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Jaina Rock-cut Caves in Western India the head. The attributes in the case of figures at Bhamer and Ellora J5 are similar. The attributes of the figure in J27 are also similar to the aforementioned figures, except the lower right hand, which is in abhaya, instead of varada. The attributes at Chandor, Anjaneri and Tringalwadi are not clear. At Ellora J18, she holds a variety of objects. This is the only example, where a figure of Parsvanatha is carved above the head of the deity.
Sarasvati
There are five icons of Sarasvati at Ellora, in J4, J12, J13 and J18, two icons at Chandor, while two small figures are carved on the hall doorway of Tringalwadi, one on each jamb. There is a Sarasvati figure in the Ambikā panel of Cave III and on the shrine doorway of Cave VI at Ankai. Three of the examples at Ellora, those at Chandor and the figure on the doorway at Ankai are standing figures, while the rest are seated figures. The vahana, swan, is present at Ellora J4, Chandor, Tringalwadi and Cave VI Ankai. Interestingly, the vahana in J4 at Ellora is peacock, a typical Digambara feature, though the swan also occurs in the Digambara tradition (Shah 1941: tables). In the case of J12 icon at Ellora, a pair of peacocks is shown above the figure and not as vahana. All the figures are four-armed with different format of attributes in each case. As is typical of the Sarasvati icon, the lotus and the book are common attributes, while at Ankai and Tringalwadi, viņā is shown. The exception is the figure in Cave VI at Ankai, where she has sakti in upper right hand, viņa in upper hand and fruit like objects in lower hands. One of the Sarasvati figures from Chandor is depicted with two more goddesses, shown seated near her feet. While the icon to left is not clear, that to the right is Ambikā. Two Sarasvati icons from Mangi-Tungi II should not be considered because these figures were reported to be unfinished and are obviously finished recently.
Sarasvati or Mahamanasi?
The four-armed goddesses, flanking the main icon of Chandraprabha at Chandor and a small figure above the pedyā figures to the right on the shrine doorway of Cave VI at Ankai-Tankai appear to represent same deity, but is difficult to identify. The figures in Chandor have fruit in the lower left hand, pasa or khatvānga in upper left hand, ankusa in upper right hand and the lower right hand is in varada with aksamala. The figure at Ankai has the same attributes with the exception that the lower right hand is held in abhaya mudra. While the former are seated in lalitāsana on a plain seat and the vāhana is not shown, the latter is seated in padmāsana on a lotus and her vahana, swan is shown below. These goddesses could be identified as Sarasvati because of swan as her vāhana and the fact that occasionally, she holds ankuća, paśa and aksamāla. But in almost all known dhyānas, lotus, book or vină occurs as characteristic feature of Sarasvati (Shah 1941: 217), none of which appear here. Another goddess with swan as a vahana is the sixteenth mahāvidyā, Mahamanasi, whose attributes are akšamāla, kamandalu, ankusa and garland, according to the Digambara tradition (Shah 1947: 166). It is quite possible that our examples represent this vidyādevi.
It appears that in the medieval period, the distinction between the deities was not very clear-cut (Bruhn 1960). Thus, a number of goddesses were given common attributes
