Important Notice

GUJARAT OR RAJASTHAN, DATED VS 1533 = 1477 CE
Inscribed and dated in Nagari on the reverse
Bronze
5.75 in (14.9 cm) high

NON-EXPORTABLE REGISTERED ANTIQUITY

PROVENANCE
Property from a Distinguished Family Collection


Jainism is based on a philosophy of emancipation from the endless cycle of reincarnations through the path of non-violence. "The Jains believe in a group of twenty-four Jinas; each is also known as a tirthankara, or 'forder', who traverses the gulf between samsara, or the phenomenal world, and liberation." (Pratapaditya Pal ed., The Peaceful Liberators: Jain Art from India, Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art and New York: Thames and Hudson Inc., 1994, p. 14) There are two orders in Jainism: Svetambaras, who are clad in the colour white, and the Digambaras, who are clad by the sky. "According to the Digambaras all possessions, by fostering attachment to the world, are a hindrance to liberation." (Pal, p. 15) Jainism stresses the importance of ascetic practices and focuses more deeply on meditation and austerity than Buddhism. Jain art reflects this philosophy of asceticism and renunciation, as seen in the present lot.

Ambika

An aspect of Parvati, Ambika is a goddess of fertility and abundance, typically shown holding mangoes or a branch of a mango tree, and with a child. Jainism favours her over other yakshis, or spirits, and portrays her as a Mother Goddess assigned to protect the twenty-second tirthankara, Jina Neminatha. The iconography of Ambika has existed since well before the sixth century AD, when she was depicted as a yakshi bahu-putrika (one having many children), as part of a widespread cult that worshipped the Mother Goddess. Similar to Parvati and Durga, Ambika's vahana is the lion.

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