Jinvijay Muni Abhinandan Granth

SR No.: 012033
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Dalsukh Malvania
Publisher: Jinvijayji Samman Samiti Jaipur
Publication Year: 1971
Total Pages: 462
Language: Hindi, English
Classification: Smruti_Granth & Articles
File Size: 13 MB

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A. K. Bhattacharya
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).