Studies in Indian Art c10.s1.t2.2

c10.s1.t2.2

Prof. Jayswal was the first to suggest on the basis of his reading and interpretation of the inscription on the Parkham image, that it represented the statue of King Ajātaśatru of the Śaiśunāga dynasty. He read the name Kuṇika which according to the Jaina tradition was a second name of Ajātaśatru. Subsequently when two more Yaksha statues were found at Pāṭaliputra Dr. Jayswal again identified them as the portrait statues of two Nanda emperors, Nanda and his son Mahānandi. Ram Prasad Chanda, however, controverted this view with cogent arguments developed in his monograph entitled *Four Yaksha Statues*. There he has conclusively shown that these statues can not be taken as those of Magadha emperors but represent figures of Yakshas and Yakshis who were worshipped as part of the folk cults prevalent in ancient India. Dr. Coomarasawamy was at first inclined to agree with Jayswal but later on convinced that these statues represent Yakshas and Yakshis. He wrote about the Parkham Yaksha (*Fig. 37*), "In view of the recent criticism it is impossible to adhere to Jayswal's view and it is necessary to revert to the opinion that the statue represents Yaksha and must date from the third century B.C."