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INTRODUCTION
apply the test given at page 142 of his Introduction to Sadhanamālā by the said writer himself, viz, similarity or otherwise of the Mantras of the common deities. The Mantra of Buddhist Bhệkuti in Sadhanamāla is "3 Falki". There is no independent worship of the male or female Bhřkuti in the Jain pantheon and their Mantra as given in Achāradinakara is "So A
TIET.' The Mantras being thus different, it puts a stop to further argument and it must be admitted that except accidental identity of names, there is nothing in common between the Buddhist and the Jain deity. Lastly there being no independent and detailed worship of Bhřkutī current amongst the Jains there was no charm in borrowing a Buddhist name or deity. Further when a set of 24 deities is uniformly given in a pantheon and 23 of them cannot be even distantly shown to have Buddhist connection, how can it be imagined that merely one of them Bhrkutī was borrowed. The Mantras and Svarūpas of Vajrashrnkhalā, Vajränkushi, Gandhārī, Bhỉkuti and Manibhadra are given in Nirvānakalikā (pp. 3,28,35, and 37) and Achāradinakara Vol II (pp. 155,157,162). As they are different from the Mantras and Svarūpas of the respective Buddhist deities of identical names it will convince the reader that there is no case of borrowing here.
We may now refer to two further statements made by Dr. B. Bhattacharyya, for identification of deities. They are with reference to ornamental Mudrās and bearing of a miniature figure of one of the five Dhyāni Buddhas on the crown by a deity. We have nothing to complain against the statements as they stand. We want only to sound a note of warning that Mudrā, in sculptural Tāntric technique is particular disposition of hand and fingers; as such Mudrā aids to the grace and beauty of appearance, in describing any particular statue or idol, it may be described for instance as Jnānamudrāvibhūşitā although Jnānamudrā is not an ornament. One should not merely because of the use of the word 'Vibhūşitā' jump to the conclusion that an ornamental Mudrā is meant, and that therefore the deity described must be a Buddhist deity. Similarly if one can identify the miniature deity
