Jain Journal 1975 01

SR No.: 520037
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publication Year: 1975
Total Pages: 36
Language: English
Classification: Magazine, India_Jain Journal, & India
File Size: 2 MB

Page 14

JAIN JOURNAL
sub-divided into several groups with Indras, Lokapalas, Queens of these and so on.
The classification, acknowledged by both the sects is a very old tradition, but these are after all deities of a secondary nature in the Jaina pantheon.
But there were other great souls. The Jainas also evolved a conception of Kulakaras like the Manus of Hindu mythology. They were 14 according to the Digambaras and 7 according to the Svetambaras.
Every sect draws its pantheon from the ancient deities worshipped by the masses and adopts them in a manner suitable to the new environment and doctrines. Such for example was the worship of the deities whose shrines existed in the days of Mahavira and whose images and festivals are referred to in the Agama literature. They include Indra, Rudra, Skanda, Mukunda, Vasudeva, Vaisramana (or Kuvera), Yaksa, Bhuta, Naga, Pisaca, etc., Lokapalas and so on.
Indra, the great Vedic deity was assigned the role of a principal attendant of the Jina or the Buddha by the Jainas and the Buddhists. The other deities of the list were mostly deities worshipped by the populace and did not belong to the pantheon of the Vedic priests.
Skanda, the commander of gods in Hindu mythology, is the commander of the infantry of the Jaina Indra. But the goat-faced Naigamesin, who was associated with procreation of children as Nejamesa in ancient times, was also worshipped by the adhyayana of Antagadadasão.
Amongst other ancient Jaina deities may be mentioned Srutadevata or Sarasvati, the Goddess of Learning and Sri-Laksmi, the Goddes of Wealth. An early image of the former is obtained from the Kankali Tila, Mathura and shows her seated with upright legs and carrying the lotus and the book. The peculiar posture of the gooddess is not without any significance. For, according to the Acārānga-sūtra, Mahavira himself obtained knowledge while he was sitting with knees held up in the godohika-āsana, i.e., the posture adopted while milching a cow. Sarasvati is, therefore, seated in an āsana associated with the attainment of kevala-jñāna by Mahavira.
Later images of Sarasvati show her as having two, four and eight, even twenty-four arms. The four-armed variety is the most common and the goddess generally carries the vinã and the book in two hands