Introduction to Iconography of Jain Goddess Padmavati

Author(s): A K Bhattacharya
Publisher: Z_Jinvijay_Muni_Abhinandan_Granth_012033.pdf
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/250010/1

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An Introduction to the Iconography of the
JAIN GODDESS PADMAVATI
European researches on the symbolism of the serpent resulted in connecting it with the Sun, Time or Eternity. From its connection with the sun-spirit, it came to signify enlightenment and creation. But while there is general agreement in accepting the order in the symbolic objects adored by man, as given by Gen. For long in his "Rivers of Life", wherein the serpent comes the third, the Tree and the Phallic preceding in order, there is reason to doubt the theory that 'gods and men transformed themselves into trees, plants or beast3'l. It is rather that the process was quite the reverse and the ancient thinkers found in the quick movement, spiritedness etc, e. g., in the serpent, a reflection of the dynamicity of human life, its ideas of growth and expansion. Subsequently, human thought tried to assimilate such objects, sensate or insensate, as were met with readily and could attract, their attention as the embodiment and source of life and its essence.
The tradition of serpent-worship in India is very old being traceable to the Atharvaveda, nay, even to some obscure passages in the Rgveda itself. The word 'sarpa' occurs only once in the Rgveda and that the tenth mandala of the Samhita3. Although there is much doubt as to the meaning of the term, the word 'ahi' meaning
1. C. S. Wake - Serpent Worship, p. 6. 2. Rgveda - X. 189. 1-3
Ayam gauh prsnirakramidasadanmātaram purah pitrran ca prāyantsvah etc. of Sāyana on the above Sūkta : ayangauriti trcamastatrtíśat Suktam I gayatram 1 sarparājni näma sșikā saiva devatā sūryo veti tathä сānukrāntam āyan gauh sarparajnyā tmadaivatam sauryam veri .................. ......... yada tvidam suktam sarparājnyā ātmastutiḥ tada süryatmanā stūyata it yavagantavyam. The term Sarparàjni has no direct connection with the snakes and according to Sàyana Sarparajni was to be identified with the Earth-goddess or the Sun.god. Mahidhara, another commentator, however, goes so far as to suggest that she was none else than Kadrū, the serpent-mother, in the form of the earth. Cf. Satapatha Brahmana II. pp. 28-9. See, also, N. K. Bhattasali-Iconography of
Buddhist and Brahmanical Sculptures in the Dacca Museum. p. 212 ff. 3. Rv. X. 16,6

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a serpent is comparatively more frequent in these portions of the text. The most conspicous feature of this tradition is that earliest reference to the serpent in the Rgveda is in the form of the enemy of Indra. Ahi or Ahi budhnya of the Rgveda is but another, and perhaps milder form of the great enemy of Indra, viz., Vitra, the serpent. This demoniac feature of the serpent was later in the Brāhmaṇasl and the Sūtras metamorphosed into the semi-divine character attributed to it when it is classed with Gandharva etc. It is here also that we meet with the term Nāga for the first time, attended with anthrohomorphic features. It is also noteworthy that both in the Saṁhitās and Sūtras it is the virile male energy that is embodied in the enemy of Indra, called Ahi. The transformation of the masculine personality into the feminine was the achievement of the epic writers with whom the serpent was the embodiment of the principle of creation and preservation. It is perhaps because of this that the tradition in its later phase centres round the worship of a female deity as the serpent goddess. The name 'Sarpa' in the masculine finds mention in some verses in the Vajasaneya samhita of the White Yajnrveda where aceording to the commentator Mahidhra, it means just a heavenly or a terrestrial or even an atmospheric 'abode'2.
In the epic age which, of course, had a big gap after the Vedic, extending over several centuries this tradition and the cult assumed a shape which pervaded the entire mythological setting of Āryävarta of the time. The snake-sacrifice of Janamejaya is a major episode in the drama of entire heroic poetry that had grown up round the Kuru-battle. Although we have in Vāsuki, the king of the serpents, we see in his sister Jaratkāru, the serpent goddess in the making, Vasukiś sister Jaratkäru and wife of the sage of the same name was the mother of Astika and this latter conception was responsible for the important position she came to occupy in Hindu mythology as the pressiding deity over the serpent spirits. But the person that actually had been endowed with the power of curing snakebite was Kaśyapa. It is again, Kadrū that is associated with the serpents as their mother. It seems therefore, that the mythological ideologies, as current in the epic developed in a modifed form in later ages and emerged in the Purāņas in a new light. Thus the female serpent-Goddesss Manasā as we find in the Brahmavaivorta. Purāņa the earliest Pūrāņa to mention her, is ideologically a combination of the
