Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
Deities

Chakreshvari

Jain Deities

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Chakreshvari is the yakshi, a class of guardian deity attending a tirthankara, associated with Rishabhanatha, the first of the twenty-four Jain tirthankaras. Depicted riding the mythical bird Garuda and typically shown with multiple arms holding a discus (chakra) among other attributes, Chakreshvari receives devotional veneration in Jain temples in her own right, functioning, like Ambika and Padmavati with their own tirthankaras, as an intercessory and protective figure within the broader Jain devotional and iconographic tradition.

Facts
Identity
Gender
Female 1
Cult
Attributes and Iconography
Multi-armed, riding the Garuda bird, holding a discus (chakra) 1
Worship and Practice
Chakreshvari receives devotional veneration in Jain temples in her own right, functioning as an intercessory and protective figure alongside Ambika and Padmavati in the wider tradition of tirthankara-guardian yakshis. 1
Function
Domain / Function
Protection and guardianship 1
Belief
Theology
Non-theistic: no creator god is central 1
Attestation
Veneration Today
Actively venerated in a living tradition 2
Historicity
Not a historical person: a divine or other-than-human being 1
Attributions
Mythic Association
Paired as protective guardian goddess with Rishabhanatha, the first of the twenty four Jain tirthankaras, the earliest and best attested of the sasanadevi pairings. 1
Origins
Origin of the Name
From Sanskrit chakra, discus or wheel, her principal identifying attribute among the sasanadevis, the guardian yakshis paired with each of the twenty four Jain tirthankaras. 1
Correspondences & Relations

Pantheons

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Garuda, Deities

This source names Garuda directly: "Depicted riding the mythical bird Garuda and typically shown with multiple arms holding a discus (chakra) among other attributes, Chakreshvari receives devotional veneration in Jain temples in her..."

Source The JainsPaul Dundas
Padmavati, Deities

This source names Padmavati directly: "right, functioning, like Ambika and Padmavati with their own tirthankaras, as an intercessory and protective figure within the broader Jain devotional and iconographic tradition."

Source The JainsPaul Dundas
Rishabhanatha, Figures

This source names Rishabhanatha directly: "a tirthankara, associated with Rishabhanatha, the first of the twenty-four Jain tirthankaras."

Source The JainsPaul Dundas

Related To

Ambika, Deities

Worshipped In

Jainism, Religions
Source The JainsPaul Dundas
Sources
1. The Jains
Paul Dundas, Routledge, 2002on the Jain yakshis and their iconographyView the Source
2. Jains in the World: Religious Values and Ideology in India
John E. Cort, Oxford University Press, 2001View the Source
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