Jain Rup Mandan

SR No.: 001961
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Umakant P Shah
Publisher: Abhinav Publications
Publication Year: 1987
Total Pages: 466
Language: English
Classification: Book_English & Art
File Size: 27 MB

Page 224

Sasana-Devatás
211
of the lunar fortnight are called Nanda-tithis, possibly because they were the days sacred to this goddess. The second, seventh and twelfth are Bhadra-tithis, sacred to the goddess Bhadra. The Jaina list of the fifty-six Dik-Kumaris is an attempt to include in the Jaina pantheon a number of foreign goddesses, that is, those popular in worship amongst the masses, and originally non-Jaina, are adopted in Jaina mythology. The names include such known Vedic goddesses as Siniväli, Pithvi or Ilā. Nanda is included in this list.51 Nanaia, the ancient Iranian mother-goddess, has perhaps the closest parallel in the name Nanda. In the discussion of the Iconography of Ambika-Yaksi, the relations between Ambikā, Umā and Nanaia have been discussed. In the light of all these facts, the tutelary goddess of Rajagtha, whose shrine according to the Mahabharata was very famous, can be clearly identified.52
A temple of Hundika-yakşa was erected at Mathura, in front of Deva-nimmiya (stupa),53 according to the Avaśyaka Cúrni. A thief Hundi or Hundika was reborn as this yaksa by virtue of his muttering Navakara-Mantra at the time of death on gallows.54 The Pustaka-Lekhaka's (scribe's) Namaskara, obtained at the end of the Bhagavati, pays homage to Srutadevata, Kumbhadhara-Yakşa,55 Brahmasanti, Vairotyā vidya and Antahundi. Probably the shrine of Hundi-Yaksa was very famous and continued in worship for several couturies and the Yaksa paid homage here as Antahundi. We hear of Bhandiravana and Sudarśana Yaksa at Mathura in the Vipaka-sútra. A yatra to Bhandiravana used to be celebrated even in the age of Mahavira.56 The Bhandira-vața (tree) is said to be the object of this pilgrimage. Obviously, this refers to the old practice of worshipping the yaksa under the tree. According to the Mahabharata (11.53.8), the famous.nygrodha-tree of Vịndavana was called Bhandira.
Worship of the Nägas was equally popular and closely allied to that of the Yaksas. They were also approached for obtaining children by Bhadra, wife of Dhanya.57 A big Näga-ghara (Näga-grha) to the north-east outside Säketa in the Kosala Janapada is referred to in the Näyādhammakahão.58 Queen Padmavati celebrates a Nāga-Yajña in this shrine, which again is said to be sannihiya-pādihere. Offering of a Sri-dama-ganda to this shrine is regarded as a very auspicious and meritorious act. A Naga-ghara by the side of the highway at or near Tamralipti is mentioned in the Vasudevahindi and is also called devaula (devakula). It is said that a lamp was hanging in the shrine which was filled with the fragrance of continuously burning incense. It seems that offering of dhüpa (incense) was regarded as specially sacred in Naga-worship.59 It seems, from this and the reference to another Nāga-ghara at Kundinapura (on the bank of the river Varada in the Vidarbha country), in the Vasudevahindi, 60 that maidens specially worshipped the Nāga for obtaining best or desired husbands. Priyangusundari is said to enter the Nägagrha in an udyāna at Mathura where she meets her lover Vasudeva and enters into marriage-relations by Gandharvavivāha.61
Bhagiratha is said to have brought the Ganges from Aståpada (Kailasa-Himalayas) to the sea by digging her forward course with the help of a Danda-ratna, and with the permission of the Nagas king. Bhagiratha was the first person to start Naga-bali or offerings to Nāgas. 62
Mathura is mentioned as a big centre of Naga worship where a number of Näga images have been recovered. Ahicchatrā, the site of present Ramnagar, is also associated with Nāgas, since the snake-king Dharana is said to have protected Pár vanátha from heat etc. (when he was in meditation) by holding his hoods as a canopy over the sage. The Jaina texts refer to images and shrines of Nagas, Yaksas, Rudras and others in various contexts and such shrines seem to have existed in almost every village, town or city. Rāja grha has been well known as the site of the worship of Mani-Naga, as is proved by the excavations of Maniyara Math.63
The legend of Dharana-Näga, offering protection to Parávanåtha during the latter's austerities, has its parallel in the Buddhist legend of Mucilinda, the snake-king, sheltering Buddha against wind and rain. 64 It is especially significant to find that Jaina traditions speak of an ancient stupa of Supärśva existing at Mathura, and Supäráva again is associated with snake-hoods canopied over his head. As suggested by us in Studies in Jaina Art, the stupa belonged to Parsvanātha who is so intimately associated with the snake-king Dharana in Jaina Mythology. Pārsva's close association with the Nāgas is further noteworthy because it suggests that this leader of a heterodox cult had a following of the Nāga-tribe or worshippers of Naga cult against the Aryans who followed Vedic ritualism.