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234
Jaina Monuments of Orissa
slab of B. Singpur bearing No. D.M. 23 is seated to the right of Gomedha displaying attributes in opposite hands. Like Gomedha she is found seated in mahārājalilā pose.
In addition to the Ambikā figures in stone D. Mitra48 brought to our notice four bronze idols of this Sāsanadevi. They were all recovered from village Achutarajpur and preserved for the present in the Art Section of the Orissa State Museum.
The first figure of this group (Acc. No. 288) is seated elegantly in the lalitāsana posture on the pericarp of a visvapadma her right foot being pendent. With her left fore arm supporting the back of a child seated on her left thigh. She holds with the artistic fingers of her right palm a twig with a bunch of mangoes. Close to her pendent leg is a seated bejewelled boyish figure with locks of hair falling on sides and holding a circular object in its right hand. The central projection of her lotus pedestal, accommodates the lion, her conventional mount. The edges of the lintel and jambs of the back-rest are decorated with beads. Near the ends of the lintel is a somewhat amalaka shaped member, close to which is a beaded string hanging downwards. Above the lintel are mango-twigs laden with fruits. Around her shoulders and head and mounted on the lintel is a solid oval halo whose beaded border is edged by leaf shaped flames. At the crown of the halo is an ornate floral device hiding the view of the thick shaft of the umbrella in three gradually diminishing chhatras the topmost one being crowned by a conical finial.
The second figure (Acc. No. 263) also seated in lalitāsana pose on a lotus arrayed on a narrow pedestal with footed base and two mangoes placed below. Against the middle of the front side is the lion. She supports a child seated in her left folded leg through the left fore arm. She carries a mango twig with her right palm resting on the knee. The right palm of the child is placed against his chest. By the side of her right thigh is a grown up child seated in the paryankāsana posture with a mango like fruit in his right palm against the chest. The solid oval halo edged by tongues of flames is tightly fixed to the pedestal. Above her head are the spreading branches of the mango tree perched above the mango branches is Neminātha. Seated in yogasana pose displaying the individual halo in oval shape. At its crown is a floral motif, above which rears up an umbrella with a prominent bud-shaped finial.
The third figure (Acc. No. 289) though represents the broad features of the previous one yet close to her right leg is a pot bellied boy, seated in the mahārājalila posture with his right hand extended up to the knee. A small defaced disc is also seen against the feet of Neminātha seated in yogamudrā at the top. Unlike the preceding image the long halo (attached to the pedestal) has a trefoil upper part.
The last figure of Ambikā (Acc. 289) also corresponds to the second image in many of the iconographic details. Here she is seated in the mahārājalilā posture. Around the back of the Sasanadevi is an oval halo with two over-hanging clusters of mangoes
48. D. Mitra, Bronzes from Achutarajapur, pp. 45-48.
