Lot 69
69
A RED SANDSTONE STELE OF AMBIKA
AMBIKAThe graceful yakshi Ambika, whose name means little mother, is worshipped by Hindu and Jain devotees alike. According to Jain tradition, Ambika offered food intended for a Brahmin celebration to a mendicant Jain monk, and consequently was banished to the forest by her husband, Soma. Taking her two sons with her, she sustained her children's thirst with her tears and their hunger with mangoes, and she devoted herself completely to the Jain tirthankaras. Fearing her husband would punish her further, she cast herself into a well, whereupon she was reborn as the glorious goddess Ambika.
A RED SANDSTONE STELE OF AMBIKA

NORTHERN INDIA, 13TH CENTURY

Details
A RED SANDSTONE STELE OF AMBIKA
NORTHERN INDIA, 13TH CENTURY
Finely carved standing in a swaying stance under an lush mango tree, with one of her sons resting on her left hip, the other standing by her right leg, adorned with an elaborately beaded pendant belt, armlets and necklaces draped across her breasts, her face with smiling lips, almond-shaped eyes and arched brows
40 in. (101.6 cm.) high
Provenance
Acquired by 1998, New York

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Sandhya Jain-Patel
Sandhya Jain-Patel
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Lot Essay

Compare the present work with an example from the Alsdorf Collection, which also depicts the goddess standing under a mango tree with her two children (P. Pal, A Collecting Odyssey, 1997, p.176 and 322, cat. no.223).

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