Article: Padmāvatī

Contributed by Nalini Balbir

The yakṣī or female attendant deity of the 23rd Jina, Pārśvanātha or Lord Pārśva, is Padmāvatī. As a śāsana-devatā – ‘deity of the teaching’ – she is believed to help protect
and spread the message of her Jina. Padmāvatī is one of the most important Jain goddesses among both Digambaras and Śvetāmbaras and is worshipped all over India. She
is the focus of individual worship partly because of her associations with wealth.

As a goddess, Padmāvatī is a soul subject to the cycle of birth and can intervene in human affairs, unlike Jinas, who are liberated, perfect souls, completely detached from
everyday human experience. Lay Jains worship gods partly to request help with worldly matters, ranging from issues of health and fertility, and passing examinations to
business success. By the tenth century several of the śāsana-devatās had developed into independent gods at the centre of their own cults. This may be because of their
connections with the major Jinas, links with a prominent pilgrimage centre or various stories of their powers.

Padmāvatī is assigned different attributes and divine vehicles by the two main sects of Jainism. However, among both she is frequently linked to the snake, the emblem of
her Jina, Pārśva. Padmāvatī is particularly significant among Jains in Karnataka, especially the Digambara centres of Hombuja or Humcha and Shravana Belgola.

Roles

Padmāvatī is the yakṣī of the Jina Pārśvanātha or Lord Pārśva. She is linked to wealth and snakes, and can cure snakebites, which happen quite frequently in India.
Although Padmāvatī's origins are unclear, she was probably originally a local clan deity.

Padmāvatī's male counterpart, the yakṣa, is known as Dharaṇendra to Śvetāmbaras and Pārśva or Mātanga to Digambaras. With a snake as his emblem, the 23rd Jina is
closely associated with snakes and is usually depicted with a hood of snake-heads. The snakes refer to Pārśva's relationship with his yakṣa, whom Śvetāmbara Jains believe
is the reincarnation of the snake Dharaṇendra. Before he became a monk, Prince Pārśva saved the snake from death and, later, Dharaṇendra sheltered the meditating
ascetic from torrential rainfall. However, whereas the yakṣa’s association with the Jina is well rooted in tradition, this is not the case with Padmāvatī.

Instead, Padmāvatī's identity as Pārśva's yakṣī is the result of various interactions and influences. It is believed that her connection with the 23rd Jina is rather late, as it is
not seen in art before the tenth century. She may have replaced the earlier snake-goddess Vairoṭyā, who is the 13th of the 16 vidyā-devīs. But this is unclear.

Padmāvatī has connections with snakes, being credited with the ability to cure snakebites, which may be one of the reasons she became associated with Pārśva. She is also
a goddess of wealth, which is another connection with this Jina.

She is likely to have been originally a clan deity – kula-devī – who was integrated into the Jain system of values. Inscriptions from Karnatak show that members of local
ruling families in the medieval period often stated that they were devotees of Padmāvatī (Cort 1987: 243).

Appearance
Both yakṣas and yakṣīs are considered part of the entourage of the Jina image, technically known as parikara. Like all of the attendant deities, Padmāvatī has certain
features that help to identify her and indicate her powers. These are described in, for example, texts on the iconography of the Jina, which outline the appearance of the
Jina's attendants.

Being presented as a deity implies that Padmāvatī has special characteristics linked to the depiction of gods in art. This means she:

may have more than two arms or hands

has a vehicle – vāhana
demonstrates attributes by holding various objects
may exhibit hand-gestures that symbolise a concept or attitude – mudrās.

However, it is quite common to see goddesses such as Padmāvatī, who have also developed into independent deities, as large images with a miniature Jina depicted above
their heads.

Padmāvatī's divine vehicle varies according to the two main Jain sects. The Śvetāmbaras consider her vehicle to be either the snake or cockerel and depict her with four
hands, holding a lotus, noose, fruit and goad. Here is how the 12th-century author Hemacandra describes her:

The goddess Padmāvatī, with a kurkuṭa-serpent for a vehicle, gold colored, carrying a lotus and a noose in her right hands, a fruit and a goad in her left hands,
became the second messenger-deity of Lord Pārśva.

Triṣaṣṭiśalākāpuruṣacarita IX.3. 363–365

Johnson’s translation, volume 5, page 403

Digambara images show various attributes depending on the number of hands. For instance, a four-armed Padmāvatī from Deogarh in Uttar Pradesh makes the gesture of
giving a boon – varada-mudrā – and holds a noose, lotus and shield (Tiwari and Sinha 2011/112). Additional attributes would be a lotus, jug, goad, manuscript, staff, fruit,
bow and so on. There is no full standardisation in this matter.

An image of Padmāvatī is a common sight in niches located in the entrance hall of a large number of temples. She is often seen clothed in colourful silks, mainly red or
golden. Silk is a precious, costly material and red silk, often with golden threads, is traditional bridal attire at Indian weddings. These garments underline her connection
with wealth.

