https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Ambika_Statue_from_DharAmbika Statue from Dhar - Revision history2026-07-31T06:20:48ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Ambika_Statue_from_Dhar&diff=182285&oldid=prev>WOSlinker at 20:52, 26 April 20212021-04-26T20:52:12Z<p></p>
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{{Infobox artifact<br />
| image = Goddess Ambika from Dhar.JPG<br />
| alt = Ambika<br />
| image_caption = Ambika Statue from Dhar on display at the British Museum<br />
| material = Marble<br />
| size = 1.28 metres High <br />
| weight = 250 kg<br />
| created = 1034 AD<br />
| writing = Nāgarī<br />
| location = [[British Museum]], [[London]]<br />
| registration = 1880.19<br />
}}<br />
{{Jainism}}<br />
The '''Ambika Statue from Dhar''' is a marble statue of the Jain goddess [[Ambika (Jainism)|Ambika]] discovered in the city of [[Dhar]], central India in the late nineteenth century. The statue is famous for its long inscription in [[Nāgarī]] on the base that provides a direct link to the royal court of the Paramara dynasty. It has been part of the British Museum's collection since 1880.<ref>[https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=182355&partId=1&place=17899&plaA=17899-3-2&page=1 British Museum Collection]</ref><br />
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==Provenance==<br />
The statue was found amongst the ruins of the city palace at Dhar, [[Madhya Pradesh]] in 1875 by Major General William Kincaid, who at the time worked as the local [[Political officer (British Empire)|political agent]] of the [[British Raj]]. Five years after its discovery, the statue became part of the [[British Museum]]'s collection.<br />
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==Description==<br />
The goddess [[Ambika (Jainism)|Ambika]] is carved from white marble in high relief and wears a tiered headdress with her hair tied to one side. Two arms of the goddess are missing; in the remaining arms, she clasps an elephant goad ([[aṅkuśa]]) and either a noose or the stalk of a plant. On the base are shown various other deities and a kneeling female [[donor]] with an inscription below.<br />
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==Inscription==<br />
The Nāgarī inscription records the creation of the Ambika statue by [[Vararuci]], after he had made a figure of the goddess [[Saraswati]] and three [[Tirthankara|Jinas]]. It has been suggested that Vararuci is in fact the Jain scholar Dhanapala, who performed a prominent artistic role at the court of King [[Bhoja]] during the 11th Century AD. Bhoja was part of the [[Paramara dynasty]] who based themselves primarily at Dhar, a city which remained their de facto capital until its ultimate conquest in the fourteenth century.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}}<br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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==Further reading==<br />
*M Willis, 'Dhār, Bhoja and Sarasvatī: from Indology to Political Mythology and Back' in ''[[Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society]]'', 22, 1, London, 2012<br />
*T. R. Blurton, Hindu art (London, The British Museum Press, 1992)<br />
*R Knox, Masterpieces of Buddhist and Hindu Sculpture from the British Museum, 1994<br />
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{{British Museum}}<br />
[[Category:Asian sculptures in the British Museum]]<br />
[[Category:Paramara dynasty]]<br />
[[Category:Bhoja]]</div>>WOSlinker