Jaina Archaeological Heritage of Tamilnadu

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

Page 80

JAINA PAINTINGS
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gods carrying their respective symbols and insignia of royalty all marching towards the mandapa.
The other portions of the ceiling are totally covered with decorative motifs. Apart from these paintings, another set of paintings are found in the inner chamber. There are three horizontal panels marked off by paint describing the story of Ambika or Agnila. Agnila was a pious lady who was banished by her husband Somasarman to wander in the forests with her two children, as she had offered the food meant to be consumed by Brahmins in the sraddha ceremony of her husband's parents to Varadatta, a Jaina monk. Later, Somasarman felt remorse for his action, came to take her home. But Agnila was frightened that her husband would again ill-treat her. So, she jumped over the cliff and died, only to re-emerge as yaksi Ambika. This episode is supposed to have taken place at Tirumalai, earlier known as Vaigavur and as a yaksi, she is supposed to have provided food for 8000 monks who came to Tirumalai.
Part of the myth associated with her is depicted in the three surviving panels of the innermost cell. Of these, in the top most panel Agnila is shown inviting two Jaina monks. In the central panel, she is shown offering food to them and in the last of these panels, she listens to their discourse.
On either side of the entrance to the cells containing the paintings, there are paintings of Dvarapalakas depicted on a red background. They have four hands of which the upper ones hold the snake and the lower ones hold in abhaya and varada. All these paintings have been dated to the 16th century A.D by scholars. The paintings at Tirumalai belong to a later more conventionalised phase of South Indian painting.
The brush work here is constricted and cramped and