Stories

There are numerous instances in stories where Padmāvatī provides help or rescue for people in need. In these tales she aids ordinary people as well as religious or
political leaders, especially among Digambaras.

Dated 1129 CE, the Shravana Belgola inscription number 77 reports that Padmāvatī helped the Jain teacher Pātrakesari defeat his opponents (Cort 1987: 245).

In a collection of stories from the 13th century it is narrated how a king wants to protect his city from the approaching Muslim army. He asks the help of a Digambara
monk who he knew had obtained a boon from Padmāvatī. Instructed by the monk, the king worships the goddess during the night:
 The Digambara that very night began a sacrifice before Padmāvatī in the presence of the king. Then Padmāvatī, brought there by his perfect power of
attracting spirits, appeared within the garland of flame in the sacrificial pit, and said that she had forbidden the approach of the [Muslims].

Merutunga, Prabandha-cintāmaṇi

Tawney 1982 reprint, page 185

The outcome in this tale is unsuccessful because the deity the monk worshipped was not actually Padmāvatī but a foreign deity in disguise.

Another story tells how Padmāvatī played a major role in the foundation of the Śāntara dynasty of Karnatak (Cort 1987: 245). First she assists the founder of the dynasty,
Jinadatta, to triumph over his threatening father. The goddess helps Jinadatta escape his father and then, when he is pursued, she creates the illusion that he leads a
greater army than that of his father. Jinadatta's father and his army turn back and Jinadatta flees the kingdom. Next Padmāvatī ‘told the penniless Jinadatta to touch an
iron bar to the vulva of her image, whereupon the bar turned into the gold he needed to found a city’. But later on she disappears in anger because she finds out that
Jinadatta has given her a fake pearl. Of the two pearls Jinadatta discovers, he offers the goddess the fake and presents the real one to his wife.

These two stories demonstrate how unpredictable the goddess can be. Such accounts emphasise the nature of deities as beings caught in the world of rebirths and prone to
passions – kaṣāyas – or desires. As Zydenbos remarks (1994: 143), with Padmāvatī ‘there is always a mystery that is never completely solved and gives a twist to the course
of the story’.

In other circumstances, Padmāvatī is said to have appeared to the 12th-century Digambara monk Śrīdhara. She approved his proposal of establishing an image of a Jina,
despite the opposition of his disciple (Guérinot 1926: 54–55). This story occurs in the context of the birth of the Śvetāmbara monastic lineage known as the Pūrṇimā-gaccha.

Temples

Although Padmāvatī is popular throughout India, her worship is especially strong in southern India. There are scores of temples dedicated to her in southern India,
particularly in Karnatak. Indeed, Padmāvatī is so popular in Karnatak that she is associated with other Jinas as well as Pārśvanātha or Lord Pārśva.

Among Digambaras, Padmāvatī is associated in particular with Hombuja or Humcha in the Shimoga district of Karnatak and with Shravana Belgola in Karnatak. The
growth of these centres of pilgrimage is entwined with Padmāvatī's rise as an individual figure of worship.

Hombuja

Padmāvatī's link with Hombuja – also known as Humcha – dates back to an old legend told in the Padmāvatī-māhātmya by Padmanābha, in Kannara (Zydenbos 1994: 138).
It might have been composed in the 17th century in this form but may well be older than that.

About 1300 years ago King Jinadatta reaches Humcha after fleeing from north India. As his guru has advised, the king carries a statue of Padmāvatī to protect him. The
goddess herself appears to him at Hombuja and says that she will not travel any further. Jinadatta becomes king of the local tribal people, clears the forest and builds his
new capital city. Padmāvatī becomes the presiding deity of the place and the city grows wealthy and powerful, as any bar of iron she touches turns to gold (for example, see
Zydenbos 1994: 138; Titze 1998: 39–41; Cort 2010: 347). When Jinadatta offers to build her a temple, she agrees only after he promises to build a temple for the Jina whom
she attends, namely Pārśva. Thus she demonstrates her respect for the Jina (Zydenbos 1994: 142).

Hombuja became a major pilgrimage place, especially for Digambara Jains. It houses a temple to Pārśva and one to Padmāvatī as well as temples dedicated to other Jinas.
Bhaṭṭāraka Devendrakirtiji managed the site until his death in 2010. In November 2011 a new young bhaṭṭāraka, Dharmakirti, took charge.

Shravana Belgola
Padmāvatī is also a focus of devotion in Shravana Belgola (Cort 2010: 349), along with the goddess Ambikā or Kūṣmāṇḍinī, who is also a yakṣī.

Particularly noticeable is the image of Padmāvatī in the Kattale Basadi on Candra-giri, the small hill. This temple has come to be known as 'Padmāvatī Basadi' on account of
her importance.

