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VIJAY YANTRA
Ram Vallabh Somani
The Vijay yantra was painted in VE 1504, perhaps at Delawara (Mewar) under the instructions of Jinbhadra Suri of Kharatargachchha. It is intereting to note that the Jaios had prepared several such yantras during the medieval times in Rajasthan. Some of these are in the collection of Shri Agarchandji Nahata of Bikaner; L D. Institute, Ahmedabad and other collections. Recently two such Pattas have been noticed which were painted at Delawara (Mewar) in the 15th century A. D. These are now preserved in the Los Angeles Museum of America. 1 The figures fortification and other decorations on them, prove that these have close resemblance with in figures painted at Delawara. We find much similarity in the paintings of Kali available in the Supāsa-näha-Chariyam painted at Delawara in VE 1480 during the reign of Maharana Mokal. These Pattas have not so far been studied in detail.
The Vijay-yanira bas 3 pages baving many illustrations. It was originally in the collection of Muniji Shri Bhava-Ratna-Suriji at Khed. Mohanlal Dalichand Desai, a learned Jain-scbolar, saw it in VE 1984 (1927 A. D) and was much astonished. He did a detailed study of it and had mentioned that it has many illustrations. Its length is 4 ft 5" and breadth is 3 ft 51". It is painted on the cloth. Later this yantra came in the possession of Seth Nathalal Chbaganlal Shah of Pālanpur, who is said to have presented it to the victoria and Albart Museum of Londans before several years. Shri Sarabhai Nawab. Agarchand Nahata5 and U, P. Shah bad contributed good papers on it Sarabhai Nawab considered it to have been painted in Rajasthan, while according to U.P. Shah, it was painted in Gujarat.
This yantra has 3 parts. Its first part has the figures of Ganesh, Brabma, Shiva, Vishnu and Sarasvati. The figure of Sarasvati is enfaced fully in front side. It is much similar to Kali painted in the Supåsanäha-Charlyam at Delawara. The visible difference in both the figures is in the number of hands. The Supasanäha-Chariyam's figure has 20 hands, whereas the figure of the Vijay-yantra has 4 hands. The face and other identifications are quite similar, Similar figures of Devi were also painted at Delawara in 2 yantras referred to above. These are now available in the.collection of the Los-Angeles Tulst-Prajña, Ladaun : Vol. 23 No. 3
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