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Jaina-Rūpa-Mandana before the worshipper. But maidens pined for their cherished husbands, ladies longed for male issues, merchants on voyages wanted immunity from shipwrecks nnd other calamities, mothers were anxious to see their babies safe from small-pox, separated lovers wanted to unite again, kings wanted to ensure victory for their armies--for all these we find Yaksas, Nägas, Vidyadharas and a host of other gods and goddesses invoked, and the deities taking active part in the well-being of their worshippers. But there must be scriptural sanction for the introduction and assimilation of these deities in Jaina worship and this was achieved with the help of Jaina cosmological and cosmographical accounts.
The period of transition from the Gupta age to the middle ages, i.e., from c. sixth century to c. - eleventh century A.D., is a period of new impetus to Tantrism in all the three main Indian sects, namely,
Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. This brought into existence worship of new deities and additions to the existing number of iconographic varieties of old ones. The new activity continued even upto the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries A.D. which period (6th-7th to 13th-14th centuries) has witnessed temple-building activity on a large scale all over India. The earlier simplicity of forms in architecture and sculpture was gradually replaced by complex forms overloaded with ornamental details. The two or four arms of gods and goddesses multiplied so much that we had deities like the thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara!
The different sects vied with one another in the race for multiplication of their respective pantheons and mystifying their rituals with complex details. Jainism, which has shown greater conservatism than other sects in preserving their acåra-vidhi, was also obliged to introduce new deities, though of course in a role subordinate to the Tirthankaras, or to compose Tantric works like the Jvalini-kalpa, or the BhairavaPadmavati-kalpa, the Sarasvati-kalpa, the Ambika-devi-kalpa, or the Vidyanusā sana. The Acara-Dinakara of Vardhamana sūri is a product of this spirit and was composed in V.S. 1468 (A.D. 1411). It is full of Brahmanical influence. The Nirvāņakalika, ascribed by some to the Old Padalipta sūri, but composed in c. eleventh century A.D., and works like the Pratisthāsāroddhara of Pandit Aśädhara were also composed under similar influences.
It was towards the end of the Imperial Gupta rule and the beginning of the transitional period that this sāsanadevatā pair was introduced in Jaina iconography. The two-armed Kubera-like yakşa was called Sarvānubhūti alias Sarvanha by us84 from several considerations: (1) There is no early tradition in Jaina literature which describes this yakşa as Gomedha or Mātanga yakşa who are attendant yaksas of Neminātha and Mahāvīra respectively. Since this early yakşa accompanies Ambikā, the yaksini of Neminātha in later iconography, one would expect that in the early pair also he was Gomedha the yaksa of Neminātha. But the iconography of Gomedha in both the sects is different. One would also expect that this early yakşa was either Mätanga, the yaksa of Mahāvīra in later iconography or Gomukha, the yakşa of Adinātha or Pārsva or Dharana, the yakşa of Pārsvanatha. But the iconography in all the above cases is different. (2) We have a verse addressed to one Sarvanha Yaksa in the Snātasya stuti included in the daily worship of the Svetambara sect, in its Pañcapratikramana sutra. Sarvānublūti is two-armed and rides on the elephant. (3) Sarvanha yakşa in Digambara worship has the same iconography as this early yaksa and as the Sarvānubhuti yakșa. He is very popular in Digambara worship and installed even on the Mänastambhas as shown by Settar.85 (4) The Ksamáśramapa-Mahattariya-likā on the Višeşāvasyaka-Mahābhāşya of Jinabhadra gani kşamāśramana dates from the sixth century A.D. It refers to Amba-Küşmandi, Vidyarājah Harinegameşi, and Sarvene (scribal error for Sarvanha) vaksa. It is, therefore, quite certain that this earliest pair was known as Sarvanha yakşa and Amba-Kuşmandi yaksi.
Some early descriptions of Ambikā came from the Svetāmbara hymn Caturvimśatika of Bappabhatti sūri (c. 800-895 V.
S c. 743-837 A.D.) and the Digambara Purāņa Harivamsa of Jinasena (783 A.D.). Jinasena also refers to Apraticakra in the same verse in which Ambika is referred to. But Apraticakra is also known as a Vidyadevi in ancient Jaina traditions, however it is certain that in the age of Harivamsa, Cakreśvari was already introduced as the śāsanadevi of Rşabhanåtha, as shown below.
Earlier reference to Ambikā comes from the Lalitavistara-fikā of Haribhadra sūri whose date is not later than 650 A.D. An Ambā-Kaşmāndi Vidyā is referred to by the same writer in his tikā on the Avas
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