Other places

This south Indian emphasis does not mean that shrines or temples to Padmāvatī are not found anywhere else. They are increasingly built everywhere in India and beyond.

One contemporary example is the Padmāvatī shrine in the larger Śvetāmbara complex of the Vijayavallabha Smārak temple in Karnal, about 20 kilometres from Delhi.
Sādhvī Mr̥gāvatījī had the idea for the building project, which gained the blessing of the Tapā-gaccha leader Vijayendradinna-sūri. The temple housing the cult image was
inaugurated in May 1984.

The motivation behind the temple's construction is to discourage lay Jains from going to fakirs and non-Jain gods and goddesses in the hope of fulfilling their wishes.
Instead, it is said that Padmāvatī can guarantee all types of success and remove all kinds of obstacles for devotees following the right path. This is because she has
marvellous powers and is the attendant of Pārśvanātha or Lord Pārśva (Jain 1984: 5).

Worship

Paying due homage to Padmāvatī is usually performed using the standard rituals of Jain worship. However, the story of the Digambara monk who worshipped Padmāvatī
with the aim of preventing Muslims entering the king’s capital shows how ordinary Jain worship may be supplemented or replaced by other practices. These may be quite
standard Jain practices, such as meditation, or less orthodox rites, such as making sacrifices to fire.

Even so it is important to emphasise that physical and moral purity are crucial to guarantee the success of the rituals. Moral purity implies following proper Jain conduct.

Tantric rituals

Padmāvatī is often worshipped the Tantric way. Jain Tantric worship aims to control other people or counter evil influences and involves performing rituals to placate the
aggressive side of the deity's nature, encouraging the divinity to behave benevolently. If not worshipped correctly, the vengeful deity may cause harm.

The main source to this effect is a kalpa text, which sets out rituals and yantras for efficient, successful worship. The Digambara monk Malliṣeṇa wrote the Bhairava-
Padmāvatī-kalpa – Manual of Rituals to the Fierce Padmāvatī – in 1057 CE in Karnatak. This work in Sanskrit verse has a commentary by a writer called Bandhuṣeṇa, about
whom hardly anything is known (Jhavery 1944; Nawab 1937/1996).

This kalpa is divided into ten chapters (see Jhavery 1944: 295–299 for a summary).

Chapters of the Bhairava-Padmāvatī-kalpa

Chapter Number of
Contents
number verses

Moral qualities required from the practitioner, who is called:

1 11
‘the one who wants to reach success’ – sādhaka
‘the one who is versed in mantras’ – mantrī
Chapter Number of
Contents
number verses

Rites for the protection of the practitioner and:

his purification – ātma-śuddhi

2 21 purification of the five elements of the body – bhūta-śuddhi
placing the tips of the fingers and palm of the right hand on various parts of the body while reciting mantras – nyāsa
meditation
the method of working out whether a particular mantra is favourable to the practitioner

Method for achieving the ‘six acts’, here listed as:

1. pacification – śānti
2. causing enmity – dveṣa
3. subjugation and gaining control over another person – vaśīkr̥ta
3 40
4. stopping control of another person – bandha
5. attracting women – strīṛākṛṣṭi
6. halting other people's actions – stambhana.

The mode of worship of the deity with the relevant yantra is described.

4 21 Description of 12 yantras used to meet various aims

Yantras for achieving immobilisation – stambhana – which results in ‘paralysing persons and their activities and passing successfully
5 22
through various ordeals’ (Jhavery 1944: 297)

6 19 Yantras and mantras for fascinating women

7 41 Yantras and mantras used to control others and make them do as the practitioner wishes

Mantras for divination using various objects, such as gazing into a mirror, lamp-flame, sword, water or a thumb to which soot and oil are
8 33
applied

9 42 Medicinal herbs and powders to control women or other people and make them do what the practitioner wishes

19 57 Science for controlling and catching snakes or treating people who have been bitten – garuḍa-vidyā or garuḍa-tantra

The number of hymns or kalpas dedicated to this goddess is almost infinite. A good collection of Sanskrit texts is found in the appendices to Nawab 1937/1996. Analysis on
pages 307 to 316 in Jhavery 1944 gives insight into the different modes of Padmāvatī's worship.

There are many more such texts in Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil and Kannara. They are available in all forms, for example in low-cost booklets found in local shops and temples
(see Jain 1984 for instance) in India.

