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.
Appendix 1 - Description of Vidyadharas and magical lores
13 (of 118)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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631
he was asked to repeat the sacred syllables for a day and
a night. He was asked to observe reticence and not to be
carried away by the amorous gestures of hindering spirits
(viggha) which came in the form of beautiful women鹿. In
another instance wherein Vasudeva was initiated to get an
aerial car, the preceptor asked him to go alone on the
fourteenth night of the black fortnight (kalacauddasi) to
a lonely place on a mountain. The preceptor performed the
preliminary rites which included offering a bali to the
gods. Then Vasudeva was asked to recite the sacred
syllable (vijja) for one thousand and eight times
2 (a峁弓hasahassavattiya) 虏. Sometimes the aspirer had to accept
the form of an ascetic (parivvayaga-vesadhari) and perform
austerities in the river water 鲁, or swallow smoke of
Kanaka tree or worship a dhumakunda5.
La
To acquire Mahajavati
vidya one had to worship the images of Jayamta (i.e. Dharana)
observe
and samjayamta with a sattaraimdiya padima and a fast for a
period of one month (masiya bhatta)斜. Some times they could
Were to
be had with a very easy procedure wherein they could be
1. Vh(P), 239-30.
2. Ibid., 195.
3. Ibid., 229.
4. Vh(p), 179.
5. Ibid.; 67
6. Ibid.; 324-25.
