Asta Dikpalas at Vimala Vasahi, Mt. Abu
By Maruti Nandan Prasad Tiwari, Kamal Giri
Summary
Maruti Nandan Prasad Tiwari and Kamal Giri’s article examines the iconography of the Aṣṭa Dīkpalas—the eight guardians of the directions—at the 11th‑century Śvetāmbara Jain temple of Vimala Vāsahī on Mount Abu. The authors introduce the Dīkpalas, or Lokapālas, as protective deities of the cardinal and intermediate directions whose eight‑fold form became a feature of Brahmanical temples from the 7th century A.D. onward. Early Jain texts borrow the names and iconographic features of these deities from Hindu mythology and sometimes expand their number to ten, including forms such as Vāsu and Brahma, but the Śvetāmbara Jain works consistently group them into eight. At Vimala Vāsahī the Dīkpalas are depicted in two contexts: four‑armed figures carved on different pillars of the rāga‑maṇḍapa and complex multi‑armed figures—some with six arms—carved in the ceiling of devakulikā 43. Drawing on textual sources such as the Nirvāṇa‑kālikā and the Mātrika‑chāpra‑kalpa, the authors catalogue the expected vāhana and attributes of each Dīkpala and then compare them with the sculptures at Mount Abu. Indra, lord of the east, rides an elephant and displays the varada‑mudrā, lotus, mace and thunderbolt; Agni, guardian of the south‑east, rides a ram and wields a sword, shield and fruit; Yama, god of the south, is accompanied by a buffalo and carries a lekhani, noose, staff and manuscript; Nirr̥ti, guardian of the south‑west, is portrayed with dishevelled hair, a snake around his neck, and holds a mace, sword, ḍamaru and shield while riding a tiger‑skin or śavāsana. Varuṇa rides a makara and holds a noose, lotus, gourd, water‑vessel and mongoose‑skin purse; Vāyu, with a deer as his conveyance, bears the varada‑mudrā, a thunderbolt, dhvaja and lotus; Kubera, pot‑bellied god of the north, mounts an elephant and holds a mongoose‑skin purse, noose, jewel and water‑vessel; Īśāna, who embodies a form of Śiva, rides a bull and is shown with three eyes, carrying a trident, snake, spear and bow. The authors observe that while Jain canonical literature typically assigns only one or two distinguishing attributes to each Dīkpala and leaves them without vahanas, the Mount Abu sculptures adopt many features from Brahmanical iconography and even innovate—such as the unusual six‑armed representation of the Dīkpalas in the devakulikā ceiling. They argue that these deviations illustrate the assimilative tendencies of Jain art, which borrowed popular imagery to communicate its own cosmological concepts. The article emphasises that the study of Aṣṭa Dīkpalas at Vimala Vāsahī not only reveals regional stylistic choices but also highlights the interplay between scriptural prescriptions and artistic creativity within medieval Jain temples.
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Conclusion
Through meticulous comparison of textual prescriptions and sculptural representations, Tiwari and Giri show that the Aṣṭa Dīkpalas of Vimala Vāsahī embody both fidelity and innovation. The Mount Abu carvings follow Jaina cosmological tradition in enumerating the eight guardians but simultaneously integrate Brahmanical motifs and add new attributes. This blending underscores how medieval Jain artists adapted widely recognised symbols to convey their own spiritual narratives. The authors conclude that such iconographic studies enrich our understanding of the dynamics of religious art and the cultural exchanges that shaped western Indian temple architecture.