Images

Pārśvanātha or Lord Pārśva sits in the lotus pose commonly used for Jinas. Above his head five serpent heads fan out while his half-snake attendant
gods stand either side. The yakṣa and yakṣī hold fly-whisks, which, along with his jewellery, underline Pārśva's status as a spiritual king. The snake motif identifies
him as the 23rd Jina.. Image by Cactusbones – Sue Ann Harkey © CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0

Contemporary Śvetāmbara image of Padmāvatī. The yakṣī – female attendant deity – of the 23rd Jina, Lord Pārśva, Padmāvatī is connected with snakes
and wealth. She is one of the most important goddesses among both Digambara and Śvetāmbara sects and is the focus of individual worship.. Image by hedonia –
Ruchi © CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Sculpture of Padmāvatī on a temple column at Tirupannamur, Tamil Nadu. The goddess Padmāvatī is immediately identifiable from the characteristic
snakehoods above her head. A powerful and popular deity, she is especially favoured in south India.. Image by Nalini Balbir © Nalini Balbir
 Ninth-century carving of the goddess Padmāvatī in the wall of a Jain cave temple in Tamil Nadu. A serpent canopy surrounds her head and she holds
the ankuśa, a noose, a lotus and a fruit in her four hands. She is the yakśī of Pārśvanātha or Lord Pārśva, the 23rd Jina, but is worshipped in her own right,
particularly in southern India.. Image by Nalini Balbir © Nalini Balbir

Eleventh-century bronze maṇḍala of Padmāvatī. Sitting on a lotus throne with a nimbus encircling her head, the goddess is flanked by attendants,
underlining her status and power. Padmāvatī is particularly popular in Karnataka and southern India. She is the yakṣī or female attendant deity of the 23rd Jina,
Pārśvanātha or Lord Pārśva. This is a rare example of a sacred object to aid worship of Padmāvatī, which probably hails from Karnataka.. Image by Walters Art
Museum © CC BY-SA 3.0

The goddess Padmāvatī on the cover of a booklet of hymns and worship rituals dedicated to her. It is published by the trust that runs the Vijay Vallabh
Smarak temple in Karnal, not far from Delhi, to help pilgrims pray correctly and effectively. The Vijayavallabha Smārak temple complex contains a shrine dedicated
to Padmāvatī, which was the brainchild of Sādhvī Mr̥gāvatī. The Śvetāmbara temple was inaugurated in May 1984 and draws numerous devotees to this powerful
goddess. . Image by Nalini Balbir © Nalini Balbir

The 'anointing ceremony' – ābhiṣeka – of an image of the goddess Padmāvatī. Lay people in Melbourne, Australia, perform the ceremony with their
noses and mouths covered so they do not accidentally pollute the idol. Padmāvatī is a popular goddess and also the yakṣī – female attendant deity – of Pārśva, the
23rd Jina.. Image by hedonia – Ruchi © CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Further Reading

The Jaina Iconography

B. C. Bhattacharya
Motilal Banarsidass; Delhi, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh and Patna, Bihar in India; 1974

Full details

‘Medieval Jaina Goddess Traditions’

John E. Cort
Numen
volume 34: 2
December 1987

Full details

‘The Goddesses of Sravana Belgola’

John E. Cort
Svasti – essays in honour of Prof. Hampa Nagarajaiah for his 75th Birthday
edited by Nalini Balbir
Muddushree Granthamala series; volume 75
K. S. Muddappa Smaraka Trust; Bangalore, Karnataka, India; 2010

Full details

The Jains
Paul Dundas
Library of Religious Beliefs and Practices series; series editor John Hinnels and Ninian Smart; volume 14
Routledge Curzon Press; London, UK; 2002

Full details

‘Some Thoughts on the Identification of Jaina Images in Tamilnadu’

A. Ekambaranathan
Svasti – essays in honour of Prof. Hampa Nagarajaiah for his 75th Birthday
edited by Nalini Balbir
Muddushree Granthamala series; volume 75
K. S. Muddappa Smaraka Trust; Bangalore, Karnatak, India; 2010

Full details

La religion djaïna
Armand Albert Guérinot
Paul Geuthner; Paris, France; 1926

Full details

‘Jaina Goddesses and their Worship in Karnataka’

Iyengar Vatsala
The Jaina Heritage: Distinction, Decline and Resilience
edited by Julia A. B. Hegewald
Heidelberg Series in South Asian and Comparative Studies series; volume 2
Samskriti Publishers; New Delhi, India; 2011

Full details

Jaina Iconography
Jyotindra Jain and Eberhard Fischer
Iconography of Religions – Indian Religions series; volume 13: 12 and 13
Institute of Religious Iconography, State University of Groningen; E. J. Brill; Leiden, Netherlands; 1978

Full details

Pragaṭ Prabhāvī Mātā Padmāvatī

edited by Jagadish Mitra Jain
Devī Padmāvatī Charitable Trust, Atma Vallabh Jain Smarak Shikshan Vidhi; Delhi

Full details

Comparative and Critical Study of Mantrashastra (With Special Treatment of Jain Mantravada): Being The Introduction to Sri Bhairava Padmavati Kalpa
Mohanlal Bhagwandas Jhavery
Sri jain kala sahitya samsodhak (Jain Art Publication) series; volume 1
Sarabhai Manilal Nawab; Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India; 1944

