Jaina Archaeological Heritage of Tamilnadu

Author(s): A Ekambarnathan
Publisher: Bharat Varshiya Digambar Jain Mahasabha

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JAINA BRONZES 61
bronze image depicting Patala yaksha, the attendant deity of Ananthanatha is found at Venkunram. Assignable to 19th-20th cent.A.D. he is seated on a lotus with three heads and six arms. A three-hooded serpent canopy is found over the crown. Ankusa, pasa, sula, plough, and fruit are in his five arms, while the sixth arm is in abaya. On the pedestal, makara is depicted as his lanchana.
YAKSHIS
The antiquity of yakshi-worship in Tamilnadu could be pushed back to the 3rd cent.A.D. as it is referred for the first time in the Silapathikaram.15 It is mentioned that, Poonkan Iyakki, a yakshi, whose eyes resemble the flowers, was worshipped by Madhuri. The literary compositions of medieval period are silent about yakshi. However, from 8th cent.A.D. onwards yakshi in sculptural art began to appear. In Tamilnadu Ambika, Padmavati and Jvalamalini are the yakshis popularly worshipped by the Digambaras.
AMBIKA
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The legend connected with Agnila(later known as Ambika), the wife of a brahmana, who was subsequently reborn as Ambika yakshi is well known. She is quite popular in Tamilnadu and is known as Dharmadevi, Kushmandini, Bhagavati, Varasundari, Ponniyakki and Alagammai. Among these, first two names are quite popular among the Tamil people. Generally Ambika is depicted either with two hands or four hands holding a bunch of mangoes, pasa, ankusa and a child, seated on her lap or standing nearby. The lion mount stands behind her.
The earliest bronze image of Ambika in Tamilnadu is the one found at Tirunarungondai. In