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Ancient Jaina Hymns
391
nikāyas', to each of which a particular group of 'vidyās' was apportioned. The 16 ‘Vidyadhara-nikāyas' were named after the countries from where the pertinent group of Vidyādharas had originally emigrated, and the several 'vidyā' groups were named accordingly. Lists of the names of these 16 groups of 'vidyās' are given in Prākrta in the 'Vasudevahindi and the ‘Āvaśyaka-cūrņi', and in Saṁskṛta in the 'Trişaşti-salākāpuruşa-carita', all three deviating from one another in several items. According to the last-named text, these 'vidyā'-groups were : 1. Gauri-, 2. Manu-, 3. Gandhārī-, 4. Mānavī-, 5. Kausiki-, 6. Bhūmituņdā-, 7. Mūlavīryā-, 8. Sankulā-, 9. Pāņduki-, 10. Kāli-, 11. Švapākī., 12. Mātangi-, 13. Pārvati-, 14. Varśālayā-, 15. Pāṁsumūlā-, and 16. Vrksamūlā-vidyās. Out of these names, the 'Subodhikā' mentions only nos. 1 and 3, as belonging to the southern, and 9 and 14, as belonging to the northern part of ‘Vidyādhara'-land.
Besides these ‘vidyā'-groups, the ‘Āvaśyaka-cūrņi' and the 'Subodhikā' mention four individual ‘mahāvidyās', viz., 1. Gaurī, 2. Gandhārī,203 3. Rohiņi, and 4. Prajñapti. Haribhadra Sūri, obviously following the former text, mentions them with the exclusion of any other name.
Traces of the 'Vidyādhara’-legend can be found in the Jaināgama itself, where the two rows of Vidyādhara-cities' are repeatedly mentioned as adorning the slopes of the Vaitādhya,204 though details and names are not given.
Though it is not feasible restlessly to solve, with the help of the text-material available at present, the fascinating problem of the origin of the 16 Vidya-devis' and of their relationship with the ancient 'vidyās', as raised by Dr. Miss Helen Johnson20s, still thus much can be inferred from a comparison of the respective names that the first, second, ninth and tenth ‘Vidyā-devīs' are identical with the four 'mahāvidyās' enumerated above, the two latter of whom again seem to have derived their names from the designations of the first and third 'vidyā'-groups of Vidyādhara'-land. Besides,
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