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REMARKS ON THE TEXTS
dra refers to her. Thus, this "kalikāla-sarvajña" is once more vindicated as standing on the firm ground of a very old and original tradition, while the legend of the Prabhavaka-carita re Vairotya Devi's direct association with Aryanandila is proved to be nothing but a recent growth of devotional fiction.
The fact that the Vidya-devī Vairoṭya was indeed imagined to be the consort of Dharana, the king of the snake-demons, is amply testified. Thus, Sobhana Muni gives her the epithet of "Ahīnāgryapatni". Sagaracandra Sūri calls her "Bhujagendra-patni". Both these epithets exactly correspond to the expression “Phaṇīndra-kantā" of the hymn of Aryanandila, who moreover refers to her as "Dharanoraga-daïa", and, even explicitly, as "Dharanimda-padhama-patti Vaïruṭṭā nāma nāgiņī vijja", which latter phrase, besides, clearly defines her as a "vidya", i.e. "Vidya-devi".
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Yet since the honour of being Dharanendra's favourite queen, in generally known to go to Padmavati, the Śāsana-devi of Pārsvanatha, and actual female counterpart of Dharanendra, the Sasana-deva of that same Jina, the above epithets obviously bring Vairotyā into collision with Padmavati. The question may be raised as to whether both these names, Vairotya and Padmavati, may not be synonyms for one and the same deity. This seems possible from a passage of the "Supasanaha-cariya" (composed in V.S.1199), which runs: "atthi supasiddha-vijjā vijjāsahaga-sahassa-naya-calana mamta-saroruha-sarasi devi Padmavati nama", and clearly calls Padmavati a vidya, i. e., Vidya-devi Padmavati is, in fact, the main goddess of Jaina Tantric literature. According to an (1) p. 131, st. 54.
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