Purnabhadra (Fully Auspicious) is revered by Jains, Hindus, and Buddhists as a benevolent king of the yakshas (nature-spirits). His veneration predates even the Jain savior Mahavira and the Buddha in the 6th century BCE. Elaborate shrines are known to have been erected for his worship, such as the one at Champa in ancient Anga, Bihar.
Buddhist texts describe Purnabhadra as being blue-skinned and holding a citron and mongoose, like the Buddhist god of wealth, Jambhala. This eight-armed, elephant-headed form of Purnabhadra is apparently a late Jain conception and may derive in part from the following legend. When Purnabhadra’s wife, Bhadravati, accidentally hit the god Kubera with a flywhisk while she was thinking about an elephant, Kubera cursed the couple to make them take the form of elephants. Purnabhadra's protective function as a yaksha probably explains why he is shown in this painting carrying several weapons, including a sword, trident, punch-dagger (katar or jamadhar), mace, and lance. He also holds a cobra and an hourglass-shaped hand drum with rope laces for tuning (dholaka). Purnabhadra's tusks are of equal length, which iconographically differentiates him from the elephant-headed god Ganesha, who according to one legend broke off one of his tusks to hurl it at the moon.
The grid in the upper left corner of the painting contains mystical characters symbolizing esoteric Jain religious concepts used in meditative worship and rituals.
