Ambika Yakshi, A Jain Protective Goddess

Currently not on view

Ambika Yakshi, A Jain Protective Goddess

1460-1461

Artist/maker unknown, Indian

Portable images such as this small piece are usually commissioned by members of the Jain lay community and presented to temples as a way to earn spiritual merit. This sculpture depicts one of the protective goddesses of Jainism, Ambika Yakshi. Each of the twenty-four jinas is guarded by a different divine couple: the yakshi and her male equivalent, the yaksha. These divinities should not confused with the yakshis and yakshas of early India, who were associated with fertility.

The inscription on the reverse of the sculpture states that it was commissioned by a merchant of the Osaval Jain clan-a widespread Shvetambara Jain sect whose center is in the town of Osian, near Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Title:

Ambika Yakshi, A Jain Protective Goddess

Date:

1460-1461

Artist:

Artist/maker unknown, Indian

Medium:

Copper alloy with silver inlay

Dimensions:

7 1/2 × 4 9/16 × 2 7/8 inches (19.1 × 11.6 × 7.3 cm)

Classification:

Sculpture

Credit Line:

Gift of Mrs. J. Norman Henry, 1927

Accession Number:

1927-18-2

Geography:

Made in India, Asia Probably made in Rajasthan, India, Asia

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Currently not on view