1. The higher creation is divided into the following classes : gods, men, Gandhar.
vas, Apsarasas, Sarpas, and Manes. Cf. Aitareva Brahmana III. 31.5
2. Wh. Yv. ch. 13 Kundika 6-8--naamostu sarpebhyo ve ke ca' prthivimanu ye
antarik se ye divi tebhyah sarpebhyo namah etc On the above Mahidhara says: ime vai lokah sarpāh iti surteh sarpaśabdena loka ucyante.

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Goddess Padmavati
above personal features.1 While Kadru is conceived as the wife of the sage Kasyapa, the Primordial male creation, Manasa came to be regarded as the daughter of Siva in later mythology, Siva of course, being the energy to whom the destruction of the Universe is attributed. Thus although in a stotra in the Bhavisya Purana we have the assertion that she is mind-born one of Kasyapa, her origin from the seed of Šiva has also found much favour with the puranites. The above two concepts, again, were reconciled greatly in the Brahmavaivarta Purana where she is called the mind-born of Kasyapa and the spiritual daughter of Siva. In the Pauranic age the serpent-chief Sesa is sometimes associated or identical with Balarama who is represented as having a serpent-wreath and a club in hand 3 In medieval sculptures, too, images of Balarama are found bearing the canopy of a seven-hooded serpent.4
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The conception of Manasa or Padma as a serpent Goddess, is, however, a very late development, The lotus symbol was primarily associated with the Goddess of wealth, Laksmi. The images of certain other Vishnuite gods and goddesses also exhibit the same symbol. The mythological account of Narayana himself. having a lotus-stalk rising up from his navel is certainly not very early, and it was at first the Lokapita Prajapati Brahma that was lotus-seated. In art too, such representation can not go further than the 5th or the 6th century A. D.5 The name Padma is certainly reminiscent of her intimate association with the lotus. 1. The Dhyana in the Tithitattvatska definitely identifies Jaratkaru with the serpentgoddess Manasä, although in earliar mythology Jaratkaru has nothing to claim. the status of serpent-deity. The description of serpent-ornaments, of her holding a pair of Nägas in her two hands, makes it clear that the reference is to the serpent goddess who is further called Astikamätä which latter epithet, on the other hand, makes her identical with Jaratkaru.
Cf. Hemämbhojanibham lasadviṣadhara la thkära samsobhitam Smeräsyäm parito mahoragaganaih samsevyamana msada I Devimästikama taram sisusutähäpinatungastanim Hastambhojayugena naga-yugalam sambibhratimasraye II
2. Brahmavaivarta Purana, Prakrti khandam, ch. 45, v. 2-ct. Kanya sh ca Bhagavati käsyapasya ca manasi Teneyam Manasa devi manasa ya ca divyati. 2, also, SivaSisya ca să devi tena Saiviti kirtita, 8.
3. Mahabharata, XIII 147, 54 if.
4. The figure from Bodoh in Gwalior, of Balarama, belonging to the medieval period is canopied by a sevenhooded serpent. Vide, pl. XVIII-A guide to the Archa.ological Museum at Gwalior.
5. A. K. Coomaraswamy: Elements of Buddhist Iconography, P. 68.
6. It is interesting to note that as many as nine of the 15 Manasa images preserved. in the Varendra Research Society. have been collected from a tank called Padumshahar in Dist. Rajshahi, vide, Cat., Varendra Research Society, p. 30.

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In the Purāņa literature, at least in its latet phase, Padmī, as mentioned along with Sarasvati, the Goddess of Learning, has no other significance than that of Laksmì, the Goddess of Wealth.1 Indeed; the commonest dhyana of the goddess makes her ride on a swan.2 the popular vahana of Sarasvati. The fact of her attaining the knowledge of Brahmä in the form of the Earth, as already mentioned above, bespeaks of this connection with Brahmäni or Sarasvati.
