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GLORY OF JAINISM
of Jaina monks, especially the Upadhyāyas and Vācakas. We have no means to ascertain that the worship of these deities was introduced in Jainism by Vardhamana Mahāvīra or his immediate successors. It is, however, quite reasonable to suppose that the Vardhamanavidya and the Sūrimantra existed in the age of Vajrasvāmī in the first or second century A.D. and both the Jaina Tantric practices should probably date from (at least) a century or two before Christ. Their association with Sri, Sarasvati and Anaitis or Anähita suggests that they may be ancient goddesses, and probably evolved from them.
With the growth of the later yakṣiņis and the popularity of Ambika, Padmavati and Cakreśvari, their worship seems to have receded into background and practically disappeared.
It is also certain, on account of their associations with the above mentioned goddesses, as also with Nanda and Bhadra, that they are not exclusively Jaina, and their origins should be traced into some other deities commonly worshipped in ancient times, before the Christian era.
Eight Dik-Kumārīs, living on the Eastern Rucaka mountains coming to perform the birth ceremonies of a Jina, are called Nanda, Nandottară, Ananda, Nandivarddhana, Vijaya, Vaijayanti, Jayanti and Aparajita. It should be remembered that the lists of fifty-six Dik-Kumáris include names of such ancient goddesses as Ilá-devi, Prthivi, Ekanāsā (corruption of Ekanamsă (?), Bhadra, Sri, etc. It is, therefore, probable that Nanda, Bhadra etc., and Jaya, Vijaya etc., shown as attendants of Śrī, the Adhisthātr-devi of the third patha of the Súrimantra, were ancient goddesses and that they were incorporated in Jainism at a very early date.
That the Jaya, Vijaya, Jayanti and Aparăjită are treated as doorkeepers in the Svetambara tradition is significant though only indirectly. Vijaya, Vaijayanti, Jayanta and Aparajita are four well known doorkeepers of the Jagati of the Jambudvipa according to Jaina canon like the Jambudvipaprajfiapti. Their female counterparts seem to have been evolved as door-keepers in a Samavasarana. Male deities of those names were installed in a fortified town in centre, according to a well known passage from Kautilya's Arthaśästra, which fact shows that Vijaya, Vaijayanta, Jayanta and Aparajita are old deities.
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23. Triṣaṣṭisaläkāpuruṣacarita, I (GOS), p. 106. Lists of Dik-Kumārīs are available in Jaina Canonical Works, in the Vasudevahindi, in the Angavijja, and in Svetämbara and Digambara works on Cosmography.
24. Jambudvipa-prajñapi, sū. 7 ff., pp. 45 ff.
25. Banerji, J. N., Development of Hindu Iconography, pp. 94 ff.
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