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4. JAINTBY IN KARNATAKA
171 Karnataka, that they, with their usual skill and practical insight, adapted the institution to suit the genius of the people and carried it through successfully. Further, unlike the leaders of the Jaina church in the Tamil country, the preceptors of Karnataka, instead of extending the practice of worshipping the Yakshis, seem to have selected one or two particular deities and concen- . trated their attention on them.
PADMĀVATI: Among the secondary deities of the Jaina pantheon chosen for individual adoration as an independent goddess, Padmăvati, the Yakshiņi of Pārsvanātha, stands foremost, being the most popular and widely invoked goddess in Karnātaka. Though her cult might date from an earlier age,' she frequently figures in the epigraphical sources roughly from the period of the 10th century A. D. A large number of minor ruling families, such as the Silāhāras and the Rattas, and many a high official of the state, of the Jaina persuasion, became votaries of this goddess and took pride in styling themselves the favourite devotees of the deity, having adopted the title, Padmāvatidõvilabdha-vara-prasāda, in their prasasti. This title is met with more frequently and prominently in the praśastis of these dignitaries, noticed in the inscriptions of the 11th to the 13th centuries A. D. in many parts of Karnātaka. Thus this furnishes an indication in regard to the extent of popularity and the prevalence of the Yakshi cult in Karnataka,
A. well-known early instance of a family of subordinate chiefs, who adopted Padmāvatī as their tutelary goddess, are the Sāntaras; and how this took place is mysteriously narrated in the inscriptionsa furnishing their early history. Jinadatta, a prince of a ruling family of North India, we are told, came to the south with an image of Padmāvuti. The goddess blessed him with the power of transmuting iron into gold, and through her grace he founded the town of Pombuchchapura which became the capital of his kingdom. The goddoss, it seems, chose her residence in a Lokki tree of the locality and therefore, came to be called Lokkiyabbe. These events may be referred to the 9th century A. D., though the epigraphs describing them are dated in the 11-12th century A. D.
1. As Padmavati figures in the story of the foundation of the Ganga kingdom through
Simbanandi, the cult of Padmavati, it may appear, dates from the 2nd oentary A. D. But this position is misleading; because the inscriptions giving this account are dated in the 12th century A. D., which was the period when the cult was in its ascendency.
Compare, Ep. Carn., Vol. VII, Sh. 4. 2 How the Yakshi cult bad penetrated into the society and taken deep roots in the
family traditions is illustrated by the names like Yaksharaja, Jakki, Jakkarve, Jākaladövr, etc., borne by a large number of individuals of all ranks, as seen from a
perugal of the insoriptions. 3 Ep. Carn., Vol. VIII, Nagar, 55, 48, eto. Compare, Mysore and Coorg from
Inscriptions, p. 138,