Full details

Atiśay Kṣetra Hombuj

Bhuvanhalli Ḍi. Śrīpatī Joyis
Siddhāntakīrti Granthmālā; Hombuja, Karnataka, India; 1996

Full details

Opulent Candragiri
Hampa Nagarajaiah
S.D.J.M.I. Managing Committee; Shravanabelgola, Karnataka, India; 2001

Full details

Vividha Kalpa Saṃgraha: Mul, gujarātī bhāṣāntara, mantra-yantra-tantra no saṃgraha pariśiṣṭo sāthe
Nawab Sarabhai Manilal and Nawab Rajendra Sarabhai
Śrī Jaina kalā sāhitya saṃśodhana granthamālā series; volume 22
Amadāvāda; Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India; 1998

Full details

Śrī Bhairavapadmāvatīkalpa: śrīBandhuṣeṇa nī vistṛta ṭīkā tathā śuddha mantragarbhita 31 pariśiṣṭo sahita [aneka yantrakṛtio sāthe] dvitīya saṃvṛddhita
āvṛtti [ādya sampādaka Sva. Prof. K.V. Abhyankar]
Malliṣeṇasūriviracita
Nawab Sarabhai Manilal; Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India; 1996

Full details

Padmāvatī ādi śāsana devoṃ kā astitva hī nahīṃ

Viradhīlāl Seṭhī
Jain Saṃskr̥ti Saṃrakṣaṇ Samiti

Full details

Jaina-Rūpa-Maṇḍana
Umakant Premanand Shah
Abhinav Publications; New Delhi, India; 1987

Full details

Jainism in Early Medieval Karnataka c. A.D. 500–1200

Ram Bhushan Prasad Singh
Motilal Banarsidass; Delhi, India; 1975

Full details

The Jain Saga: 63 Illustrious Persons of the Jain World, Brief History of Jainism
Hemacandra
translated by Helen M. Johnson
edited by Muni Samvegayashvijayji Maharaj
Acharya Shrimad Vijay Ramchandra Suriswarji Jain Pathshala; Ahmedabad, Gujarat and Mumbai, Maharashtra, India; 2009

Full details

The Prabandhacintāmaṇi or Wishing-stone of Narratives

Merutunga Ācārya
translated by C. H. Tawney
Indian Book Gallery; Delhi, India; 1982
Full details

Jainism: A Pictorial Guide to the Religion of Non-Violence

Kurt Titze
Motilal Banarsidass; Delhi, India; 1998

Full details

‘Jaina Sculptures and Paintings in the United Kingdom’

Maruti Nandan Prasad Tiwari
Kalā: the Journal of Indian Art History Congress
volume III
1996 to 1997

Full details

Jaina Art and Aesthetics

Maruti Nandan Prasad Tiwari and Shanti Swaroop Sinha
Aryan Books International; New Delhi, India; 2011

Full details

Triṣaṣṭiśalākapuruṣacaritra: Lives of the Sixty-three Illustrious Persons

Hemacandra
translated by Helen M. Johnson
Gaekwad's Oriental series; volume 1
Oriental Institute; Baroda, Gujarat, India; 1931

Full details

The Concept of Divinity in Jainism

Robert J. Zydenbos
Centre for South Asian Studies of the University of Toronto; Toronto, Canada; 1993

Full details

‘Jaina Goddesses in Kannada Literature’

Robert J. Zydenbos
Studies in South Asian Devotional Literature: Research Papers 1988–1991
edited by Alan W. Entwistle and Françoise Mallison
Manohar Publishers and École Française d'Extréme-Orient; New Delhi, India and Paris, France; 1994

Full details

‘Göttinverehrung im Jainismus’
Robert J. Zydenbos
Aspekte der Weiblichen in der indischen Kultur
edited by Ulrike Roesler
Indica et Tibetica series; volume 39
Indica et Tibetica; Swisttal-Odendorf, North-Rhine-Westphalia, Germany; 2000

Full details

Links

Brass figure of Padmāvatī

Metal image of Padmāvatī, the popular Jain goddess. Frequently depicted under a canopy of snakehoods, she is associated with wealth and success and is worshipped by
both main Jain sects. She is also the attendant goddess – yakṣī – of the 23rd Jina Pārśvanātha or Lord Pārśva. Atop her seven-headed snake canopy sits a small figure of
Pārśva, who also has his characteristic snakehood canopy. The University of Michigan Museum of Modern Art in the USA provides a zoomable photograph of the statue and
metadata.

