Ambika Statue from Dhar
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Provenance
The statue was found on the site of the old city palace in Dhār, Madhya Pradesh, 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 (1826-1897) at the British Museum. In 1909, when Kincaid died, the sculpture became part of the British Museum collections.
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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.
On the stepped face of the base, below the goddess's feet, is a small kneeling female donor, engraved in outline form.
A close parallet to the Dhār image is found in a sandstone sculpture in Sehore 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, after he had made a figure of the goddess Sarasvati 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 Bhoja during the eleventh century. Bhoja belonged to the Paramara dynasty who took Dhar as their sometime capital, along with Ujjain.
The inscription, critical edition and translation are visible online but given here for ready reference:
(1) auṃ | srīmadbhojanāreṃdracaṃdranagarīvidyādharī[*dha] rmmadhīḥ yo ----- [damaged portion] khalu sukhaprasthāpanā- (2) y=āp(sa)rāḥ [*|] vāgdevī[*ṃ] prathama[*ṃ] vidhāya jananī[m] pas[c] āj jinānāṃtrayīm ambā[ṃ] nityaphalā(d)ikāṃ vararuciḥ (m)ūrttim subhā[ṃ] ni- (3) rmmame [||] iti subhaṃ || sūtradhāra sahirasutamaṇathaleṇa ghaṭitaṃ || vi[jñā]nika sivadevena likhitam iti || (4) saṃvat 100 91 [||*]
Auṃ. Vararuci, who is intent on the dharma of the Candranagarī and Vidyādharī [branches of the Jain religion] of srīmad Bhoja the king, the apsaras [as it were] for the easy removal [of ignorance? by...?], that Vararuci, having first fashioned Vāgdevī the mother [and] afterwards 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.