The Buddhists too knew of the serpent-goddess under the name Jānguli. She is perhaps the nearest approach iconographically speaking, to the Jaina Goddess Padıāvati. Jänguli as the snake-Goddess emanates from Akşobhya, the 2nd Dhyāni Buddha, Like Padmavati she is the Goddess curing snake bites and also preventing it. According to a Sangiti in the Sadhanamāla, Jānguli is as old as Buddha Himself who is said to have given to Ananda the secret mantra for her worship. It is worthy of note that Jānguli has been called in the Sadhanamālā. a Tārā i. e., a variety of the latter.3 It is indeed curious that Janguli should be so called in Buddhist tradition also. We know, of the eight kinds of "fear" which are dispelled by Tara, to which fact she owes her name, the fear from serpent is one. That Padmavati is but the same goddess in Jaina pantheon as Tarā is in the Buddhist, is also stated clearly in the Padmāvatistotram, We know, however, that the group of goddess going by the name of Tārā is generally an emanation of Amoghasiddhi. In the Sadhanamälä Amoghasiddhi, the 4th or according to the Nepalese Buddhists, the 5th Dhyani Buddha, has for his vähana, a pair of Garudas. Although according to the Pauranic mythology, Garuda and the serpents are mutually intolerant of each other,
1. Agni Purana, XLII. 7-8. cf. Nairrtyāmambikām sthāpya Vāyavye tu Sarasvatim Padmämaise Vasudevam
madhye Nārāyananca vā etc. 2. Bhavisya Purana
cf. Hamsārūdhamudarāmaruņitavasanām sarvadām sarvadaiva. 3. B. Bhattacharyya : Indian Buddhist Iconography, p. 185, also, Foucher : Etude Sur
1 Iconographie Bouddhique de l'Inde, p. 89 4. The writer Owes this suggestion to the kindness of Dr. J. N. Banerjee, M. A.,
Ph.D., Lecturer, Calcutta University, who has drawn his attention to this Current etymology of Tārā. We should also note that Jāngulika came to mean
poison-curer in general in later lexicons. See, Amarukosa, Pātālavarga, 11 5. Cf. Tāsā tvam Sugatāgame Bhagavati Gauriti Saivāgame Vajrā Kaulikasāsane
Jinamate Padmavati višrutā. Gāyatri Srutaśālinām Prakrtirityuktasi Samk
hyāyane Mātar-Bharati kim prabhūtabhanitairvyäptam samastaṁ tvaya, 19 Ms. No. 27 in the Buddreedass Temple Collection; cf. also, Tārā māna vimarddini
Bhagavati Devi ca Padmavati 27. Ibid, Also. App. V, Bhairava-Padmāvati-kalpa, P. 28.

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their close relation, too, can hardly be denied. In fact, notwithstanding the description in the Sadhanamala representations of Amoghasiddhi have been found wherein a sevenhooded serpent forms the back-ground of the main image, in the form of an umbrella.1 The number of the hoods is very significant. It bears close resemblance to the representation of Pārsvanätha who must have either three, seven or eleven hoods as his canopy. These numbers are to be the distinguishing features in recognising a figure of Pārśvana tha as distinct from those of Supärśvanātha whose canopy of serpent-hood must be either 1, 5 or 9 hoods. 2
The name Jānguli of the Buddhist goddess most probably suggests her popular origin, as the goddess of the forest-sides or more properly a rural goddess.