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1977-sl-2.47/1977_2.47.jpg

Padmāvatī and snakehoods

Flickr provides a 2011 photograph of a damaged statue of the goddess Padmāvatī. The snakehoods above the figure's head and her ornate jewellery help identify her.
Padmāvatī is the female attendant deity – yakṣī – of the 23rd Jina Pārśva and is popular throughout India as an independent goddess.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rangasai/5757915291/

Gilt Padmāvatī

Gilt-covered image of the goddess Padmāvatī. A powerful and popular deity, who is particularly worshipped in south India, she is associated with wealth and success. She
is also the yakṣī – attendant goddess – of the 23rd Jina Pārśvanātha or Lord Pārśva. The Ethnoarte website provides several photographs of this 18th-century image from
Maharashtra.

http://www.ethnoarte.com/ethnoarte/categorie/Dprodotto.php?id=133&categoria=bronze
Cloth painting of Padmāvatī

Striking cloth painting of the goddess Padmāvatī and her divine attendants. She is pictured in the centre, within a lotus flower, and also as the largest, green-skinned
figure, with her snake tail winding below. A powerful goddess who is associated with wealth, Padmāvatī is also the yakṣī – female attendant deity – of the 23rd Jina Pārśva,
whose emblem is the snake. The auction house Christie's provides a zoomable photograph of this artefact.

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/paintings/a-jain-pata-of-padmavati-as-vidyadevi-5229974-details.aspx

Painting of Padmāvatī

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London provides a video of a British Jain, Dinesh Shah, explaining the significance of the goddess Padmāvatī. He describes the history
and appearance of a family painting of the deity. Padmāvatī is the yakṣī – female attendant deity – of the 23rd Jina, Pārśva, and is also a popular goddess in her own right.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/v/video-painting-of-padmavati-devi/

Padmāvatī and attendants

Śvetāmbara image of the goddess Padmāvatī and attendants. Popular all over India, but especially in the south, Padmāvatī is a powerful deity associated with wealth and
the ability to cure snakebite. She is also the yakṣī or female attendant deity of the 23rd Jina, Pārśvanātha or Lord Pārśva, who is the small figure above her head, sheltering
under a canopy of snakehoods. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, USA, provides views of both sides of the artefact.

http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/60051141

Padmāvatī statue

The British Museum in London provides this photograph of the goddess Padmāvatī carved in stone. Her connection with snakes is emphasised in this image, with a snake
at her feet and three-headed snake canopy over her head. A popular independent goddess, Padmāvatī is also one of the śāsana-devatās – ‘deities of the teaching' – of the
23rd Jina Pārśva. A small figure of him sits above her head in this sculpture.

http://goo.gl/mG3K1

Humcha Padmavati Mata

Information about Humcha Padmavati Mata, a popular Digambara pilgrimage centre in Humcha or Hombuja in Karnataka. It has been linked for centuries with the
powerful goddess Padmāvatī and the main temples there are devoted to her and the Jina with whom she is associated, Lord Pārśva, the 23rd Jina.

http://www.humchapadmavati.com/

Decorated figure of Padmāvatī

Richly decorated statue of the goddess Padmāvatī in Leicester, England on the Flickr website. A contemporary Śvetāmbara image, the figure has flower offerings at her
feet. This goddess is the female attendant deity – yakṣī – of Pārśva, the 23rd Jina. She is also a very popular individual deity, worshipped across India and among the Jain
diaspora.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jemumilap/130967435

Bhairava-Padmāvatī-Kalpa

The International Digamber Jain Association provides a digitised manuscript of Malliṣeṇa's Bhairava-Padmāvatī-Kalpa, a ritual treatise on worship of the popular goddess
Padmāvatī.

http://www.idjo.org/Manuscript.asp?id=3&i=0

Manuscript of the Padmāvatī Kalpa

A digitised manuscript of the Padmāvatī-Kalpa is provided by the International Digamber Jain Association. This work is a ritual text on worship of the goddess Padmāvatī
and contains yantras – mystical diagrams – to aid meditation.

http://www.idjo.org/Manuscript.asp?id=20&i=0

Pārśva and retinue

An 11th-century image of the 23rd Jina Pārśvanātha or Lord Pārśva and two unidentified Jinas. At the bottom sit his male attendant deity – yakṣa – Dharaṇendra and his
female attendant deity – yakṣī – Padmāvatī. Dharaṇendra is the reincarnation of a snake Pārśva saved from death while Padmāvatī is a popular goddess in her own right,
also closely associated with snakes. This photograph of the bronze image is on the website of the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California, USA.

http://www.nortonsimon.org/collections/browse_title.php?id=F.1975.06.S

Pārśva and attendants

A painting of the 23rd Jina Pārśvanātha or Lord Pārśva in the lotus pose of meditation, held aloft by a four-armed goddess. Either side of him with hands clasped in prayer
are his attendant deities, represented as half-snake, half-human figures. His yakṣa Dharaṇendra is on the left and his yakṣī Padmāvatī on the right. This 19th-century
image is available via Calisphere, a service of the UC Libraries, powered by the California Digital Library.

http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt3w100366/?layout=metadata&brand=calisphere
Triple-tiered image of Pārśva

