Compendium of Jainism

Author(s): T K Tukol, A N Upadhye
Publisher: Prasaranga Karnatak University Dharwar

Page 78

COMPENDIUM OF JAINISM
Man perception, perfect knowledge and a spotless character. has absolute independence and nothing can intervene between his actions and their fruits. Such Philosophy does not appeal to the weak minds. Men and women in difficulties look up to some divine power which could aid them in their difficulties and relieve them of their sufferings. They pray for favours and gifts, forgetting that they are the makers of their own destinies and that their joys and sorrows are of their own making. Perhaps to bring solace to such minds, the cult of Yakṣas and Yakṣiņis seems to have taken birth at some later stage. According to Hiralal Jain, the Jainas accorded a place in their temples to the Yakṣas, Nagas and other gods and goddesses by picturing them as guardians of the Tirthankaras out of respect for the sentiments of the non-Aryans who used to erect temples for them. Once the Yakṣa cult was prevalent in India and so also of the Yakişin, in different forms. They were Kuladevatās. When groups of people adopted the Jaina way of life, they brought these Kuladevatās with them and the Jaina Acāryas gave them a secondary place in the Jaina pantheon and used them for ritualistic purposes.
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The Jaina Purānas do refer to the Yakṣas and Yaksinis. Dharanendra and Padmavati have been associated with Tirthankara Pārsvanatha whom they are said to have protected from the cruel attacks of his enemy to disturb him during his meditations. They are worshipped by holding out promise of offers of things if their desires are fulfilled. The forms of worship with tantric and mantric rituals are foreign to Jaina philosophy. However, the worship of these gods and goddesses must have been thought of to wean away ordinary men and women from the influences of Hinduism which holds out the hope of fulfilment of one's own desires by a number of gods and goddesses. T. G. Kalghatigi says "The cult of Jvālāmālini with its tantric accompaniments may be mentioned as another example of this form of worship. Tue promulgator of this cult was perhaps, Helācārya of Ponnur. According to the prevailing