Janguli as a snake goddess curing snake-bite or preventing it, is not, however, altogether unknown to the Jains. Reference to her in their literature are numerous. It is not unlikely too, that apart from the conception of Padmävati, Jānguli had an important place in Jaina mythology. A ms. dated sam. 1546 i. e., 1489 A. D. from Jesalmere mentions, 3 her name as a snake-goddess. Buddhist Tantricism came to have any perceptible influence on Indian mind not before the Sth cent. of the Christian era. On the evidence of Taranātha on which the above conclusion is based, it was the 7th and the 8th centuries which saw the emergence of Tantricism in India specially in eastern parts thereof, notably Bengal. Tantricism which is characterised by the worship of female energy is further said to have been diffused through such cults as Sahaja Yäna which found its first exponent in Lakşmidevi, daughter of Indrabhūti, who, according to a Tibetan tradition, flourished about the eighth cent. A. D.5 The feminine spirit as the presiding deity over the snakes is the product of this Tantricism and her form as conceived in Buddhist ritualistic texts had not altogether failed to leave its mark on the other Indian religious sects. The text referred to above is said to have been composed in Sam. 1352 or 1295 A D. by Jinaprabha Suri. Thus it is clear that as early as the 13th cent. A. D. and most certainly a few centuries earlier the Buddhist serpent goddess Jānguli was
1. B. Bhattacharyya : Indian Buddhist Iconography, p. 5. pl. VIII. c. 2. B. C. Bhattacharyya : Jaina Iconography, pp. 60 & 82.; 3. Compare the ms. in the Buddreedass Temple Collection. 4. Cf. Durdántasàbdikî manyadar pasar paika-Janguli. Nityam jagàrti jihvagre visesavidu
sàmiyam. 2 5. For a detailed discussion, see, Indian Buddhist Iconography, introduction, p. XXVI. 6. Cf. Pak sesu sakti sasibhsnmita-vikramabde dhātryonkite
haratithau puri yogininām Kätantrabibhrama iba vyatanista tikāmapraudhadhírapi
Jináprabhasūriretām 2

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also familiar to the Jaina writers although as a distinct goddess in any definite iconic orm she was not known to the latter. The form of Janguli as a deity appearing along with the central figure of Khadiravani Tärä is best illustrated in a miniature painting on a 9th cent. ms. of Pancavim-Satisahasrikä Projnāpāramita preserved in the Museum and Picture Gallery, Baroda. The figure of Janguli on the right is twohanded and has a canopy of five hoods of a serpent with a halo at the back. The left hand holds a ser pent while the right hand seems to hold a vajra. Her seat appears to be a coiled serpent. What, however, is the iconographic form of Jānguli in Jainism is not very clear either in the texts or in any extant image thereof.
We may also draw the attention of scholars to the fact that the conception of Padmā or Visahari as being accompanied by the Eight principal Nägas, regarded as her sons, as given in the Padma purana of Vijaya Gupta as also the Bhvaisya Purana, 2 has found an exact counterpart in the conception of Suklā Kurukulla, a Goddess emanating from Dhyāni Buddha Amitābha, who has been described as a being attended on by the Eight Nāgas,- Ananta, Väsuki, Taksaka, Karkotaka, Padma, Mahāpadma, Sānkhapala and Kulikā, each having a distinct colour of its own.3 The names of these Eight Nagas tally4 exactly with the names given in the Tithitatva of Raghunanda. The names of the Eight Nāgas also tally with those given in X 14 of Bhairva-Padmavat ikalpa. The iconographic descriptions of these Eigth Nagas are given as follows in X, 15-16 of the Bhairava-Padmavatikalpa of Mallişena:6 Vasuki and Sankha, born of ksatriya clan are of red colour, Karkota and Padma born of Sudra clan are black in colour. Ananta and Kulika of the Brahmin clan possess white colour like the moon-stone and Takşaka and Mahäpadma of the Vaiśya clan have yellow colour. In fact, the mutual influence of the Buddhist
1. See the ms. exhibited at the Picture Gallery, Baroda State Museum, Baroda. 2. Cf. Astänīgasahita mā esa Padmapurana (3rd Ed. by Pearý mohan Dasgupta), P.
2; and Vandéham sastanagamurukucayugalâm yaginim kámarūpam-Bhavisya Purana. 3. Indian Bud hist Iconography, p. 56. 4. A slight difference in the names of Eight Nâgas is, however, to be noticed in
the Adbhura.Padmävati-kolpa, IV, 49. cf. Vágvîjakasritattvadyāntanamah syustanantavāsukinau' Taksaka-Karkotaka-Kamala-Mahäkamala-Sankha-Kulijayāstada
dhah. 5. Tithitatva, (Ed. by Mathuranath Sarına), O. 135. 6. Compare the present writer's article on the date of the Bhairava-Padmavati-kalpa
in the Indian Culture, Vol. XI, No. 4. The date according to the calculations made therein based on synchronisms with other works of Mallisena, who was a Digambara Jain writer, falls sometime in the second quarter of the 11th cent. A. D.

