Temple of Satrunjaya

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 19

way of harm as they enter the temples or where they sit down, and a muhpati or mouth-cloth to prevent insects entering the mouth when praying or washing the images.
The proper objects of worship are the Jinas or Tirthankaras, but they allow the existence of the Hindu gods, and have admitted to a share in their worship such of them as they have connected with the tales of their saints. As among the Bauddhas, Indra or Sakra is of frequent reference, the Jainas distinguishing two principal Indras--Sakra, regent of the north heaven, and Isana the regent of the south, besides many inferior ones; and images of Sarasvati and of Devi or Bhavani are to be found in many of their temples. Nor are those of Hanumana, Bhairava, or Ganesa, excluded from their sacred places. 9
• Besides they have a pantheon of their own in which they reckon four classes of superhuman beings, Bhuvanapatis, Vyantaras, Jyotiskas, and Vaimanikas---comprising 1, the brood of the Asuras, Nagas, Garuda, the Dikpalas, etc., supposed to reside in the hells below the earth; 2, the Raksasas, Pisacas, Bhutas, Kinnaras, Gandharvas, etc., inhabiting mountains, forests, and lower air; 3, five orders of celestial luminaries; and 4, the gods of present and past Kalpas--of the former of which are those born in the heavens, Saudharma, Isana, Sanatkumara, Mahendra, Brahma, Lantaka, Sukra, Sahasrara, Anata, Pranata, Arana and Acyuta, etc. Each Jina, they say, has also a sort of 'familiar' goddess of his own, called a sasanadevi, who executes his behests. They are perhaps analogous to the saktis or matrs of the Brahmins; indeed among them we find Ambika a name of Kaumari, the sakti of Kartikeya, and Canda and Mahakali, names of Bhavani.- Amarakosa, I. i. 1, 1.33. Conf. Hodgson, Illustrations, p. 218.