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Ancient Jaina Hymns
proof of their separateness ),218 in which Dharanendra is described as accompanied by both the goddesses ('Vairotya-Padmāvatī-devīyuta' ), and
2. the second stanza of Āryanandila's hymn, where both are clearly referred to as separate individuals ( ‘Dharaṇoraga-daīā devī Paumāvāi ya Vairuṭṭā' ).
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If the Svetambara poets eulogize Vairotyā as Dharana's ‘agrya-patni' and 'paḍhama-patti', this may be due to the idea that since Vairotya is the Śāsanadevī of the 19th Jina, she must naturally be senior to Padmavati, the Śāsanadevi 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 Vairotya is considered to be an ‘Agramahişi' of the Indra Dharana of the Nāgakumāras. The same has been stated with regard to her co-wife Padmavati.219 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 Dharanendra's 'Agramahiṣīs' given in the Sacred Books.220 Besides the Bhagavati (Viyahapaṇṇatti ), which he quotes (X.5, Sūtra 406), the Jñātādharma-kathānga ( Nāyādhammakahão) likewise (II,1) contains that list, which runs as under: (i) Alā or Ilā, (ii) Sakkā or Sukkā, (iii) Sakrā or Sadārā, (iv) Sodāmiņī, ( v ) Iṁdā, ( vi ) Ghaṇavijjuyā. To solve this difficulty, it might be assumed that either the names Vairotyā and Padmavatī 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.221
Padmavati's being referred to as a 'Vidya' in the above passage, is nothing out of the ordinary in view of her being the
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