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Kurukulla and Jaina Padmavati is very prominent as the Bhiarva-Paadmavatlpa itself mentions Kurukulla in X. 41.1
We may, however, discuss here as to whether these Nāgas are really nothing other than water-symbols as has been supposed by Coomaraswamy. No doubt the names of some of these so called Nāgas, go to strengthen the above view, yet it is very signiticant that Padma as the Goddess of Wealth and Prosperity, being identical with the deity known as Sri, most naturally had the adhāra or constituent elements in the accepted eight kinds of treasures of nidhis in the shape of Padma, Mahäpadma, Makara, Kacchapa, Mukunda, Nila, Nanda and Sankha. It also stands to reason to suppose that the nidhis came to be identified with serpents because of the fact that the principal kinds of snakes had each a special variety of jewel on its hood, and that the snakes being residents of the nether regions were aptly considered the carriers of them from out of waters, the ocean or ratnakara as it is significantly known.2 The transformation, thus, of the wealth-goddess Laxmi into Padmā, the serpent goddess, entailed a necessary change of the eight kinds of treasures into the eight kinds of Nagas or serpents, and we know Goddess Laxmi was born out of the ocean, the abode of both the nidhis or treasures and the serpents.
As a serpent Goddess Padmavati is perhaps the most popular figure in the Jaina pantheun. From a study of the general description and the list of the boons conferred by her, one can easily recognise in her the most homely of Jaina goddesses. Even at a stage of development of her personality into an independent deity from the status of the Sāsanadevi of Pārsvanātha, we are constantly reminded of the fact of her origin, although a study of the numerous stotras in her honour and the elaborate system of ritual that had grown up round her worship as also the varied objects prayed for and apparently she was capable of bestowing on the devotee, leaves but little doubt about the important position as an independent and influential goddess, she had risen to occupy in the Jaina pantheon.
In order to make a study of the iconography of Padmavati or any other god or goddess it is imperative to make an investigation about her affiliation to any of the Highest Divinities of the mythology concerned. It is interesting, however, that in the case of Padmavati, she has been most systematically affiliated to one or other of the Higher Divinities either in Brahmanism, Buddhism or in Jainism. Not only
1. Bhairava-Padmavatí-Kalpa, X. 41. 2 Ct. Padmini nāma yā vidyā Laksmistasyādhidevatā Tadādhārasca nidhayastān
me nigadatah srnu Tatra Padma-Mahapadmau tathi Makara Kacchapau Mukunda-Nilau Nandasca Sankhascaivāstamo nidhih--Sabdakalpadruma quo
ting from Bharata; cf. also, J. N. Banerji : The Development of Hindu Iconography, p. 116, fn. 1.

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that there is ideological similarity among all these Higher Divinities to whom the serpent goddess is affiliated in all the three principal religious systems of India. We have already discussed to some extent the connection of Jänguli and Sukla Kurukulla with Aksobhya and Amitabha whose emanations they are taken to be and are often represented in art as bearing their effigies on the aureole behind or on the crest. (Reference may also be made in this connection to an inscription of the 2nd cent. B. C. which mentions an apsaras Padmavati as being an attendance on the Buddha after his enlightenment. The inscription was found on one of the Barhut gateways in Central India. The name Padmävati, further, as that of the capital cities of Nāga kings who flourished in the 3rd cent. A. D., is also significant. It is mentioned in the Vishnu Purana and the entire scene of the play Malatimadhava by Bhavabhnti is laid in that city.1) The connection of the eight Nāgas as attendants on Amitābha, the Dhyāni Buddha for Suikta Kurukullä is also to be compared with the conception according to which Padmāvati is attended on by the same Eight Nāgas, both according to the Brahmanic and the
aia mythology.2 In the Padmapurana, cited above, whose date according to data given in the text itself falls sometime in the latter half of the 15th cent. A. D.3 says that Padmavati was the daughter of Hara.1 The dhyana of Manasä or Padma as given in the Bhavisya Purana calls her Mahesā (of Devim Padmām Mahesām såśadharavadanam etc.) in the Padmavatistotram of the Jains too, Padmavati is called a 'Maha-Bhairvi' which speaks of her connection with the Saiva mythology, Bhairava being a name for Siva. The iconographic details, according to the epics, of Hara wherein He is connected with a serpent coil are too wellknown to need mention here. This conception of Padmavati as the daughter of Hara has a close sinilarity in the conception, in Jaina mythology, of Padmavati as the Yaksini of Parāvanātha who has a seven-hooded serpent as a canopy. In Buddhist ideology, too, as we have already noticed, Amoghasiddhi as the sire of Tārā, who has been compared with Pad māvati ,has sevenhooded serpent as his caropy. The number seven of the hoods of the serpent forming the canopy is indeed very significant. Although more easily connected
1. The site of Padmavati, by M. B. Garde, A. S. I., Ann. Rep. 1915-16, pp. 104-5. 2. See, ante; also, Padmapuräna, p. 2 and Bhavisya Purana, also Bhairava-Padmavati.
kalpa, X. 14. 3. Ct. Rtu-sünya-veda-sasi-parimita sak Sulat än Hosen säha nrpatitilak.