Bronze three-tiered figure in the British Museum representing the 23rd Jina Pārśva. He sits at the top, meditating under his distinctive hood of snakeheads. Below him sit
Dharaṇendra, his male attendant deity – yakṣa – and Padmāvatī, his female attendant deity – yakṣī. The figures along the bottom may represent the sponsors of the
artefact, found in the Deccan.

http://goo.gl/4KBIY

Pārśvanātha and entourage

Metal figure of the 23rd Jina Pārśvanātha or Lord Pārśva surrounded by his retinue. At the bottom sit his male attendant deity – yakṣa – Dharaṇendra and his female
attendant deity – yakṣī – Padmāvatī. The British Museum provides black-and-white photographs of the front and back of this image.

http://goo.gl/DiU0G

Glossary

Ascetic
Someone who withdraws from ordinary life to meditate and practise physical hardships in order to advance spiritually. Jain ascetics or mendicants beg for food from
devout lay followers and wander the land.
Also used as an adjective to describe the practice of rigorous, even extreme, physical hardships in the belief that it leads to a higher spiritual condition.

Basadi
A term for a Jain temple common in Southern India.

Bhaṭṭāraka
Sankrit term meaning 'pontiff'. This title is given to a type of Digambara clergy who are not mendicants. Instead of practising the 'wandering life' – vihāra – of Jain monks
and nuns, a bhaṭṭāraka stays in one place, living in a kind of monastery called a maṭha. There are several bhaṭṭārakas in south India, who lead the local Jain community.

Commentary
An essay explaining a text. Commentaries on the scriptures are common in the Jain tradition and there are various types, including the:

bālāvabodha
bhāṣya
cūrṇi
niryukti
ṭīkā.

Common Era
The period of time starting with the year when Jesus Christ was traditionally believed to have been born. Using CE is a more secular way of dating events in a
multinational, multi-religious world.

Cult
Religious activity centred around a deity or saintly figure. Religious rituals are performed regularly to the god or goddess, who may be represented in images or relics or
found in natural features such as springs and trees. Shrines and temples are frequently built at the site of a cult and pilgrims arrive to worship the deity.

Deity
A god or divine figure, often with physical powers beyond those of a human and with superhuman abilities.

Devotee
An enthusiastic follower of a religion. Can also describe a keen enthusiast of an individual, concept or activity.

Dhyāna
Sanskrit for 'meditation', one of the six internal austerities or tapas that help purify the soul of karma. Meditation is deep thought about religious doctrine or mental focus
on spiritual matters over a period of time. An important part of many religions, meditation is especially important in Jain belief because it forms key elements of religious
practice and spiritual development.

Digambara
'Sky-clad' in Sanskrit, used for one of the two main divisions of Jainism, in which monks are naked. There are some differences of doctrine or belief between these two
sects and to some extent their followers consider themselves as belonging to distinct branches. Divisions can be fierce in practical matters, for example, over the ownership
of pilgrimage places, but all sects see themselves as Jains.

Disciple
An active follower of a religion, especially one who passes on teachings to others.

Gujarati
The language that developed in Gujarat, in western India. It is also spoken in neighbouring states. Also a term for someone or something associated with or coming from
Gujarat.

Guru
Sanskrit term meaning both:

a spiritual teacher
'heavy', in contrast to laghu or ‘light'.

Hindi
The most widely spoken group of languages in India, originating in the northern part of the subcontinent. Local dialects and Hindi languages are spoken all over northern
India and in surrounding countries. Standard Hindi is used in administration by the central government of India, along with English.

Iconography
Conventions or rules governing how images, symbols and the placement of elements and figures are used in art to represent ideas and convey meaning. Also the term for
the academic study of such artistic conventions.

Idol
An image of a deity or concept that is worshipped either as a god or as a representation of the deity.

Jain
Follower of the 24 Jinas or an adjective describing Jain teachings or practices. The term 'Jaina' is also used although 'Jain' is more common.

Jina
A 'victor' in Sanskrit, a Jina is an enlightened human being who has triumphed over karma and teaches the way to achieve liberation. A synonym for Tīrthaṃkara, which
means 'ford-maker' or one who has founded a community after reaching omniscience through asceticism. The most famous 24 – Ṛṣabha to Mahāvīra – were born in the
Bharata-kṣetra of the middle world, but more are found in other continents. There have been Jinas in the past and there will be some in the future.

Karnataka
State in south-west India.

Kaṣāya
'Passion' that causes activity, which results in new karma binding to the soul. It must be eliminated by restraints or austerities so the soul can be liberated. Passion may be
attraction – rāga – or aversion – dveṣa – and has degrees of intensity. There are traditionally four passions:

anger – krodha
pride – māna
deceit – māyā
greed – lobha.

Also one of the 14 'gateways' or categories of investigation of mārgaṇā – 'soul-quest'.

Lotus
A plant noted for its beautiful flowers, which has symbolic significance in many cultures. In Indian culture, the lotus is a water lily signifying spiritual purity and
detachment from the material world. Lotuses frequently feature in artwork of Jinas, deities, Buddha and other holy figures.

