Reliefs portraying this distinctive composition of a Jina (Jain savior) and a parental couple with a child are generally interpreted as a Jain family group. Pratapaditya Pal has suggested that if the stylized identifying tree forming a canopy over the central couple is intended as the Ashoka tree (Saraca asoca), then the meditating Jina seated on top of the tree would be the 19th Jina, Mallinatha, and his parents King Kumbha and Queen Prabhavati of Mithila (Pal et al 1994, p. 174, no. 58). Mallinatha is regarded as a male by the Digambara (Sky-clad, or naked) Jain sect and as a female by the Shvetambara (White-clad) Jain sect. Here, given that the Jina appears to be a clothed male, it is likely a Shvetambara representation. Thus, properly, the image should not depict Mallinatha, who would be correctly envisioned as a female in a Digambara portrayal (Pal et al 1994, p. 139, no. 26).
The parents of the Jina are represented in the iconographic guise of male and female nature spirits (yaksha and yakshi, respectively). The woman has a child seated on her left thigh to convey her motherhood and maternal role. Both parents are seated in the kingly posture of royal ease (maharajalila asana) with one leg lying flat and the other knee raised. They each hold a lotus bud. Celestial "Bearers of Wisdom" (vidyadharas) carrying honorific garlands fly against cloud cartouches in the upper corners of the relief. The bottom panel depicts children playfully instigating a ram fight to the delight of their jubilant companions.
A closely comparable representation of a Jain family portrait, including the children and ram fight, is in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (B70S4).
