Like all other devis in heaven above this madhya lok(the place where we live), Padmavati devi is a heavenly being.
You may hear her name in the story of Lord Parshwanath along with Dharnendra dev. Let me summarise her story in her own words. This is her autobiography in short.
In the previous birth, I was a snake and lived in a tree along with one another snake. Some wicked person cut that tree and started burning it. We both snakes were burning in pain and were near to death.
Suddenly, we were out of the wood but our bodies have already burnt. It was impossible to save us. We heard someone(Lord Parshwanath) chanting ‘namokar mantra’ and addressing us with good words. We died with not so cruel thoughts against the person who burnt us.
I became Padmavati and my fellow snake became my dev, Dharnendra in heaven. Once, we both were travelling in the sky. All of a sudden we realised by our knowledge that the person who saved us is being troubled by someone. We immediately took the form of a large snake to cover this spiritual soul and tried to save him.
After sometime, Lord attained pure infinite knowledge and the troublemaker had gone. We both bowed and prayed to Lord Parshwanath.
People pray to us for saving the Lord but we have not saved the Lord. We just tried to save the Lord. We can’t give you anything. You pray to us but we pray to the God of this universe. Worship the tirthankaras, the vitrag parmatma, not his bhakts like us.
By worshipping me and Dharnendra, you are insulting the tirthankaras and their preachings. Worshipping us is ‘Grahit Mithaytv’. You are not getting anything rather increasing your own births.
Stop worshipping me(Padmavati) and Dharnendra! Start worshipping your soul!
The above story will sound harsh to many people reading it. The truth is sometimes bitter but you can make it sweet by accepting and analyzing it.