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શાસનદેવી શ્રી પદ્માવતી માતા ]
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LEGEND
There is an interesting legend explaining the association of Padmavati with Parsvanatha. The incident runs like this- "Once Kamatha, the ascetic was sitting amidst five fires (four around him and the sun above). He was thus harming lise, as shown by Parsva, that in one of the logs in fire there were two snakes, hall burnt to death. in their last inoments c! liie, Parsva taught the tenets of Jainism to these two snakes and the snakes died calmly. They were reborn in the underworld as Dharanendra and Padmavati. Meghmali was obstructing the penance of Parsva by varieties of things like rains, cyclone etc. At this time Dharanendra and Padmavati appeared there as enormous snakes and spread their hoods over meditating Parsva to protect him and see to it that he would be successful in his meditatiton and enlightment. This narrative makes it clear why Yaksa and Yaksini are often referred to as Sasandevtas or guardian deity, who protect the Tirthankaras to be to secure the teaching of Jaina doctrine and thus become protectors of Jaina religion."
Padmavati figures in the story of the foundation of the Ganga kingdom in the second century; and is said to have favoured Madhava with a magic sword for breaking a pillar. But there are doubts about origin of her cult at such an early date, because this tradition appears in the epigraphs of 11th-12th C.A.D. Yaksini padmavati, who figures frequently in the records of the Santara kings, gained prominence in Karnataka as a cult goddess from 10th C. Jinadatta Raya, the founder of Santara kingdom in the south, is recorded to have set up Lokkiyabbe in the Jaina temple at Patti-Pombuccapura or modern Humcca in the Nagar taluka of the Shimoga district in the 10th C. (EC sh vii, 114, p. 37). That Lokkiyabe was the second name of Padmavati is known from another record of the 11th C. (EC, viii, Nr. 35, p. 134). Besides the Santara kings, a large number of minor ruling families such as the silaharas and the Pattas became votaries of this goddess in the 11th-12th C.
Gradually tantric attributes and tantric rites were associated with these yaksinis. They are said to have bestowed super human power upon the devotees by which the latter could bring a person under control, win over the enemies on the battlefield and cause hostility between two persons. The element of magic and miracle, which was attribited to Padmavati and Jvalamalini, is evident from the study of the Jaina texts on tantrism.
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