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A Brief Survey of a Long Tradition
to Brahmanism and have called Ādinātha: Brahma, Śiva, 43 Svayambhū (the self-existent one).44 No doubt the ācāryas succeeded rather skilfully in continuing to follow their own path, while at the same time borrowing another terminology from a tradition that was not their own, but this procedure has involved them in misunderstandings and criticisms from the side of certain Hindus with regard to this at times somewhat forced style of imitation.
One of the treasures of Jaina bhakti, the very popular Bhaktāmarastotram, a hymn of ecstatic praise to Adinātha, requires both a certain knowledge of Jaina doctrine and also familiarity with its worship to grasp that it is in fact addressed to a tirthankara.45
2. General survey
The above ideas that we are often going to encounter in the course of this study introduce us straightaway into the spiritual background of the Jaina tradition of which the sādhvis are members, the tradition whose trail we are going to try to trace and follow through the course of the centuries and in every region. Before making certain preliminary remarks to the general survey which follows, it is necessary to define what we mean by religious tradition and by history.
Religious tradition
As a generalisation, we may say that tradition implies an oral transmission of the spiritual message of a God or saint or exceptional being, a message conveyed in the first place to trustworthy disciples
43 Cf. "The identity of Ķşabha and Śiva", Sadhvi Mañjulā, 1968, pp. 133137.
44 Cf. e.g. the Adipurāņa of Jinasena, the Brhats vayambhū-stotra of Samantabhadra; PSa I, 16 and the comm. on it. Here the reference is to the omniscient one who, by the inherent power of his own atman and without any external aid, possesses perfect knowledge.
45 For all the features of Jaina bhakti, cf. JSK III, pp. 208-211.
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