Medieval Jainism

SR No.: 011082
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Bhasker Anand Saletore
Publisher: Karnataka Publishing House
Total Pages: 448
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 27 MB

Page 87

MEDIÆVAL JAINISM in A.D. 1255, or salāki (or an iron rod, i.e. a wooden stick as hard as iron), as in A.D. 1261.1
4. The name of the goddess. In this detail too the accounts differ. While most of the inscriptions give the name of the goddess as Vāsantikā, a few give it as Padmavati.?
5. The animal that was killed.
This is another detail about which there is no unanimity in the epigraphs. For instance, in A.D. 1123, 1173, circa 1208, circa 1220, and 1234, it is called śārdūlam, but in the other records it is called puli3 (tiger). The former (śārdülam) seems to be correct, and the latter, inadmissible. The numerous sculptures depicting this animal on stone inscriptions and on temple walls in Karnāțaka confirm this opinion.*
1. E. C. V, Ak. 71, p. 138, Bl. 112, p. 71 ; Cf. Ak. 82, of A.D. 1234, p. 143 ; VIII, Sb. 28, p. 5; V. Ak. 108, p. 156 ; Bl. 74, p. 61.
2. Ibid., VIII, Sb. 28, p. 5. Is it possible that this is the same goddess who appears so prominently in connection with the Sāntaras? It may be that Padmāvati was only a Hinduized form of a Buddhist goddess of the Mahāyāna school, after she had passed through a period in the Jaina religion. This may account for the fact that Padmāyati is associated with alchemy and such other arts. It is perhaps this Buddhist touch which is responsible for the introduction of the element of incantation in the story, as in A.D. 1173. (E. C. V. Ak. 71, p. 138. If these suggestions should lead one to further inquiry, perhaps one may discover at a future date that Angadi itself was a Buddhist centre before it passed into the hands of the Jainas !
3. E. C. V, Hn. 116, p. 33; Bl. 112, p. 71 ; Ak. 7,1, p. 138, Ak. 82 p. 113; VIII, Sb. 28, p. 5.
4. Two scholars have independently arrived at this conclusion, and they give the significance of the Hoysala leader Sala killing the