Book Title: Comparative and Critical Study of Mantrashastra
Author(s): Mohanlal Bhagwandas Jhaveri, K V Abhayankar
Publisher: Sarabhai Manilal Nawab
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INTRODUCTION
Very early Viņā or the lute seems to have been substituted for Varadamudra-see v. 6 Sarasvatistotra, appendix 12, also Visņudharmottarapurana, III, Adh. 64, vv. 1 & 2. Viņa then continues to be very popular and becomes an invariable symbol of Sarasvati. Her seat of lotus loses popularity and Hamsa or swan is universally accepted as her Vähana. It is a fact that amongst Svetambara Jain sculptures the image of Sarasvati with the vehicle of a pea-fowl or pea-cock has not yet been found. It was the famous painter Ravivarma who was responsible for showing a pea-cock as the Vahana of Sarasvati. The confusion is perhaps due to an unwarranted identification of Saraswati with Kaumāri i. e. Sakti of Kumāra whose Vahana is a peacock. Because Sarasvati is traditionaliy believed to be Kumārī i. e. virgin, she is taken to be the same as Kaumārī Sakti. Amongst Jains also there is Prajnapti Vidyadevi whose Vahana is 'Mayura' or a peacock and there is a Mayūravahini Vidya referred to in Pancaparamesți Mahāmantra Yantra Bṛhat Kalpa: but none of these is Sarasvati.
Asadhara in his Pratiṣṭhāsāroddhāra gives the Mantra of Mayuravahini and says that with that Mantra Vägvādini should be installed. Thus amongst the Digambara Jains Sarasvati came to be identified with Mayūravahini and since Asadhara's time some Digambara Jain sculptures of Sarasvati are found with the peacock as her Vahana. Asadhara himself has also described Sarasvati as Pundarīkāsanā having the lotus as her seat. Later Digambara Jain writers have following Asadhara described her either as Mayuravahini or Pundarīkāsanā and some as Hamsavahana.* The confusion is perhaps due to loss of the old tradition and mixing up of Mayuravahini with Sarasvati. It can however be said without fear of contradiction that no ancient image of Sarasvati is found with the peacock as her vehicle.
APPENDIX 11
Sarasvatikalpa by Sri Mallişenasuri, the author of Sri Bhairava
*See hymns to Sarasvati by Malayakirti and Arhaddasa contained in Malayakirti's Sarasvatikalpa.
