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HISTORY OF JAINISM PRIOR TO MAHĀVĪRA
The snake, cobra, stipulated as dhvaja or Lāńchana of Pārsvanātha, generally is seen with five or seven snake-hoods as canopy over Jina's head. In the images of Pārsvanātha the snake cognizance is shown on the pedestal and often the coil of snake's body are shown behind the body of Pārśva either standing or sitting in meditation. The snake-hood as well as the coil suggests Nāgendra Dharana protecting the body of Pārsvanātha.
According to the Svetāmbara tradition, the Jina was called Pārsva because his mother had seen, in dream, a cobra by her side (Pārsva) during the period of confinement.“0 When Pārśva grew up, he once saw an ascetic (tāpasa), called Kamatha, practicing penance called pañcāgni-tapa, by burning logs of wood in four directions around him and the fifth fire being the scorching sun above. In one of the logs was a pair of snakes, which were being burnt alive. Pārsva rescued the snakes and freed the ascetic who was no other than Kamatha, the soul of the younger brother of Pārśva in his previous existence as Marubhūti. The snake couple, half burnt, died immediately after the prince Pārśva chanted them the Namaskāra Mangala and were reborn as Dharaṇendra (Indra of the Nāgakumāra class of Bhavanavāsī gods) and his queen (called Padmāvati in medieval texts).
Both Digambara Purāṇas and Śvetāmbara caritas give elaborate descriptions of the upsargas (harassment) caused to Pārsva in meditation by a demi-god who in his previous existence was the soul of Kamatha, the younger brother of Marubhūti, who was the soul of Pārśva in the earlier existence of Pārsvanātha. According to the Uttarapurāņa, the Mahāpurāņa of Puspadanta, and the Pāsacariya of Raidhū, this demi-god was called Sambara. In the Svetāmbara tradition, in the Pāsaņāhacariya of Devabhadra, the demy-God is
* Kalpasūtra-Sukhabodhikā, P-128
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