NORTHEASTERN INDIA, PALA PERIOD, 12TH CENTURY

The graceful yakshi Ambika or "little mother" is worshipped by both Hindu and Jain devotees . According to Jain tradition, Ambika offered food intended for a Brahmin celebration to a mendicant Jain monk, and was consequently 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 further punishment from her husband , she cast herself into a well, whereupon she was reborn as the glorious goddess Ambika.