________________
TULSI-PRAJNA
he bestowed upon them several Vidyās. These vidyās were forty eight thousand in number. These vidyās, it is said, make them capable of moving in the sky. 10
But of these forty eight thousand vidyās only a few are mentioned by name. In some cases, a little information is furnished about the particular vidyā. The main vidyās occurring in detail are as follows: 1. Paņņattiu:
The most important of all the vidyās is Pannatti (skt. prajñapti). A vidyadhari, Kanakamālā by name had abducted Kroņa's son Pradyumna in his childhood. She had bestowed upon him the Pannatti viijā.19 Consequently Pradyumna had full mastery over it. With the help of the Pannatti, a person could change one's form, he could get all information whatever he wanted to know. Pannatti enabled Pradyumna to play various tricks. Sometimes he assumed tbc from of a Brahmin and entered Satyabhama's palaceus and later on, disguising himself as a young monk (Khuddaga) went to Rukmini14. Finally be used to reveal his real identity. Once Samba also assumed the form of a girl with the help of Pannatti which was given to him by Pradyumna, 18
Pannatti is superior even to kingdom, because one who accepted this vidya could automatically become the king also. 16
In the VHM, one of the vidyadharis called Hemayaśā tells Vasudeva that she possessed two mahāvidyās namely gori and mahāpannatti 17 Now Prabhāvati, yet another wife of Vasudeva, had lost her vidyās while rescuing Vasudeva from a wicked vidyadhara. At Vasudeva's request Hemayaśā agrees to teach her the vidyā. Prabhāvati learns mahapannatti from her." Ahoginio (akt Abhogini) :
With the help of this vidyā, the whereabouts of a desired person could be traced, even if he was at a far-off place. Vasudeva's wife PrabhāvatI was able to know through this vidsā what Vasudeva was doing at a particular time.20 Mabājāla" :
It is also called mahājāliņi22 jālavanti.28 This vidyā was used during war-fare. It occurs in two sub-stories of the VHP. In both the stories this vidyā is said to be superior to all the other vidyās, because it could make other vidyās ineffective. 24
In the first story which is based on the Rāmāyana, Rāvana's main warriors were destroyed. Therefore, wishing a victory over Rāma, Ravana started severe penance to obtain jälavamti višjā.
In the second story,26 there is a war between a king Srivijaya and
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