- Pdmapuräņa. p. 4. The date however is disputed. Another ms. of the same text has : Rtusasivedasasi .. which gives a date 1416 Sak.(1494 AD) as opposed to 1406 Sak. (1484 A. D.) given in the verse quoted above. 4. Ct. Harsite prthivite nämila Hara-sulā Āsanacäpiyä vase Devi Harer duhilä.
--Ibid, p. 2

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with the Saiva-myths, Pärsvanetha in order to be given the prominence he deserves in Jain faith, has been endowed with this seven-hooded canopy, for, in the Hindu tradition the exalted form of Visnu has the seven-headed heavenly Naga unlike the earthly Cobra of Siva. This shows, if anything, that while the Jain assimilates the Saiva character in regard to the general myths about serpentdeities and their worship, yet it can not do away with the conception of the celestial seven-headed Sesa when. any consideration for an exalted form of a deity and its imagery was taken up.1
It is interesting. however, to note that according to a Digambara tradition the icon of Padmavati is to have on her crest the effigy of the Lord of the serpents. The Svetambara text Bhairova-Podma vatika'pa of Mallisena thus gives a description of the goddess:
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Pannagadhipasekharäm vipulārunāmbujavistarām Kurutoragavä hanamarunaprabham kamalananām Tryambakām varadankusayat apasadivyaphalankitām Cintayet kamalavatim japatam satăm phaladayinim II. 12
Although, we know, it is usual in Buddhist iconography, to represent the figure of the Sire, on the head, crown or the aureole at their back, of their emanations, in Jain iconography it is the figure of the Lord of the serpents Dharanendra, who has been conceived of as the consort of Padmavati, and not Parsvnath that is to be represented on the sekhara of the image of Padmavati Sasanadevatam as emanations of the respective Tirthankaras seem to be a later development in Jain mythology. These were originally the principal converts, male and female, who as zealous defenders of the faith were to be associated with each Tirthankara with
1. For a detailed discussion about the origin and development of the serpent-cult the reader is referred to serpent-worship. vide. C.S. Wake; The origin of Serpent worship, ch. III, pp. 81 ff. Here the author has also given a summary of the arguments by R. Brown, who contends that the serpent-worship has a closer conne ction with solar mythology. Vide. R. Brown: The Great Dionysiak Myth, 1878, ii. 66
For a discussion of the number of hoods in the canopy, see infra.
2. Cf. Pdmavati pătu phanindra-patni, 28.
--Padmavati-stotram, loc. cit.
The 'Pannagdhipa' referred to in the above verse may as well and more consistently refer to Pārsvanatha who is primarily the duty of serpents (Pannaga). This is also in consonance with the numerous representations of the serpentgoddess Padmvati shown with the effigy of Parsvantha on the crest or on the aureole On the other hand no image or painting of Padmavati is found with Dharanendra shown on the crest or the aureole.

