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

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Jaina-Rupa-Mandana
G. Twenty-four-Armed Variety
The Pratişthāsärasangraha of Vasunandi gives a form with twenty-four arms showing the following weapons and mudrās, they are: the conch, the sword, the disc, the crescent, the lotus, the stone (upala), the bow, the sakti, the noose, the goad, the bell, the arrow, the pestle, the shield, the trident, the axe, the spear, the vajra, the rosary, the fruit, the club, the leaf, the stalk and the varada mudra.266
Āsādhara 267 and Nemicandra 268 also refer to the twenty-four-armed form but do not give all the symbols. They, however, add that the form is invoked for benefic as well as malefic rites. The form was certainly popular as it is referred to by three chief Digambara writers.
H. Multi-Armed Variety
According to a verse in the Padmāvati-stotra269 the goddess carries swords, bows, arrows, pestles, ploughs, vajras, närăcas, discs, šaktis, šalyas, tridents, axes, clubs, staves, nooses, stones, trees, and such innumerable divine weapons in her hands. The goddess is said to destroy the wicked in this form. A form like this is yet to be discovered in sculptures or in paintings.
The Gudnāpur inscription of Kadamba Ravivarman (Epigraphia Carnatica, vol. VII, S.K.176) refers to a gift of a village (?) Makundi made to the Kamadevălaya at Hakinipalli and the temple of goddess Padmāvatı (Padmavatyālaya) at Kallili. The record is supposed to date from early sixth century A.D. Ravivarman is said to have built an abode (veśma) for Manmatha (Kāma, the god of love). The boundaries given suggest that this temple was near the palace complex. B.R. Gopal,270 discussing the inscription. has suggested that the temple was dedicated to Bahubali as Bahubali is one of the Kamadevas in (later) Jaina texts. The inscription has also called it Kāma Jinalaya. G.S. Gai disputes the reading of KāmaJinālaya (JIH, 4.2 (1973), pp. 301-303).
A. Sundara,271 discussing this, has suggested that this may have reference to Kāmadeva or Cupid, the god of love. In that case the Kamadevālaya may or may no be a Jaina temple. If so, the reference to the shrine of Padmavati might not have been a reference to the Jaina goddess Padmavati in view of the fact that a goddess Padma or Padmini is known to ancient literature and art.272
It is interesting to note here that Jinasena (783 A.D.), in his Harivamśapurāņa, sarga 29, verses 1-5, shows that one Kämadatta installed in (front of the Jaina temple at Sravasti images of Kamadeva and Rati in order to attract people to the Jaina temple. It seems that images of Kamadeva and Rati used to be installed in Jaina temples.273
About the cult of Padmavati in South India, P.B. Desai writes: "Among the secondary deities of the Jaina pantheon chosen for individual adoration as an independent goddess, Padmavali, the Yakshini of Pårsvanätha, stands foremost, being the most popular and widely invoked goddess in Karnataka. Though her cult might date from an earlier age, she frequently figures in the epigraphical sources roughly from the period of the tenth century A.D.... Silahāras and Rattas, and many a high official of the state. of the Jaina persuasion, became votaries of this goddess and took pride in styling themselves the favourite devotees of the deity, having adopted the title Padmavatidevilabdha-vara-prasada in their prasasti ... A well-known early instance of a family of subordinate chiefs who adopted Padmāvati as their tutelary god dess, are the Santāras,274 ... Jinadatta, a prince of a ruling family of North India, came to the south with an image of Padmavati. The goddess blessed him with the power of transmuting iron into gold, and through her grace he founded the town of Pombuchchapura which became the capital of his kingdom. The goddess, it seems, chose her residence in a Lokki tree of the locality and therefore, came to be called Lokkiyabbe. These events may be referred to the 9th century A.D., though the epigraphs describing them are dated in the 11th-12th century A.D."275
P.B. Desai also states: "As Padmavati figures in the story of the foundation of the Ganga kingdom through Simhanandi, the cult of Padmavati, it may appear, dates from the 2nd century A.D. But this position is misleading because the inscriptions giving this account are dated in the 12th century A.D. which was the period when the cult was in the ascendancy. Compare Ep. Carn., vol. VII, sh. 4."276