Jaya Group of Goddesses

Author(s): Umakant P Shah
Publisher: Z_Vijay_Vallabh_suri_Smarak_Granth_012060.pdf

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GLORY OF JAINISM 127 of Jaina monks, especially the Upadhyayas and Vacakas. We have no means to ascertain that the worship of these deities was introduced in Jainism by Vardhamana Mahavira or his immediate successors. It is, however, quite reasonable to suppose that the Vardhamanavidya and the Surimantra existed in the age of Vajrasvami in the first or second century A.D. and both the Jaina Tantric practices should probably date from (at least) a century or two before Christ. Their association with Sri, Sarasvati and Anaitis or Anahita suggests that they may be ancient goddesses, and probably evolved from them. With the growth of the later yaksinis and the popularity of Ambika, Padmavati and Cakresvari, their worship seems to have receded into background and practically disappeared. It is also certain, on account of their associations with the above mentioned goddesses, as also with Nanda and Bhadra, that they are not exclusively Jaina, and their origins should be traced into some other deities commonly worshipped in ancient times, before the Christian era. Eight Dik-Kumaris, living on the Eastern Rucaka mountains coming to perform the birth ceremonies of a Jina, are called Nanda, Nandottara, Ananda, Nandivarddhana, Vijaya, Vaijayanti, Jayanti and Aparajita.23 It should be remembered that the lists of fifty-six Dik-Kumaris include names of such ancient goddesses as Ila-devi, Psthivi, Ekanasa (corruption of Ekanamsa (?), Bhadra, Sri, etc. It is, therefore, probable that Nanda, Bhadra etc., and Jaya, Vijaya etc., shown as attendants of Sri, the Adhisthatr-devi of the third patha of the Surimantra, were ancient goddesses and that they were incorporated in Jainism at a very early date. That the Jaya, Vijaya, Jayanti and Aparajita are treated as doorkeepers in the Svetambara tradition is significant though only indirectly. Vijaya, Vaijayanti, Jayanta and Aparajita are four well known doorkeepers of the Jagati of the Jambudvipa according to Jaina canon like the Jambudvipaprajnapti.24 Their female counterparts seem to have been evolved as door-keepers in a Samavasarana. Male deities of those names were installed in a fortified town in centre, according to a well known passage from Kautilya's Arthasastra 25 which fact shows that Vijaya, Vaijayanta, Jayanta and Aparajita are old deities. 23. Trisastisalakapurusacarita, I (GOS), p. 106. Lists of Dik-Kumaris are available in Jaina Canonical Works, in the Vasudevahindi, in the Angavijja, and in Svetambara and Digambara works on Cosmography. 24. Jambudvipa-prajnapi, su. 7 ff., pp. 45 ff. 25. Banerji, J. N., Development of Hindu Iconography, pp. 94 ff.