The Ambikā Statue from Dhār is a marble figure in

high relief High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...

of the Jain goddess Ambikā in the collection of the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The sculpture was discovered in the city of Dhār, central India, in the nineteeth century. The figure is famous for its inscription in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

on the base that provides a link to the Paramara dynasty and the court of king

Bhoja Bhoja was the Paramara dynasty, Paramara king of Malwa from 1010 until his death in 1055. He ruled from Dhara (city), Dhara (modern Dhar), and Military career of Bhoja, fought wars with nearly all his neighbours in attempts to extend his king ...

(c. 1010–1055). The Ambikā has been part of the British Museum's collection since 1909.

Provenance

The statue was found on the site of the old city palace in Dhār,

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

, in 1875 when the building was being reconstructed. Shortly after it was discovered, the sculpture was brought to the attention of William Kincaid (Indian Civil Service) who had been working in central India since 1866. He brought the sculpture to Britain in 1886 when he returned from India and in 1891 deposited it with

Augustus Wollaston Franks Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks (20 March 182621 May 1897) was a British antiquarian and museum administrator. Franks was described by Marjorie Caygill, historian of the British Museum, as "arguably the most important collector in the history ...

(1826-1897) at the

. In 1909, when Kincaid died, the sculpture became part of the British Museum collections.

Iconography

The goddess Ambika is carved from white marble in high relief and wears a tiered headdress with her hair tied to one side. The ends of two of the four arms of the goddess are missing; in the two complete arms, she clasps an elephant goad ( aṅkuśa) and either a noose or the stalk of a plant. On the base are various other deities or spirit attendants in

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

. On the stepped face of the base, below the goddess's feet, is a small 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 re ...

, engraved in outline form. A close parallet to the Dhār image is found in a sandstone sculpture in

Sehore Sehore is a city and a municipality in Sehore district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the district headquarters of Sehore District and is located on the Bhopal- Sehore-Indore highway, 38 km from Bhopal. History Sehore stands ...

that dates to the eleventh century. This sculpture is also damaged, with arms and attributes missing, but preserves a seated Jina at the top. At the base there are similar figures of a bearded sage and a youth riding a tiger.

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

Sarasvati Saraswati (, ), also spelled as Sarasvati, is one of the principal Devi, goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the goddess of knowledge, education, learning, arts, speech, poetry, music, purification, language and culture. Together with the godde ...

and three Jinas. It has been suggested that Vararuci is in fact the Jain scholar Dhanapāla, who held a prominent place at the court of king

during the eleventh century. Bhoja belonged to 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 Parmar (clan), Paramara clan of the Rajputs. The dynasty was establi ...

who took

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 Dhar ...

as their sometime capital, along with

Ujjain Ujjain (, , old name Avantika, ) or Ujjayinī is a city in Ujjain district of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the fifth-largest city in Madhya Pradesh by population and is the administrative as well as religious centre of Ujjain ...

. The inscription, critical edition and translation are visible online but given here for ready reference:Dhār धार (District Dhār, Madhya Pradesh). Image of Ambikā with an inscription of Bhoja dated saṃvat 1091, photograph and further links.
/ref> (1) auṃ , srīmadbhojanāreṃdracaṃdranagarīvidyādharī dharmmadhīḥ yo ----- amaged portionkhalu sukhaprasthāpanā- (2) y=āp(sa)rāḥ vāgdevī ṃprathama ṃvidhāya jananī pas āj jinānāṃtrayīm ambā ��nityaphalā(d)ikāṃ vararuciḥ (m)ūrttim subhā ��ni- (3) rmmame ñāika sivadevena likhitam iti , , (4) saṃvat 100 91 ranches of the Jain religionof srīmad Bhoja the king, the apsaras s it werefor the easy removal f ignorance? by...? that Vararuci, having first fashioned Vāgdevī the mother ndafterwards a triad of Jinas, made this beautiful image of Ambā, ever abundant in fruit. Blessings! It was executed by Maṇathala, son of the sūtradhāra Sahira. It was written by Śivadeva the proficient. Year 1091.

Provenance

Iconography

Inscription

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