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whom some mythological stories or legends are related to connect them. The Pravacanasaroddhara telling of the character of a Yaksa only lays down that they are none but sincere adherents to the faith. The Pratisthakalpa says thar a sāsanade vată is one that upholds the knowledge preached by Jina.1 The Acāradinakara of Vardhamana Suri characterises Yaksas as those that maintained and guarded the Sri Sangha of the Jains,2 We may draw attention to the Ganadhara-cult in Jainism. With somewhat similar, if not the same, zeal Ganadharas, the main converts to the faith and the principal disciples, are offered worship and much in the same way as the Sasandevas represented in art. Thus Gautama, the Ganadhra of Mahāvira is offered worship in connection with the worship of Pārsvanātha and Padmāvati.3
A Yaksa, however, came to be regarded as an emanation of the particular Tirthankara to whom one was attached as his Sāsanadeva. By about the 11th cent. A. D. this was firmly established as we find in the Nirvaņakalika of Pādalipta Sūri mention of the Yaksas as emanations of the Tirthankaras. It is, however, to be borne in mind that the name Yaksa as originally used in connection with the sāsaäade vatas of the Tirthankaras, came gradually to signify a higher status than its more commonplace use does. We may refer here to the käya-theory of the Buddhists who adopting the principle of the Tri-käya suppose that each Buddha has a three-fold kaya or body i. e., aspect. In virtue of these 'aspects' or natures there are three distinct manifestations or existences of each Buddha on earth, in Nirvāna and in the heavens respectively. These aspects are 'Nirmā ņa-kaya' or the body of Tranformation' which is according to some scholars a magical body or an illusion,5 Dharma-kayā or state or body of essential purity, and Sambhoga-kāya or body of supreme Happiness. These three stares of existence are characterised by practical Bodhi, essential Bodhi and reflected Bodhi, respectively. And this kā vatheory is responsible for regarding the Mānushi-Buddha as an emanation from the Dhyāni-Buddha. For the Dhyāni-Buddha as an embodiment of absolute purity
1. Cf. Yā Pāluśāsanam Jainam sadyaḥ pratyuhanasini . bhūyā tśäsardevatā-quoted in
Jaina Iconography, p. 92. 2 Cf. Ye kevale suragane milite Jināgre Šrisaṁgharaksanavicaksanatām vidadhyuh.
Yaksāsta eva paramarddhivivrddhibhāja äyantu santahrdayā Jina-pūjanerra
--Acāradinakara, p. 173. 3. Cf. Om Hrim aim śri Šri-Gautamaganarā jāya svähā.
-- Bhairava-Padmāvati-kalpa, App. VIII. p. 56. 4. Nirvãņakalikā (Ed, by M. B. Zaveri), P. 34. 5. M. Dela Vallee Paussin : The Three Bodies of a Buddha (J. R. A. S. G. B. I,
October, 1906).

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Goddess Padmavati 229 immortal abstraction. The necessity for this manifestation lay in the fact of the Manushi Buddha as the mortal ascetic preaching the Law on earth and helping its preservation in that way. Although there is great difference in the fundamentals of the two theories of emanation as obtained in Buddhism, put forth above and as in Jainism, as implied in the concept of the Sasanadevas, the function of the preaching, or more properly of the preservation, of the Law is generally attributed to the forms emanating, in both, And although this common attribute was tnere, the difference, nevertheless, was very much conspicuous, as also was it inevitable because of the fact that in the Buddhist the divine mystic element was predoininent while in the Jaina it is the human. Consequently what we easily find an easy transformation in the case of Buddhas, in the Jaina it is merely a case of divinity put on earthly persons, and making him just adorable as a Servant of the Faith. Moreover, a Yaksa or a Yaksini as was the name obtainable with regard to the sasanadevatas, was quite different from the Yaksa of usual significance and application. In fact, a Yaksa or a Yaksini originally attached as such to a Tirthankara came to be attended on by other Yaksas and Yaksinis. where in the latter application the term seems to have retained its usual sense of a demi.god.2 Thus we find in the growth of Jain mythology Padmavati was in the first stage a Sasanadevata attached to the 23rd Tirthankara, Parsvanatha,3 but afterwards raised to the status of an independent deity who received worship as a serpent goddess curing snake-bites as also as a deity to be invoked for such purposes as marana, uccatana, vasika ana etc. The iconographic details of Padmayati are wide and varied. The Padmavati-stotram of an anonymous writer conceives her as the Adimata or the Primordial Power, the Adi-sakti. She is also identified with almost all the important goddesses in Jain mythology. In other words, Padmavati has been conceived of as the Primordial Power, the source and fountain-head of all the different powers or Presiding deities represented as so many goddesses in the hierarchy of the Jain pantheon. 1. For a fuller discussion on the theory of Trikaya and its implications vide A. Getty : The Gods of Northern Buddhism, pp. 10-12 Padmavati, herself originally a Yaksini of Parsvanatha is said to have been attended on by Yaksas and Siddhas, See, V. 3. p. 31. App., Bhairava - Padmavatikalpa; here, however, Yaksa seems to have a common-place significance of a demi-god, 3. Thus in the invocatory verse (ahvana-sloka) in the Padmavaristotram, we find the goddess still regarded as the presiding deity over the sermon preached by the Lord although she has attached a far greater importance as an independent deity in some work. Ct. Padmavati jayati sasanapun yalaksmih.