Mendicant lineage
Ascetics are initiated into a tradition handed down from a named religious teacher. Religious instructions and principles are passed on orally and in writings from one
generation of mendicants to the next, continuing the monastic lineage.

Monk
A man who has taken a public vow to withdraw from ordinary life to formally enter religious life and advance spiritually. Frequently, monks perform physical austerities
or undergo physical hardships in order to progress spiritually.

Muslim
A Muslim, or ‘one who submits to God’ in Arabic, follows the religion of Islam, which means ‘peace’. Muslims believe that Muhammad is the last in a line of prophets. The
complete word of Allah or God was revealed to Muhammad in the sixth century CE and set down in the Arabic Qur’an or ‘recitation’. Nearly all Muslims belong to either
the Shia or Sunni sects, with Sunni Muslims comprising around 90% of Islamic believers.

Pārśva
The 23rd Jina of the present age. His symbolic colour is green and his emblem the snake. Historical evidence points to his living around 950 to 850 BC.

Pūjā
Sanskrit for 'worship' or 'homage'. All Jains perform rites of honour to the 24 Jinas. Rites of worship take place daily, with more elaborate ceremonies performed on holy
days. Mendicant and lay Jains perform different rituals. Some sects worship images – mūrti-pūjaka – and others do not, and different sects have various practices. Focused
on images or not, worship can be:

external or material – dravya-pūjā – involving offerings of food, drink and precious substances
internal or mental – bhava-pūjā – including singing hymns of praise, reciting mantras and meditating.

Rite
A sequence of actions that must be followed to perform a religious ceremony. The set of actions is largely symbolic, for example offering food to statues symbolises
sacrificing to a deity. The ritual actions are often accompanied by set phrases.

Sādhvī
A common term for Jain female mendicants.

Sāgāra
Sanskrit term meaning 'with a home’ – that is, a ‘householder’ or lay Jain. A synonym for a lay person, emphasising that he or she is a member of a household, with
responsibilities to the family, community and society that a Jain mendicant does not have.

Sanskrit
A classical language of India, originally used by priests and nobility. Sanskrit has a rich literary and religious tradition. With only a few thousand native speakers
nowadays, it is predominantly used in Hindu religious ceremonies and by scholars.

Shrine
A small structure holding an image or relics, which may be within a temple or building designed for worship. A shrine may be a portable object. Worshippers pray and
make offerings at a shrine, which is often considered sacred because of associations with a deity or event in the life of a holy person.

Śvetāmbara
'White-clad’ in Sanskrit, the title of one of the two main divisions of Jainism, in which both male and female mendicants wear white robes. There are some differences of
doctrine or belief between these two sects and to some extent their followers consider themselves as belonging to distinct branches. Divisions can be fierce in practical
matters, for example, over the ownership of pilgrimage places, but all sects see themselves as Jains.

Tantra
Jain Tantric worship aims to control other people or counter evil influences. Tantric rituals try to placate the aggressive side of a deity's nature, encouraging the divinity to
behave benevolently. If not worshipped correctly, the vengeful deity may cause harm. The devotee invokes the deity under his or her various names, places images of the
deity on yantras – mystical diagrams – and meditates, repeating mantras.

Tapā-gaccha
A Śvetāmbara mūrti-pūjaka sect, first established in the 13th century and reformed from the 19th century. Today nearly all mūrti-pūjak mendicants belong to this sect.

Temple
A building reserved for public worship or prayer, usually dedicated to one religion and run by members of that religion's clergy.

Vāhana
The vehicle of a Hindu god or goddess. Usually an animal, the vāhana fulfils one or more roles and may:

be the deity's emblem

symbolise positive attributes associated with the deity
represent evil powers over which the god has triumphed
help the divinity to perform duties.

The vāhana may also have its own divine powers or be worshipped in its own right.

Yakṣa
The male attendant of a Jina, one of the pair of guardian or protector gods for each Jina. The śāsana-devatā protect his teachings – śāsana – and can appease evil powers.
The yakṣa and yakṣī's closeness to the Jina and their divine powers mean they are popular subjects of worship.

Yantra
Sanskrit for 'instrument' or 'machine', a yantra is a mystical diagram used in religious rituals. Yantras are typically formed of symmetrical, concentric circles and may also
have the diagram of a lotus in the middle of numerous squares. Containing the names of the Jinas and sacred mantras, such as oṃ, yantras are meditation aids.

Contents
Roles
Appearance
Stories
Temples
Hombuja
Shravana Belgola
Other places
Worship
Tantric rituals

Related Manuscript Images

Pārśva, the 23rd Jina

British Library. Or. 11921. Unknown author. 1488

Pārśva, the 23rd Jina

Gamma 453. Wellcome Trust Library. Unknown author. 1512

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