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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 Prabhāvaka-carita re Vairotyā Devi's direct association with Aryanandila is proved to be nothing but a recent growth of devotional fiction.
The fact that the Vidyā-devī Vairotyā 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 "Ahīnāgryapatnī. Sāgaracandra Sūri calls her "Bhujagendra-patni”. Both these epithets exactly correspond to the expression “Phanindra-kāntā” of the hymn of Aryānandila, who moreover refers to her as "Dharaṇoraga-daïa”, and, even more explicitly, as "Dharaṇimda-padhama-patti Vaïruttā nāma nāgiņi vijja”, which latter phrase, besides, clearly defines her as a “vidyā”, i.e. “Vidyā-devi”.
Yet since the honour of being Dharaṇendra's favourite queen, in generally known to go to Padmā. vatī, the Sāsana-devs of Pārsvanātha, and actual female counterpart of Dharaṇendra, the Sāsana-deva of that same Jina, the above epithets obviously bring Vairotyā into collision with Padmāvatī. The question may be raised as to whether both these names, Vairotyz and Padmavatī, may not be synonyms for one and the same deity. This seems possible from a passage of the “Supāsanāha-cariya” (composed in V.S.1199), which runs: "atthi supasiddha-vijā vijjāsāhaga-sahassa-naya-calanā mamta-saroruha-sarasī devi Padmāvati nāma", and clearly calls Padmāvati a vidyā, i. e., Vidyā-devī Padmāvati is, in fact, the main goddess of Jaina Tantric literature. According to an
(1)
p. 131, st. 54.
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Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
