shown on the threshold of the doorframe and on the stele of the jina image. Sometimes they are merely a part of the embellishment of the temple.
For the Jain icon makers, goddesses Ambika and Cakreśvari are the two most popular yakşis, and gods Sarvānubhüti and
de Saryanubhit and Brahmasånti are the two most prominent yaksas.
Four images of four-armed goddesses, all seated in lalitásana: Vajrinkusi, Cakresvart, Prajnapti and Vajrashkhala on corridor ceiling in the Vimalavasthi temple. The four images are placed diagonally in four comers. On either side of a goddess is an attendant care rying pitcher or garland. In the centre of the panel is fully blossomed lotus.
On page 16 Rhiokar mantra; paper; c 1750 A.D.; Jaipur School. Private Collection
17