________________
66: Śramaņa, Vol 64, No. 1, Jan.-Mar. 2013 saved by a Jain monk who often just happened to be somewhere near. The cure or rescue was usually accomplished by means of the ascetic's personal supernatural power, which was often conveyed by a mantra and sometimes transmitted physically by means of water or sanctified powder. Occasionally, a deity under the control of the ascetic was the agency of cure. In the popular hagiographies of these same ascetics, their power was linked directly to their asceticism (yogabala or tapobala, power of yoga or of asceticism) or to their special knowledge (as jñānbala or power of knowledge). 10 Ritualistic claim of the Jain pontiffs armed them with such ‘miraculous' powers which could be used for subduing non-Jain supernatural powers. An example'is a celebrated incident in which Jīnadattasūrī subdued sixty-four yogins in the city of Ujjain; they became his followers and offered him boons. Jīnadattasūrī once saved a group of Jain laymen from a bolt of lightning by trapping it under his pātra (the bowl in which mendicants receive food from laypersons). Another similar instance is Jinadattasūrī's subduing of the five piras of the five rivers of Punjab; these Muslim spirits likewise granted boons. The Dādāgurus also miraculously vanquish Jainism's human enemies, such as Brahmans and Muslim clergy. The text mentions an incident in which Brahmans placed a dead cow in front of a Jain temple; Jīnadattasūrī caused the cow to rise and expire once more in front of a Hindu temple." Jīnacandrasūrī II, who is believed to have had great influence over Akbar, once confounded a hostile Qazi by turning a new-moon night into a fullmoon night (by throwing a platter in the sky).'2 For Jain hagiographical perception use of such miracles was a righteous healing of the anti- Jain evil forces. But for the given historical context it could be seen as a contest for a contentious religious space to establish a particular religious superiority of Jainism at the cost of others by demeaning them.
Superiority of Jainism over non- Jain religions has been a regular objective of the narratives concerning rituals resulting into healings. Svetāmbara Jains of Gujarat worship a popular yakși Ambikā
