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Dr. Charlotte Krause : Her Life & Literature
epithets exactly correspond to the expression “Phaņīndra-kāntā' of the hymn of Aryanandila, who moreover refers to her as 'Dharanoraga-dalā', and, even more explicitly, as 'Dharaņisda-padhamapatti Vairuttā nāma nāgiņi vijjā', which latter phrase, besides, clearly defines her as a 'vidyā , i.e., “Vidyā-devi'.
Yet since the honour of being Dharanendra's favourite queen, is generally known to go to Padmāvatī, the Sāsana-devī of Pārsvanātha, and actual female counterpart of Dharaṇendra, the Śāsana-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, Vairoțyā and Padmăvatī, may not be synonyms for one and the same deity. This seems possible from a passage of the 'Supāsaņāha-cariyā 216 ( composed in V.S. 1199 ), which runs : ‘atthi supasiddha-vijjă-viijāsāhaga-sahassa-naya-calanā mamtā-saroruha-sarasi devi Padmāvati nāma', and clearly calls Padmāvati a vidyā, i.e., Vidyā-devi. Padmāvati is, in fact, the main goddess of Jaina tāntrika literature. According to an old 'Padmăvati-stotra'217, she is the equivalent of the Sakti of Hindu tāntrika lore, the Gauri of the Saivas, the Gāyatrī of the Vedāntins, the Prakrti of the Sānkhyavādins, the Tārā of the Buddhists, the Vajrā of the Kaulikas. From the name Vajrā' in its Prāksta form ‘Vairā', and eventual derivatives, it seems to be but a small step to 'Vairoțyā'. The Pādalipta-carita of the Prabhāvaka-carita moreover clearly states that the 'Phaņindra-kāntā Vairotyā' was worshipped in a temple of Pārsvanātha at Kośalā as the 'Śāsana-devi', and 'Aryanandila's' hymn as well as the 'Aryanandila-carita' of the Prabhāvaka-carita agree in asserting that this Vairotyā favours the devotees of Pārsvanātha with her help.
That in spite of so much semblance of identity, both the names will have to be understood as designating two separate deities, is, however, suggested by the following two pieces of literary evidence :
1. a prayer formula ( quoted by Professor H. R. Kapadia in
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