The Ambika Statue from Dhar is a marble statue of the Jain goddess

Ambika Ambika may refer to: Mythology * Ambika (goddess), an avatar of the Hindu goddesses Durga, Parvati, and Shakti * Ambika (Jainism), a Jain Yakshini goddess * Ambika (Mahabharata), the wife of Vichitravirya was also the mother of Dhritarashtra, th ...

discovered in the city of

Dhar Dhar is a city located in Dhar district of the Malwa region in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. The city is the administrative headquarters of the Dhar district. Before Indian independence from Great Britain, it was the capital of the Dh ...

, central India in the late nineteenth century. The statue is famous for its long inscription in Nāgarī on the base that provides a direct link to the royal court of the Paramara dynasty. It has been part of the British Museum's collection since 1880.British Museum Collection
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Provenance

The statue was found amongst the ruins of the city palace at Dhar,

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the second ...

in 1875 by Major General William Kincaid, who at the time worked as the local political agent of the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

. Five years after its discovery, the statue became part of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

's collection.

Description

The goddess

is carved from white marble in high relief and wears a tiered headdress with her hair tied to one side. Two arms of the goddess are missing; in the remaining arms, she clasps an elephant goad ( aṅkuśa) and either a noose or the stalk of a plant. On the base are shown various other deities and a kneeling female

donor A donor in general is a person, organization or government which donates something voluntarily. The term is usually used to represent a form of pure altruism, but is sometimes used when the payment for a service is recognized by all parties as rep ...

with an inscription below.

Inscription

The Nāgarī inscription records the creation of the Ambika statue by

Vararuci Vararuci (also transliterated as Vararuchi) () is a name associated with several literary and scientific texts in Sanskrit and also with various legends in several parts of India. This Vararuci is often identified with Kātyāyana. Kātyāyana is ...

, after he had made a figure of the goddess

Saraswati Saraswati ( sa, सरस्वती, ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati. The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a g ...

and three

Jinas In Jainism, a ''Tirthankara'' (Sanskrit: '; English: literally a ' ford-maker') is a saviour and spiritual teacher of the ''dharma'' (righteous path). The word ''tirthankara'' signifies the founder of a '' tirtha'', which is a fordable passa ...

. It has been suggested that Vararuci is in fact the Jain scholar Dhanapala, who performed a prominent artistic role at the court of King

Bhoja Bhoja (reigned c. 1010–1055 CE) was an Indian king from the Paramara dynasty. His kingdom was centered around the Malwa region in central India, where his capital Dhara-nagara (modern Dhar) was located. Bhoja fought wars with nearly all ...

during the 11th Century AD. Bhoja was part of the

Paramara dynasty The Paramara dynasty (IAST: Paramāra) was an Indian dynasty that ruled Malwa and surrounding areas in west-central India between 9th and 14th centuries. They belonged to the Parmara clan of the Rajputs. The dynasty was established in either ...

who based themselves primarily at Dhar, a city which remained their de facto capital until its ultimate conquest in the fourteenth century.

Provenance

Description

Inscription

References

Further reading