Essay name: Vasudevahindi (cultural history)
Author:
A. P. Jamkhedkar
Affiliation: Savitribai Phule Pune University / Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute Pune
This essay is an English study of the Vasudevahindi reflecting cultural history and traditions of the life of people in ancient and medieval India during the 6th century. The Vasudevahimdi is a romantic and religious tale that revolves around the wanderings of Vasudeva (a former Jain monk) and religious teachings in the guise of love stories, a common theme of poetry in Jainism.
Chapter 5 - Religion and Philosophy
153 (of 153)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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607
Nagas were feared and worshipped as the presiding,
deities of waters 1 and hidden treasures². For the Vidyadharas
the king of Nagas had a distinguished reverence ³ as he was
responsible for the reinvestitute of lores in them.
harada
The Vidyadharas held a nagamahima at nagabilaya
where a naga was in charge of the divine shield and
sword. Here, all the Vidyadharas gathered forgetting their
personal rivalries and enmities and worshipped the pool
(harada), on the fifth day in the bright fortnight of the
month of Magha+
There is also a reference to the celebration of
nagamahima by a princess of Varāṇasi in a sacred grove near
the city 5.
city5.
1. ibid., II.3a.
2. Ibid., II.106b-107a.
3. Pabhavati after regaining her lores through penance,
worships the Vidyadevatas, Risabha and Nagaraya, Vh(M),
I.45b.
4. Vh(M), 106b-107a.
5. Ibid., II.185a.
