A Unique Image of Yoga-Narayana in the Jodhpur Museum

Summary

Ratna Chandra Agrawala describes a distinctive stone image of Yoga‑Nārāyaṇa housed in the Sardar Museum at Jodhpur. Found at Didwana in Rajasthan, the black stone sculpture is approximately 18 inches high and 13 inches wide and likely dates to the mid‑ninth century. Unlike typical representations of Viṣṇu, where the deity sits in yogic posture with his lower hands resting on the lap and the upper hands holding his four weapons (mace, conch, lotus and discus), this image shows Viṣṇu’s upper hands holding a garland. The lower hands are placed one over the other between the soles of the feet, and a long garland falls beneath the lotus throne. Below the throne two devotees are shown worshipping with folded hands, flanked by mythical vyālas and makaras, while above the deity a serpent canopy with multiple hoods forms a halo and flying gandharvas prepare to garland him. Agrawala notes that most Yoga‑Nārāyaṇa images follow a standard iconography, but the Jodhpur sculpture is unique in replacing the usual weapons with a garland, suggesting a syncretic design intended to appeal to Jain and non‑Vaiṣṇava worshippers. The absence of weapons may reflect an attempt to create an object of common veneration for Jain and Brahmanical communities in medieval Rajasthan, as indicated by an eleventh‑century inscription from Nadol that records harmonious relations between Jain and Brahmanical groups. Agrawala compares the image to other Yoga‑Nārāyaṇa sculptures from Mathura and notes that even those retain the four weapons. He concludes that the Jodhpur image exemplifies regional experimentation in iconography and suggests that artisans may have been influenced by Jain representations of deities like Ṛṣabhadeva. The paper calls for further investigation into literary sources to understand the theological rationale behind such departures from orthodox Vaiṣṇava iconography and highlights the need to survey other Rajasthani sites for similar works.