Relief Jain panel, Sandstone, Hisar District, Haryana, India, 9th or 10th century AD

Relief panel in sandstone with an elliptical arched top of a man and woman, both holding fruits, which may be mangoes, seated at royal ease (lalitasana). The woman has a child seated on her left knee, which rests on a cushion. Between the couple a thick stem rises to a lotus-like flower on which a Jina is seated in meditation. Two long curving leaves, one on either side, unfurl from the top of the stalk, creating niche-like arches over the seated figures below. At the bottom is a row of 7 seated worshippers and below them a faint inscription is incised on the base.

Purchased from H.C.Fanshawe, Esq. C.S.I., 72 Philbach Gardens, Earl's Court, S.W.5

At the time of acquisition the Jina at the top of the relief was thought to be Buddha and the two seated attendants were identified as Kuvera, the god of wealth, and his wife, Hariti, with the child on her lap identified as Pingala, her favourite son. Subsequently the piece has been identified as a Jain relief. The scene may represent a family group of a Jina and his parents or possibly a Jina with attendant Yaksha and Yakshi.

Jains revere a succession of 24 Jinas (spiritual conquerors, or liberators.) A seated figure of a Jina is depicted on the tall flower in this relief. The scene may represent a family group of a Jina with his parents, or a yaksha and a yakshi with a child on her left knee. Yakshis and yakshas are tutelary and protective deities associated with particular Jinas. It is not possible to determine which Jina is carved at the top of the relief as there is no accompanying cognizance which would identify which of the 24 Tirthankaras he is, and the tree is too stylised for identification, which again would determine the identity of the parents, if that is who they be. If, on the other hand, the female figure holding a child can be identified as Ambika, a yakshi normally shown with a child or two children, then the male figure would be her consort, the yaksha Gomedha. Among his attributes is a citron, a fruit resembling a lemon, and the object he holds is probably this. In this case the Jina above would be Neminatha, the 22nd Jina. Furthermore, if the object in the female figure's right (proper) hand is a mango, her identification with Ambika would be confirmed.

IM.308-1921