Prof. Dr. Nagarajaiah Hampana
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Jainas have accorded a proper place for mantras where repetition of prescribed symbolic letters takes place. It is to be underlined that in worship of mantras presided over by male gods, there is no scope for vāmācāra practices in Jainism. Similarly, in the worship of Vidyās, invoking female deities also vāmācāra / vāmamārga, 'black-magic', or witchcraft is strictly prohibited. Even for the attainment of super human benevolent powers only mystical formula and letters like Oṁ, Hriṁ, Clīm etc., are employed. Such mantras are there for invoking the Pañcaparameṣṭhis, 'the five litanies', the Śāsanadevatas, Kṣetrapālas etc. Malliṣeṇa's the Bhāratī-kalpa, Bappabhaṭṭi sūri's Sarasvatī-kalpa, Arhaddāsa's Sarasvatī-kalpa, Jinaprabhasūri's and Śubhacandra's Sārasvata-yantra-pūja - are works of tāntric worship.
In the Tāntric-cult, spell-recitation rite, and instructions for the spell rite resulted in the creation of sixteen Mahāvidyādevīs. Those who cherish worldly benefits invoke these sixteen goddesses. But Śrutadevī is invoked in her primary function as a goddess of Jina's preachings.
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"The Sūtra of Golden Light, the most significant Buddhist source on Sarasvatī, depicts her, in the earliest extant redaction of the sūtra represented by Dharmakṣema's Chinese translation of 417, as the preserver of the flawless speech and the memory of the sūtra's expounder. This corresponds to the first and earliest section of the Sarasvatī chapter in the Sūtra of Golden Light, to which were added two more, not found in Dharmakṣema's version, but included in the extant Sanskrit in Baogui's edition of 597, and in Yijing's translation of 703" [Ludvik 273].
