________________
ANTIQUITY OF JAIN MANTRAS : JAIN NARRATIVE LITERATURE
267
Sūtrakstānga in a work composed earlier than even the origin of Tantras.
They prove the existence of Vidyās not only about the time these works were written but also in very ancient times specially because they are described in such a matter-of-fact way in Sūtrakstānga and are associated with legendery characters of great antiquity described in the said subsequent works.
ŚRI, HRI, DHĶTI, KIRTI, BUDDHI & LAKŞMI We have already shown existence of Jain Māntric deities in olden times. We might here refer to the footnote on page 201 ante giving a reference from Sri Bhagavati Sūtra IX, 11, Sūtra 430 to a marriage-present of the idols of the six deities. Sri, Hri, Dhști, Kirti, Buddhi and Lakşmi. They seem to have been chosen as marriagepresent because they are believed to bring prosperity. It was Hridevi amongst these who inspired Udyotanasūri otherwise known as Dāksinya --cinha to write his beautiful story named Kuvalayamālā.
JAIN NARRATIVE LITERATURE VIDYÂS AND MANTRAS
Not merely the works already referred to but the whole of the Jain narrative literature is full of stories containing descriptions of miraculous achievements performed through the aid of Mantra, Mani* or gems, or Medicine and of Vidyadharas, Mantra-sādhanās and their incidental dangers. We would particularly refer to Sri Haribhadrasūri's Samarāiccakahā, the said Kuvalayamālā, Sri Siddharşi's Upamitibhavaprapañcā-Katha * , Sri Dhanapāla’s Tilakamanjarī, Srī Lakşmaņagaņi's Supāsanāha-cariyam and Srī Hemacandrācārya's Trisașthi-salākā-puruşa -caritra and Sri Somaprabhācārya's Kumārapāla-Pratibodha.
We shall give some references from Tilakamanjari. At p. 25 ff. occurs Mântric initiation of the king when he obtained Aparājitā Vidyā for Sadhana of Rājalaksmī; at p. 37 occurs worship of Sri and at p.
* अचिन्त्यः खलु प्रभावो मन्त्रमणिरोषधीनाम् ।
* Its famous author Siddharşi calls it composed by the goddess of speech (teau fatear) in the colophon thereof.
Jain Education International 2010_03
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
