________________
392
Dr. Charlotte Krause : Her Life & Literature
the names of two further Vidyā-devis', viz., nos. 7 and 12, seem to have been derived from the names of the 'vidyā-groups nos.10 and 4 respectively. It is thus possible that each of the 16 ‘Vidyā-devis' may originally have been imagined as representing one of the 16 'vidyā-nikāyas' of 'Vidyādhara'-land, bearing either an individual name, or a generic name derived from that of her group, or perhaps both.
Incidentally, the names of all the sixteen Vidyā-devis' find themselves again, without exception, in the list of the names of the "Śāsana-devis', some in that of Śvetāmbara, others in that of Digambara tradition, and some in both simultaneously, in such a way that 11 of the Svetāmbara, and 13 of the Digambara Šāsana-devis, 8 of them being common to both, appear to be in fact nothing but ‘Vidyā-devīs”, though some of the names slightly vary. The following synoptic table will make this clear206 : Vidyā-devī Vidyādhara- Śvetāmbara Digambara vidyā
Śasana-devī Sasana-devī
1. Rohiņi Mahavidyā No. 3
No. 2 2. Prajñapati Mahāvidyā No.4 No. 15 No. 3 3. Vajraśộnkhalā ........
No.4 4. Vajrānkusa ........
No. 14 ( Ankusa ) 5. Apraticakrā ........
No. 1
No.1 (only or Cakreśvarī
Cakreśvarī) 6. Puruşadattā .... ....
No.20 (only No. 5 (only or Naradattā
Naradattā ) Puruşadatta ) 7. Kāli | Vidya-nikāya No. 4
No. 7 or 18 No. 10 8. Mahākali
No. 5
No. 9 9. Gauri Mahavidyā No. .... ....
No. 11 1 and Vidyānikāya No. 1
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
