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REMARKS ON THE TEXTS Śāsanadevī of the 19th Jina, she must naturally be senior to Padmāvati, the Sāsanadevī of the 23rd. (That, for the matter of that, she must also be senior to her husband by millions of years, is of no consequence, in view of the Jaina belief in the eternal youth of their deities.)
The above expressions leave no doubt about the fact that anyhow Vairotyā is considered to be an “Agramahişī” of the Indra Dharaña of the Nāga-kumāras. The same has been stated with regard to her co-wife Padmāvati.' Professor Kapadia, who has stressed this idea, has expressed his disappointment on not finding: the name of either of these two queens in the list of the names of Dharañendra's "Agramahisis” given in the Sacred Books. Besides the Bhagavatı (Vihāyapannatti), which he quotes (X,5, Sūtra 406), the Jñātādharmakathānga (Nāyādhammakahāo) likewise (II,1) contains that list, which runs as under: (1) Alā or Ilā, (2) Sakkā or Sukkā, (3) Sakrā or Sadārā, (4) Sodāmiņi, (5) Imdā, (6) Ghaņavijjuyā.. To solve this difficulty, it might be assumed that either the names Vairoty, and Padmāratī have developed from original epithets into proper names, or that those six names are not genuine proper names, but rather appellative nouns, designating the rank or “office" of these six goddesses, the incumbents of which go on changing, just as is the case with the various “Indras" of the Jaina Pantheon: the word "Indra" being nothing but an office designation either.3
(1) Senapraéna II, Praśna 112, p. 31. (2) Edition of Sobhana's Caturvim satikā, 1. 1., p. 278 f.
(3) Thus, the "Dharanendra" who presented Nami and Vinami with 48,000 Vidyās, during the life-time of the first Tirthankara, is of course as. sumed to be a different individual from the câsana-deva of the 23rd Tirthankara, for the latter “Dharaṇendra"''s soul was still incarnated in a snake when Pårøvana tha was Prince of Käsi, and became incarnated as god only subsequently.
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Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
