Page 45 - Christie's Inidian and HImalayan Works of Art, March 2019
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A BRONZE FIGURE OF AMBIKA The graceful yakshi Ambika or “little mother” is
NORTHEASTERN INDIA, PALA PERIOD worshipped by both Hindu and Jain devotees.
12TH CENTURY According to Jain tradition, Ambika ofered food
5¿ in. (13 cm.) high
intended for a Brahmin celebration to a mendicant
$15,000-25,000 Jain monk, and was consequently banished to the
forest by her husband, Soma. Taking her two sons
with her, she sustained her children’s thirst with
PROVENANCE
her tears and their hunger with mangoes, and she
Sotheby’s New York, 21 September 1995, lot 191
devoted herself completely to the Jain tirthankaras.
Fearing further punishment from her husband ,
she cast herself into a well, whereupon she was
reborn as the glorious goddess Ambika.
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