Jain Yug 1958

SR No.: 536282
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Sohanlal M Kothari, Jayantilal R Shah
Publisher: Jain Shwetambar Conference
Publication Year: 1958
Total Pages: 82
Language: Gujarati
Classification: Magazine, India_Jain Yug, & India
File Size: 8 MB

Page 72

જૈન યુગ
ડિસેમ્બર ૧૯૫૮
in action, manifestation and variety : Nature in all her multiplicity, violence and charm dispensing impartially, birth and death, illusion and enlightenment. In relation to a particular cosmic deity, such as Siva, she is in a popular sense, his wife, and also in specific forms she engages in activities on behalf of gods or men, and this relation and those activities form the theme of innumerable Purānic legends. Along with the worship of Sakti in many forms either beneficent or terrible, the Sāktas have developed an elaborate hierarchy of feminine figures such as the Mahavidyas, the Mahāmātaras, Yoginis etc. The advocacy of the female principle has afforded an easy means for absorbing many aboriginal beliefs into the fringe of Hinduism.
The theory of God and His Śakti has been foreshadowed in the Vedas, in the conjoint worship of Heaven and Earth
(dyavá prithivyau). In the later Saiva mythology this conception found its artistic representation in Siva's form of Ardhanārīśvara, testifying the union of the male and the female spirit.
The symbolism of Ardhanáriśvara was taken to explain the two main divisions of the Sakti cult: the Dakshina marga (the right hand sect) and the "Vāma márga' (the left hand sect). In ordinary worship, the Goddess is represented by a 'Yantra' or by a garlanded 'ghata', and the ritual includes the fivefold 'puja' and the presentative of vegetable offerings. But the most important part of the service is the recitation of the Chandi or the Durgā episode, preceded and followed by other sacred texts drawn from the Märkandeya and the Varáha Purånas.
In the Devi Mahatmya, the exploits of Mahākāli, Mahalakshmi and Mahāsarasvati—the three phases of one Supreme
Sakti--are described in detail; those of the Navadurgas and the other Matrikäs are dealt with in a summary fashion and generally in one picture, as are the twenty-four Tirthankaras dealt with together in a single miniature in the several illustrated Kalpasūtra Mss.
The Jaina goddesses are divided into three classes according to the text of Achara-dinakara; viz.-(i) Prāsādadevis or installed images, (2) Kuladevis or Tantrik Goddesses worshipped according to Mantras from preceptors, (3) Sampradayadevis or class. goddesses. The author of this text describes the goddesses as on dais, in field, installed in a cave or in a palatial temple either as a symbol, as self-created, or created by man sectarian goddesses such as Ambā, Sarasvati, Tripurā. Täră etc., Kuladevis such as Chandi, Kantheśvari, Vyāghrarāji, etc. It is a fact that great many Tantric goddesses have found a room in the Jaina Pantheon. We come across the names of goddesses of clearly Tantric nature such as Kankäli, Kali, Mahākālī, Chamunda, Jvālāmukhī, Kāmākhyā, Kapālini, Bhadrakāli, Durgā, Lalitā, Gauri, Sumangalā, Rohiņi, Yamaghantă, etc.
According to the Rūpamandanat the images of Adinātha, Neminätha, Pärśvanātha and Mahāvīra and their respective Śāsanadevis Chakreśvari, Ambikā, Padmavati and Siddhāyakà are especially venerable; and are endowed with great power. Several varieties of Dhyānas of these popular Jaina Śāsanadevis have led to their two-armed, four
4. "Fort Hatsall: fata: STRET: 1 चतस्रोऽतिशययुक्तास्तासां पूज्या विशेषतः ॥ श्री आदिनाथो नेमिश्च पाश्वों पीरश्चतुर्थकः । चक्रेश्वयंम्बिका पद्मावती सिद्धायकेति च ॥
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