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Jaina-Rupa-Mandana
XXII. Padmavati, the Yakşi of Pārsvanātha
Jainas of both the sects--the Svetāmbara and the Digambara-associate Padmavati with the account of the austerities of Parsvanatha, the twenty-third Tirthankara, and give her the role of a sasanadewata, the attendant yakşi protecting the Samgha or Church of Pārsvanātha.
Earlier texts like the Kalpa-sutra speak nothing about either Dharanendra or Padmavati, either in their role of protecting Parsvanatha during Kamatha's attack or as his yaksa and yaksi, although later Jaina puränas give detailed accounts of them both.
Once upon a time, a heretic saint (tāpasa), called Katha or Kamatha, was practising penance with fires all around, when Paráva, the prince, turned up with his attendants, and seeing snakes burning in the logs of wood, pointed out to the täpasa the futility of practices that involved himsa or killing. Enraged at this, Kamatha asked the prince to show in what manner himsā was committed. Pārsva immediately removed a log of wood from the fire and broke it into two pieces whereupon, to the surprise of all, a half-burnt serpent came out. The snake died subsequently but became in its next birth the lord of the Nágas and was known as Dharanendra. After death, Kamatha, the tāpasa, was born as Megbantail, a god of the Meghakumara class. 202 According to some Jaina accounts, not one but two snakes were burning and after death they became Dharanendra and his queen of the Nägakumara class.
Renouncing the worldly ties, Parśva became a monk. Once when he was standing in deep meditation under the shade of a tree, Meghamali saw him, and remembering the past enmity, attacked him first in the shapes of wild animals etc. Later he ordered a fierce thunderstorm which raised a flood of water drowning Pārsva upto his nostrils. Seeing this with his clairvoyant knowledge, Dharanendra rushed headlong to the spot along with his chief queens and protected Pärśva by covering his head with the seven hoods spread like an umbrella and entwining the monk's body with lengthy coils lifted Pärśva above water. Dharana's queens staged a play and danced to divert Pārsva's attention from the miseries inflicted by the storm etc., but, throughout the period, the great ascetic Parsvanatha remained indifferent both to the attacks of Meghamāli (Sambara acc. to some texts) and to the protective steps taken by Dharanendra. Unsuccessful and repenting, Meghamäli bowed before Parsvanatha and gave up his evil ways.203
The Digambara account differs from Svetambara traditions by saying that not one but two snakesone male and the other female-were burning in the log of wood and that they were reborn as king and queen of the Nāgas. In the Digambara tradition Kamatha is reborn as Bhutánanda (instead of Meghamāli in Sve. tradition).204
Since Dharanendra and Padmavati are king and queen of the Nagas, a salient feature of their iconography is that their Näga form or character is invariably emphasised in sculptures and paintings. Padmavati is always represented as having one, three, five, seven or nine snake-hoods over her head. Sometimes when two-armed, she is represented as a mermaid with the lower half of her body represented like that of a snake.
Images of Padmavati can be divided into several groups such as: (1) the two-armed variety, (2) the four-armed variety, (3) the six-armed variety, (4) the eight-armed variety, (5) the twelve-armed variety, (6) the twenty-armed variety. (7) the twenty-four-armed variety, and (8) the multi-armed variety.205 She is mostly found in a sitting posture and her standing figures in all varieties except the first two are rare.
In some forms she is known by special names such as Bhairava-Padmavati, Totalā, Tvarită, Nitja, Kāmasādhini, Tripura and Tripurabhairavi. The eight-armed variety is found only in the last two special forms. Her name suggests that she should always carry a lotus as one of her symbols although the principle is not rigidly followed in all representations of the goddess.
A. Two-Armed variety
Specific dhyānas for this form are not available, but sufficient archaeological evidence is forthcoming to establish a two-armed plastic form of the goddess.
In the scenes of Kamatha's upusargas (attacks, obstructions, harassments), Dharana and his queen or
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