Yasastilaka and Indian Culture

SR No.: 001609
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
Publication Year: 1968
Total Pages: 566
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Story, Literature, & Culture
File Size: 16 MB

Page 414

15. NON-JAINA CULTS, CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS
395 India, Durgā or Bhagavati was fervently worshipped by some of the Gurjara. Pratihāra emperors of Kanauj."
Somadeva is not the only Jaina writer of the tenth century who refers to the cult of Candikā. A few decades earlier, Devasena in his Bhavasaṁgraha (verse 76) mentions the killing of goats at the altar of Candikā and the worship of the Kula' with wine : while Siddharşi in his Upamitibhavaprapañcă Kathā (Book IV) refers to the worship of Candikā with wine and describes drinking bouts and merrymaking in the forecourt of the shrine of the goddess with their evil consequences. So far as Somadeva is concerned, the cult of Caņdikā is located by him in the city of Rajapura in the Yaudheya country, which has been variously identified as the region between the Sutlej and the Jumna, or Bahawalpur State in the Punjab, south of Multan. If the Yaudheya country is supposed to be the region between the Sutlej and the Jumna, Rājapura may perhaps be identified with Rajpura in Patiala state, now an important junction on the North Western Railway. Somadeva describes Rājapura as full of magnificent temples, and it is obviously the capital of the Yaudheya country, but we cannot be certain about its identification. It may be noted in this connection that a Rajapura is mentioned by Yuan Chwang, and it has been identified with the Rajapuri frequently mentioned in the Rājatarangini, the modern Rajauri in the province of Jammu in Kashmir. We have no evidence to connect Rājapuri with the Candikā cult, but the Chinese traveller describes the inhabitants from Lampa to Rājapura as of rude violent dispositions' and as inferior peoples of frontier (i. e. barbarian) stocks', reminding one of the Sabaras who were in the babit of worshipping the goddess under different names. But few ancient remains have been discovered at Rajauri, and a recent survey revealed nothing except a few architectural fragments belonging to temples similar to those of Kashmir proper. The site of Rajapura is, as a matter of fact, of
1 The Partabgarh inscription of Mahendrapala II (946 A. D.) has, for instance,
two verses in praise of Durgā almost at the beginning. Năgabhata II (first half of 9th century), Bhoja I (second half of 9th century) and Mahendrapala I (end of 9th and early 10th century) are described as ardent devotees of
Bhagavati. or Durgā (pararıbhagavati-bhakta). DI, Vol. XIV, p. 176 ff. 3 Kyla Weans Sakti. l'or details see Introductiou to Kulacúdánani Tantri
(Tantrik Texts). 3 Poussin: Dynasties et Histoire de l'Inde depuis Kanishka, p. 41. 4 Watters: On Yuan Chwang, vol. I, p. 284. 6 Kak: Antiquities of Blimbar and Rajauri (Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey
of India, No. 14).