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Four More Popular Yakșinis she shows the varada mudra and the lotus in the corresponding lower hands. A miniature figure of a Jina is shown sitting over the crest of the three snake-hoods while two more figures of Jina Pārsvanātha are shown on two sides of the devi's head (Fig. 117).
The Adbhuta-Padmavati-kalpa gives a different form. Here she is white in complexion and is dressed in white garments. Sri. Padma, resplendent with three snake-hoods over her head, rides on the white swan and rests on the lotus-seat. Four-armed, Sri-Padmă carries the lotus, the goad, the varada and the noose in her hands. The worshipper should meditate on this form in his heart.230
This form of Sri Padma differs from that of the Idar sculpture described above as the kukkuļa vahana is here replaced by the swan. The form offers an interesting comparison with the Buddhist goddess Durgottärini Tärä who shows the same set of symbols and rests on the lotus. The difference lies in the complexion only since the Buddhist goddess is green in colour. Besides, Durgottärini Tärá is not associated with snakes, but Jánguli, one of the four varieties of Green Tārā, is associated with snakes and is a well-known ancient deity connected with snake-charm.231 Thus this variety of Padmavati is a mixture of Jánguli and Durgottärini Tårå. We have already seen before that in the Adbhuta-Padmavati-kalpa, Padma, addressed as Bhairavarūpīvatare and spadme hamsaprshadhiridhe, is also invoked as Tāre and Täröratare.
A sculpture in black stone, probably from Karnataka, preserved in the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay, illustrated as Fig. 110 in this book, discussed before, would follow this tradition of Aparajitaprocha and the Adbhuta-Padmavati-kalpa describing Sri-Padmā, if the mutilated left lower hand had shown the varada mudra.
A manuscript entitled Padmavati-Puja 232 gives her red complexion and a lotus-seat. Padmavati here shows the noose, the goad, the abhaya mudra and the fruit in her hands. A sculpture of Padmāyati sitting in padmasana on a lotus-seat, in worship in the Chandragupta Basti, Sravana Belagola, follows this tradition. The sculpture dates from c. 12th cent. A.D.
T.N. Ramachandran illustrated a bronze image of Padmavati of this variety of form.233 Upon a lotus-seat the devi sits with her right foot hanging. She carries the goad and the noose in her right and left upper hands respectively and shows the abhaya mudra and the fruit with the corresponding lower ones. The kukkuja vehicle is shown below her right foot. The goddess has only two eyes in this figure instead of three enjoined by the Padmavati-Pūjā manuscript.
The variety of form noted by this ms. of Padmavati-Pujā apppears to represent an old tradition as the Jaina cave at Badami has a relief of Padmavati representing this form. This is referred to before. The relief dates from c. 10th century A.D.234 Two palm-leaf miniatures in the Digambara Jaina Bhandāra at Mudabidri also illustrate this variety of form of four-armed Padmāvati. The miniatures are assigned to c. 12th century A.D. (Panorama of Jaina Art, op. cit., figs. 392, 394).
Sankalia has discussed a sculpture of Padmavati preserved in the Prince of Wales Museum (Mu. no. 130).235 The devi here sits in the lalitäsana and has a single-hooded cobra overhead. She carries the gond and the noose in the right and the left upper hands respectively while showing the varada mudrā and the snake with the corresponding lower ones. A kukkura figures as her vahana (Fig. 124). An image of this variety, showing Padmavati sitting in the padmāsana, also figures as a yaksi on a sculpture of Pārsvanātha in a Šve. temple at Patan.
A Padmāvati stotra refers to the three eyes and three snake-hoods over the head of this goddess who carries the noose, the goad, the snake and the fruit in her four hands.230
The same text gives another form in a different verse according to which Padmavati holds the vajra, the goad, the noose and the lotus in her four hands. Her pleasing countenance is said to be especially noteworthy. 237
The Padmavati-mantramnāyavidhi says that the worshipper should meditate upon the goddess who is four-armed and shows the abhuya, the varada, the noose and the goad in her hands. The form of the goddess is invoked for various rites like the varya, vidveşa, k sobha, santika and paustika.238
In a Rşimandala-Pața appears the figure of Padınávati illustrating this variety. The devi is reddishyellow with three snake-hoods over her head and the cock as her vehicle. She holds the goad and the
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