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JAINISM IN SOUTH INDIA
Not only did the Mahājanas entertain great regard for the faith of Lord Jina, but even directly contributed to the propagation of the faith by establishing and encouraging religious institutions of the persuasion in their township. We do not know whether it was a chance or a rule that the presidentship of the chosen representatives of the town was held by a follower of the Jaina faith. Any way, it was so in the two specific instances before us. One is Barmadēva of Inscription No. 4. The other is Chandirāja of the present epigraph. We may also reasonably assume that a substantially large number of the town assembly was directly included in the fold of the believers of the doctrine. All this speaks for the abundance of influnce wielded by the faith of Lord Jina among the residents of this important and distinguished township.
The epithet, ‘hēma-kumdala-jvālini-dēvy-ākarshaņarum, figuring in the passage comprising the eulogy of the councillors of Sēờimba (1. 107), is of interest to the student of Jainism and hence it deserves to be examined closely. It is not for the first time that we meet with this epithet here in the present inscription. It occurs in similar passages in two earlier inscriptions from Sēdam, Nos. 3 and 5 (lines 25 and 37). There (No. 3), while discussing the religious leanings of the councillors, it was suggested that the deity "Jvālini of golden earrings might be connected with the ritualistic ceremony of the Tantric cult.
But a scrutiny of the sacredotal development of the Jaina pantheon and the conventions of the age as evidenced in similar instances, would lead us to the reasonable conclusion that the goddess might as well be associated with the ritualistic practices of the followers of the Jaina doctrine. We know, according to the pantheon of the Digambara School, that Chandraprabha, the eighth Tirthankara had for his Yakshiņi or Sāsanadēvatā a divinity named Jvālini or Jvālāmālini. This guardian goddess is known as Bhrikuti in the terminology of the Svētāmbara school.
Again, turning to another category of Jaina divinities known as Vidyādēvis, we come across the name Mahājvālā or Jvālāmālini among them. This may be easily equated with Jvālini of our record.
As we are primarily concerned here with the Digambara sect of Jainism, we would devote our attention, for a while. to the iconographical
iconographical details of the Yakshini Jvālini or Jvālāmālini and the Vidyadovi Jvālāmālini according to the scholastic conception. The Yakshiņi Jvālini is shiningly white in complexion, has a buffalo for vehicle and holds in her hands disc, arrow, noose, shield, trident, sword, bow, etc. White in complexion,
1 B. C. Bhattacharya : Jaina Ioonography, p. 128.
