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Jaina-Rupa-Mandana noose in the right and the left upper hands respectively and shows the varada and the abhaya mudrås with the corresponding lower hands.239
The symbols and complexion of this form of Padmavati agree with those of the Brahmanical goddess Mitra worshipped in the Sri-Cakra and described in the Sarabha Tantra 240 These symbols also agree with those of the Brahmanical godddess Tripura, 241 one of the twelve forms of Durgā. Bhuvanesvari also shows similar symbols.242
In the yantra of Mantrādhiraja, the devi is to be placed on the left of Pärśvanātha and her colour should be as black as collyrium; she should have three snake-hoods over her head and should ride on the kukkufa.243 Snakes as ornaments should adorn her body. The text here does not give the symbols held by Padmavati.But earlier in the work, while describing the forms of the 24 yaksinis to be drawn in the fifth valaya (circle) of this great Tantric diagram, namely, the Mantrādbirāja-Pata, the author gives the symbols of Padmavati. Here she is said to be of golden complexion and riding on the kukkuta-sarpa. Her crown is adorned with three snake-hoods. Queen of the king of snakes, Padmavati shows the noose and the lotus in her right hands and the fruit and the goad in the left ones.244 This form agrees with the form given in Trişaști., Ācāra-Dinakara, etc.
The Sahasra-phana-Pärsvanatha-Pata, published in Jaina Citrakalpadrum? voi. i, sãows a figure of Padmavati standing to the left of Pārsvanātha, the central deity. She is four-armed and carries, in the two upper hands, the goad and the noose, while her two lower hands are clasped against the chest in añjali mudrà in adoration of her master Pärsvanatha.245
A bronze figure from the Koka-Pārsvanātha temple, Patan, may be identified with this form of Padmavati. The goddess has her two lower hands folded against the breasts in añjali mudra. The symbols of the two upper hands, partly mutilated, can still be identified as the goad and the noose. Three snake-hoods are spread over her head. Though late the form seems to have been popular in Jaina worship.
W. Norman Brown has published a miniature painting, from a Kalpa-Sūtra manuscript, showing Pārsva's austerities.246 The Jina is in the centre while Dharana and Padmavati stand on his right and the left respectively. Here two hands of Padmāvati are folded while the other two are empty. The kukkufa is shown as her vähana.
In a Jaina temple in Bhiloda, Sabarakānthả district, N. Gujarat, is worshipped a metal image of Padmavati seated in padmāsana with nine snake-hoods spread over her head surmounted by a miniature figure of Pārsvanātha. Two snake-goddesses with snake-hoods overhead flank the central devi as attendants. The goddess carries the goad and the noose in the right and left upper hands, the rosary (?) appears in the right lower hand while the water-jar is shown in her left lower hand. The kukkufa-sarpa is her vāhana.
Another variety of form is shown by a sculpture from Patan (Fig. 140). Here the devi sits in padmāsana and carries the same symbols except the pot in the left lower hand (of the Bhilodä image) which is here replaced by the varada mudrā. The goddess has five snake-hoods over her crown.
In the drawing published by Burgess, 247 Padmavati sits in the lalitāsana and has the kukkuja-sarpa as the vähana. Over the crown are seen five snake-hoods. In the two upper hands she holds the goad and the noose, the right lower hand is held in the abhaya mudra while the left lower hand seems to signify the kataka pose.
One of the earliest varieties of four-armed images of Padmavati is found at Devgadh, On a pillar near the Western Gate of the Devgadh fort is a beautiful representation of the goddess sitting in lalitäsana on a big lotus with a thick stalk; on two sides of the stalk below the lotus-seat are two circular volutes of lotus-stalks. The devi carries lotuses with long stalks in her two upper hands (Fig. 141). Her right lower hand is held in the varada mudrā while the left lower hand holds a pitcher--a kumbha of nectar and knowledge. Over the big chignon on the head of the devi are spread like an umbrella five snake-hoods signifying her role as a Näga-queen. On top is a miniature figure of Pārsvanātha seated in padmasana. The sculpture dates from late ninth or early tenth century A.D. A very similar sculpture, perhaps from the
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