Spectrum of Sarasvati: Srutadevi

For more than two millennia Jains have integrated female divinities into their religious practice as protectresses and emblems of their ancient tradition to such an extent that anybody only slightly familiar with Jainism's art or architecture would still be aware of their ubiquitous presence in the devotional life of renunciants and laypeople, whether Svetambara or Digambara. Regrettably the first western scholars of Jainism, whose familiarity with Jainism was largely derived from texts, either ignored this vital component of the religion or attributed it exclusively to borrowing and processes of Hinduisation which supposedly became more pronounced through the medieval period. This misapprehension was decisively corrected by John Cort whose significant paper 'Medieval Jaina Goddess Traditions'(Numen vol. 34 1987) makes clear how the personalities of the goddesses found within Jainism, while often overlapping in some respects with their Hindu counterparts, are distinctively Jain in their benevolence and vegetarianism, reflecting the transformative influence of an ethic of non-violence.