Encyclopaedia of Jaina Studies Vol 01 Jaina Art and Architecture

Author(s): Sagarmal Jain, Others
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 363

Other Jaina Gods and Goddesses
and Aranatha are well known as the Jinas. The Kamadevas like Pradyumna and Jīvandhara are very popular in Jaina literature and separate works dealing with their lives were also composed. Lives of Nalarāja, Hanumana and Pradyumna in the above list may be compared with alike names in the Brahmanical mythology. Hanumana, the celebrated brahmacarin is here married to a thousand princesses.
Kamadevas are beautiful in appearance, but they are to be distinguished from the god of love who is also known as Kamadeva in Brahmanical context. Kāmadevas are usually not worshipped in modern Jaina temples but their representations are known from some of the ancient Jaina temples, one being on the Parsvanatha Jaina temple at Khajuraho. The Jaina Harivaṁśa-Purāņa (783 A.D.), however, interestingly refers to a construction of a Jina temple by a Śresthi Kāmadatta, who for the general attraction of the people also caused the installation of the figures of Kamadeva and Rati in the temple (29.2). It also alludes to the worship of Rati and Kamadeva along with the Jina images (HarivamsaPurāṇa-29.1-10).
GANIPITAKA-YAKṢARĀJA
The Ganipitaka Yakṣaraja is worshipped in the fourth pitha of the Surimantra diagram. Ganipitaka is the Dvādaśāngi or the Jaina Śruta expounded by the Jina and edited by the Gaṇadhara. As the Lord of sixteen thousand Yakṣas Ganipinda is conceived as twenty-armed and strong. He is the presiding deity of the Dvādaśāngī or the Ganipiḍaga (Ganipitaka). He is said to be a devotee of Gautama, the first Ganadhara of Mahāvīra. In the Santikara-stavana of Munisundarasūri, he is invoked along with Vaṇī, Tribhuvanasvāminī and Śrī-devi for the protection of devotees of the Jina.
TRIBHUVANA SVĀMINĪ DEVI
The Tribhuvanasvāminīdevī is invoked in the Tantric mandala of the Sūrimantra, one of the oldest sadhanas of the Jainas. She is to be invoked in the second pitha of the mandala of which she is the presiding deity. The
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thousand-armed goddess is said to reside on the Manuṣottara mountain of Jaina cosmography. The Acaradinakara prescribes a mandala of the Bhagavati or Devi wherein (in the first hexagonal cakra) the thousand-armed Bhagavati is to be invoked who rides a lion. She carries numerous weapons. The Bhagavati appears to be none other than the Tribhuvanasvāminī Devi. She is supposed to be the presiding deity of the whole devimandala which includes eight goddesses beginning with Jaya, eight Matṛkās, the Vidyādevīs, Yoginis, Bhairavas, Dikpālas, planets, Ganapati, Kārttikeya, Yamunā, Kṣetrapāla, Mahabhairava, the Gurus (elders or teachers) and the Ganga. The whole list is interesting as it includes some of the well-known Brahmanical deities. The devi-mandala prescribed by Vardhamanasūri unmistakably shows the growing influence of Brahmanical Tantra in medieval Jaina rites. REFERENCES
B.C. Bhattacharya, The Jaina Iconography, New Delhi, 1974 (Rep.); U.P. Shah, 'Iconography of Jaina Goddess Sarasvati', Journal of University of Bombay, Vol. X (New Series), Pt. II, Sept. 1941, pp. 195-217; 'Harinegameşi', Journal of Indian Society of Oriental Art, Vol. XIX, 1952-53, pp. 19-41; 'Brahmaśānti and Kaparddi Yakṣas', Journal of the M.S. University of Baroda, Vol. VII, No. 1, March 1958, pp 59-72; Minor Jaina Deities', Journal of Oriental Institute (Baroda), Vol. XXXI, Nos. 3-4, March-June 1982, pp. 274-90 and 371-78; V.S. Agrawala, A Note on the God Naigamesha', Journal of U.P. Historical Society, Vol. XX, July-Dec. 1947, pp. 68-73; Maruti Nandan Prasad Tiwari, Khajuraho Kā Jaina Purātattva, Khajuraho, 1987; 'Brahmasanti Yakṣa', Pt. Bechardas Doshi Commemoration Volume, (Eds.) M.A. Dhaky and others, Varanasi, 1987, pp. 126-131; Maruti Nandan Prasad Tiwari and Kamal Giri, 'Images of Gaṇeśa in Jainism'; Ganesh-Studies of an Asian God, (Ed.) Robert L. Brown, New York, 1991, pp. 101-103.