Ambika (Jainism)

In Jain texts Ambika originates as an ordinary woman—named Agnila in many accounts—who by her virtue and hospitality attains divine status. In the narrative a Brahmin household refuses alms; Agnila feeds a passing disciple of Neminatha and is driven out. She sits under a tree that becomes a kalpavṛkṣa and other miracles occur. Variants give husband names such as Somasarman/Soma; frightened, Agnila dies by jumping from a cliff and is instantaneously reborn as the goddess Ambika. Her husband is reborn as a lion who becomes her vahana. Neminatha initiates her sons and she becomes Neminatha's yakṣiṇī. Sources note variant traditions for the sons' names between Śvetāmbara and Digambara accounts.

Ambika is commonly shown golden (occasionally dark blue in some South Indian images), with four arms and riding a lion. She is frequently depicted beneath a tree and often accompanied by one or more children. Traditional iconography attributes in her two right hands a mango and a mango branch, while one left hand holds a rein and the other holds her sons (son-names vary by tradition). Sculptural groups sometimes place a small Tīrthaṅkara image above her and pair her with a male yaksha (e.g., Sarvahanabhuti or Gomedha depending on tradition).

Ambika functions primarily as a protector-attendant (Śāsana Devī) of Neminatha and as a wish-fulfilling, beneficent goddess associated with fertility, childbirth and prosperity (epithets include Kalpalata and kamana devī). She is invoked for worldly aid in household and clan cults and appears in legends performing miraculous transformations (instant rebirth, appearance of a kalpavṛkṣa, overflowing water tank). The tradition also links her to tantric ritual praxis: texts and rites associated with her include yantra-vidhi, pitha-sthāpana and mantra-pūjā, and a corpus of kalpa and stuti texts (e.g., Ambika-Kalpa, Ambika-devi-kalpa, Ambika-stavana) are reported.