Jain Spirit 2002 06 No 11

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 42

T
WORSHIP
HE PRIMARY JAIN PANTHEON IS THE GROUP OF
twenty-four Tirthankaras, beginning with Lord Rishabhnath and ending with Lord Mahavir. While Tirthankaras are objects of reverence because devotion to them removes obstacles to faith, there are many other subservient figures, including guardian spirits, celestial beings and divinities. Known generally as tutelary deities (sasanadevatas), they are systematised in several classes such as divine male and female attendants (vakshas and yakshinis), peripatetic gods (vyantaradevtas) and goddesses of wisdom (vidyadevis).
PADMAVATI:
A SYMBOL OF HOPE
Dinesh Z. Shah analyses the history and significance of this unique Jain angel
Vidyadevis are an important group of Jain deities. The word vidya literally means knowledge, but from the earliest times it came to imply a special knowledge that gave power (shakti). There are sixteen of these deities and they are included in a special stotra called Shodash Vidyadevi Stotra. These devis are referred to in quite a few of them, the most common being the Broohachaantii Stotra and Shantikaram Stotra.
In common with Hindus, Jains worship the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi, while the oldest known image of Sarasvati, who is worshipped by the Hindus as the goddess of knowledge is in fact Jain (according to one school of thought), and dates from the early first century.
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Yakshinis, devotees of the Tirthankaras, exemplify the quintessentially Jain principles of non-violence and restraint, being benevolent, vegetarian and celibate (brahmchari). The origin of the practice of linking each Tirthankara with a yaksha and yakshini is difficult to date. Some of these deities no doubt go to the foundation of Jainism in eastern India, and it has been suggested that others were introduced as the community gradually spread towards the west and south and adopted regional deities. However, textual and iconographic evidence points to the introduction of a full complement of twenty-four yakshas and yakshinis by the end of the eighth century. The four yakshinis who have have enjoyed the greatest attention are Padmavati, Cakreshvari, Ambika and Jwalamalini.
Lord Parsvanath's (twenty third Tirthankara) yaksha is Dharanendra and his yakshini is Padmavati. Dharanendra is unique among the yakshas of the Tirthankaras because unlike others, he played an important role in the life of Parsvanath. Parsvapandita, a Kannada poet composed the
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Parsvanathapuranam in the early part of the 13th century. In the poem, he describes Dharanendra as the leader of the nagas and as the destroyer of the upasargas created by Kamatha. Kamatha was an esoteric mendicant and was practising the ordeal of five fires'. Parsva saved a pair of serpents from being burnt in the fire, and they eventually became his yaksha and yakshini, as Dharanendra and Padmavati. He also gives an elaborate picture of how Dharanendra, the lord of the nether world, emerged out of earth. Kamatha, in order to disturb Parsva's meditation had sent a great storm with the help of the evil deity, Meghamali and that caused such a downpour that the water level came up to Parsva's nose. It was then that Dharanendra spread his enormous hood over the meditating Parsva, and his consort Padmavati held an umbrella to protect her husband in turn.
Like Lord Parsvanath, Padmavati has also one hundred and eight names. The scriptures mention that her mount is rooster-cum-snake (kukkutasarpa); she has four hands and is a person of utmost beauty. However, a bronze seventhcentury image of Padmavati from Karnataka, Southern India has twenty-four arms with a three-hooded snake canopy surmounted with an effigy of Parsvanath. This is on display in the Hamburg Museum, Germany.
One of the most famous shrines of Padmavati is found in Hombuja in Karnataka. Nearly 1200 years ago a king, Jinadattaraya built this city. A lot of gold (hombu) was found around the city and it was therefore called Hombuja. The story of how the city was established is interesting.
Jinadattararaya's stepmother was plotting to overthrow him. However, somehow his natural mother became aware of this conspiracy and advised her son, King Jinadattaraya to leave the city and head south to southern Madhure, the place of his maternal uncles. She gave him an idol (murti) of Padmavati wrapped in a special cloth bag and bid farewell to her son. She said, "May Goddess Padmavati protect you always," and King Jinadattaraya left for the forest with few of his trusted lieutenants. When King Jinadattaraya's father (who had abdicated the throne to his son on the advice of his Guru Siddhantakirti) and his stepmother knew about this, they sent an army to bring him back, dead or alive.
When they were on the verge of capturing him, Jinadattaraya removed the image of Padmavati from the bag