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Sāsana-Devatās
Agama texts of the Jainas are silent about attendant Yaksa pairs. Even the Kalpa-sūtra which could have referred to them is completely silent about the sasanadevatās and the lañchanas of the different Tirthankaras even though the text deals with lives of the 24 Jinas. Nor do we find them in the Vasudevahindi which also gives lives of some of the Tirthankaras. We can, therefore, safely assume that the śāsanadevatás were not evolved before c. 500 A.D.
The brass or bronze image, from Akoță, of standing Rṣabhanatha (?) illustrated in Fig. 35 is as yet the earliest known Jaina image showing sasanadevatās accompanying a Tirthankara. The inscription on the back of this image, in Brahmi characters of c. 550 A.D., shows that "it belonged to" (i.e., was being worshipped by or was installed by) Jinabhadra Vacanācārya who is identified as Jinabhadra gani Kṣamāśramana, the author of Viseṣāvasyaka-bhâşya.75 Of about the same age, c. sixth century A.D., is obtained a separate metal image of Ambika yakși from the Akota hoard.76 An elaborately carved beautiful sculpture of Ambika yakși is preserved in the Meguti temple at Aihole (Fig. 88), dating from the seventh century A.D. Of about the same age is the Dhank group of sculptures in Saurashtra77 where the Kubera-like yakṣa and two-armed Ambika-yaksi are shown on the right and the left of Parsvanatha standing in the kayotsarga posture. The same pair accompanies Rṣabha (?) from Akota just noted (Fig. 35) and in other bronzes from Akotā or Vasantagadh78 we obtain the same yakṣa-yaksi pair for Pārsvanatha and other Tirthankaras, and also in the bronze installed at Broach in Śaka year 910-988 A.D.,79 discussed elsewhere by us and now preserved in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Upto the end of the tenth century at least, and even a little later, we do not find any specimen showing different attendant yakṣa-yakṣi pairs for different Jinas, the only exception being the yakṣinis (with their names and the names of their respective Tirthankara masters inscribed), obtained on the wall of Temple no. 12 at Devgadh; the original shirne is assigned to the last quarter of the eighth century A.D. by Michael Meister.80 Later repairs include a doorway dating from 994 A.D. The yakṣiņi set seems to date from c. late eighth century and is a very early attempt to differentiate the sasanadevatas for different Tirthankaras, but the attempt did not become popular for two or three centuries more. In the Mahavira temple at Ośia (which dates from eighth or ninth century according to different scholars and which may in our opinion be assigned to the late eighth century A.D.), we find represented the Kubera-like yakṣa Sarvanubhuti and amongst yakṣis only Ambika and Padmavati. Some of the forms of Cakreśvari are common to Cakreśvari Vidya and the yakṣi Cakreśvari. Images of most of the 'Vidyadevis are found on the walls of the Mahavira temple and its adjoining Devakulikās. The Devakulikās to the east and west of the Mahavira shrine and the Torana in front (now removed and stored elsewhere) were erected in 1018 A.D. and the balanaka as well as the Devakulikā to its east were erected in v.s. 1013 A.D. 956,81
In the Jaina cave at Badami, Karnataka, we have a big relief panel of Mahavira standing with attendant yakşa and yakşi who are different from the original pair.82 But the whole relief is later and the diffefence in style and motifs from the earlier reliefs in this cave can be easily marked out. The Mahavira panel dates from c. tenth century or a little later. At Ellora in all the Jaina caves one finds only the original sasanadevată pair of Kubera-like two-armed Sarvanha yakṣa riding on the elephant and the two-armed Ambika with the lion-vehicle.83 In the paper on the Iconography of the Jaina Goddess Ambikā, published in the Journal of the University of Bombay (Sept. 1940), it was already shown that for a long time this pair was common to all the Tirthankaras. In sculptures and bronzes, at least upto the end of the ninth century A.D., only this pair of sasanadevatās is found.
This pair in Jainism is later than the Jambhala and Hiriti in Buddhism, as no such Jaina sculpture assignable to an age earlier than the sixth century A.D. is found.
This would suggest that for a long time Jaina worship could remain unchanged. But it does not mean that Jaina lay worshippers did not worship the yaksas, nigas etc. or had no superstitious beliefs common to human beings of all places and ages. Jaina story literature is full of references to Yaksas, Nāgas, Vidyadharas, etc. We are told that the Jainas of Mathura had erected a shrine of Hundika Yakṣa at Mathura. It seems that all these beliefs and practices were tolerated because theorically a Tirthankara could not be approached for fulfilment of worldly desires. The Jina was himself detached from all such attachments that lead to bondage. His worship only roused higher sentiments and held an ideal
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