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ACARYA VIJAYAVALLABHASURI COMMEMORATION VOLUME
of Visnu) and are never seen as engaged in an action (no Asurasüdana). It was, therefore, rather the intention of the artist to conceal than to stress the brahmanical nature of the figures.
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The present article is very limited in its scope, and we would not like to say that the statues must be explained as brahmanical. An investigation into the iconography of all Khajuraho temples will possibly lead to different conclusions concerning the iconography of the Pärśvanätha temple. It can perhaps show that some of the less clear figures are representations of certain Jaina gods and that the figures with brahmanical character are not simple copies by the artists but adoptions with dogmatical background. But the difference between the last two alternatives concerns rather the form than the degree of brahmanization.
The identification of the female figures on the lintels etc. is easier. It seems they are all rather correct representations of the goddesses Cakrevari, Brahmāņi, Sarasvati, and Lakṣmi. These deities belong to the Jaina pantheon as well, both in theory and in art.
5. Details of Interpretation. Although it was sometimes tempting to read a single figure as a particular yaksa, the method explained in the last paragraph has always been followed: not to expect little known members of a class if there is no evidence for the class as such. The artists were not supposed to puzzle the worshippers but had to conform to the average knowledge of the educated lay-man. The yaksas of the 19th-21st tirthankara and the graha Sani for example keep bow and lotus in their hands, but shall we for that connect figure II 21 with any of them? Book, abhaya, citron are according to some Svetämbara authorities iconograms of Siddhayika, but can we identify the left subsidiary figure of III 4 as yakşini of the 24th tirthamkara? The context (refer to the end of the last paragraph) shows only one yakşini, and nothing has been done. by the artist to suggest that the doubtful figure is a yaksini and not related to the Hindu goddesses in the niches and on the lintels.
Any attempt to identify the figures as particular adoptions has been. avoided. A Siva is always understood as Siva (and not as Iávara Yaksa or dikpala Isana [except garbhagṛha III 121 and mandapa XII 1']), a Brahma always as Brahma (and not as Brahma Yakşa, dikpäla Brahma or Brahmasanti Yaksa). The differences between the adoption and the model, be
7. Not to be taken as Vaisnavi. Cakreśvari and Ambika are the only Jaina deities which I found on the temple.
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