Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c11.s1.19

c11.s1.19

Prof. Jayaswal 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 Śiśunāga 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 Jayaswal again identified them as the portrait statues of two Nanda emperors, Nanda and his son Mahānandī. 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 cannot 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. Coomaraswamy was at first inclined to agree with Jayaswal but later on convinced that these statues represent Yakshas and Yakshīs. He wrote about the Parkham Yaksha, "In view of the recent criticism it is impossible to adhere to Jayaswal'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."