Trishashti Shalaka Purusha Caritra

by Helen M. Johnson | 1931 | 742,503 words

This page describes Story of the Vidyadharas which is the fourth part of chapter IV of the English translation of the Shantinatha-caritra, contained within the “Trishashti Shalaka Purusha Caritra”: a massive Jain narrative relgious text composed by Hemacandra in the 12th century. Shantinatha in jainism is the sixteenth Tirthankara (Jina) and one of the 63 illustrious beings or worthy persons.

Part 4: Story of the Vidyādharas

“In the city Svarṇanāman in the north row on Vaitāḍhya in Bharatakṣetra in this very Jambūdvīpa there was a king, Garuḍavega, with the strength of Garuḍa; and he had a blameless wife, Dhṛtiṣeṇā. She bore two sons Candratilaka and Sūryatilaka, heralded by the sight in a dream of a sun and moon placed on her lap. One day, when they had grown up, they went to the peak of Meru and payed homage to the statues of the holy eternal Arhats. Wandering about from curiosity they saw the flying ascetic, Sāgaracandra, standing on a gold slab in Nandana. They bowed to the muni, circumambulated him, and listened before him to a sermon, their hands folded submissively.

At the end of the sermon, after they had bowed to the muni, they said: ‘By good fortune you were met like a torch by us afflicted by the darkness of ignorance. Tell us all our former births, Blessed One. The knowledge of persons like you is for the benefit of others, like the sunrise.’

Story of Abhayaghoṣa:

The muni related:

‘In the continent named Dhātakīkhaṇḍa in East Airavata there is a city named Vajrapura. Here there was a king, Abhayaghoṣa, a proclamation of fearlessness to the distressed. His wife was named Suvarṇatilakā. Two sons were born to them, Vijaya and Vaijayanta, and they gradually acquired the collection of arts and attained youth.

Now, in this Airavata in the city Svarṇadruma there was a king, Śaṅkha, with virtues shining as a conch. He had a daughter by Queen Pṛthvī, named Pṛthvīsenā, heralded by the sight of a wreath of flowers placed on (the queen’s) lap in a dream. She gradually attained youth and acquired the collection of arts which nourish a high degree of beauty and distinguished cleverness. Thinking, “He is a suitable bridegroom for her,” King Śaṅkha gave the maiden to Abhayaghoṣa. The best of kings dallied with his bride Pṛthvīsenā, like Ramāpati with Ramā.

One day in spring a slave-girl, carrying spring flowers, came near King Abhayaghoṣa. Queen Svarṇatilakā saw her and said to the king, “The garden Ṣaḍṛtuka has been adorned by Spring. Now let us go with a suitable retinue to embrace the newly arrived Lakṣmī of spring,[1] husband.” Just then Pṛthvīsenā approached the king and handed him a bouquet worth a crore. The king, open-eyed, looked at it and accepted it quickly; went to the garden with a suitable retinue, and played there.

Pṛthvīsenā, having received permission, wandered there apart, saw the Muni Dantamathana of distinguished learning. Delighted, she honored the muni, feeling intense devotion, and listened to a sermon-producing disgust with existence. Immediately taking leave of the king, afraid of birth, she adopted mendicancy before Dantamathana. King Abhayaghoṣa went to his own house, praising the remarkable conduct of Queen Pṛthvīsenā.

One day Abhayaghoṣa, seated on his lion-throne on the roof of his palace, like a sun at rest, saw the best of Jinas, Ananta, with the sign of a Tīrthakṛt,[2] wandering as an ordinary ascetic, enter the gate. Rising hastily and taking suitable food, he approached the Blessed One with a bow. The Blessed One broke his fast with the alms he gave and the gods rained the five things, a stream of treasure, et cetera. After he had broken his fast, the Blessed One went elsewhere. For the Jinas, like other munis, do not stay anywhere, while they are ordinary ascetics.

One day after his omniscience had appeared, Tīrthakṛt Ananta came in his wandering to the town Vajrapura and stopped there. Abhayaghoṣa came and circumambulated him three times with devotion, praised hint, and listened to a sermon destroying birth. At the end of the sermon the king bowed to the Blessed One and said:

“You have come here, like a kalpa-tree, because of people’s merit. Your actions are only for the benefit of others. O master, so you are requested: Wait a moment, you who are respected by everyone, an ocean of compassion, until I return for initiation at your lotus-feet, after I have imposed the entire burden of the kingdom on my son.”

The king, told by the Master, “You must not be negligent,” went to his house and spoke to his sons respectively: “Son Vijaya, take the kingdom you have inherited. Vaijayanta, do you act as his yuvarāj. I shall become a mendicant. I shall go to the Jina, that I may not come again into this abyss of existence.” They said: “Father, just as you are terrified of existence, so are we terrified of existence. Surely we are your sons. We also shall become mendicants. For these are two results of mendicancy: service to you in this world and attainment of emancipation in the next.”

Saying, “Very well, sons,” the bountiful king gave his kingdom, though very great, to someone else. Abhayaghoṣa went with his sons and adopted mendicancy before Jina Ananta, while the holy congregation looked on. The three practiced severe penance, and the king acquired the family and body-making karma of an Arhat by means of the twenty sthānakas. The three died in the course of time and went to Acyuta and became gods with the maximum life of twenty-two sāgaras.

Now there is a city Puṇḍarīkiṇī in the province Puṣkalāvatī, the ornament of East Videha in this Jambūdvīpa. Its king was Hemāṅgada and his wife was Vajramāhnī, like Śacī of Vajrin. Then Abhayaghoṣa fell and descended into her womb, his rank of Arhat indicated by fourteen great dreams. When the time was completed, Vajramālinī bore a son; and Vajrin, et cetera, made his birth-bath. Right now he, Ghanaratha by name, protects the earth, a Tīrthakṛt. Vijaya and Vaijayanta became you two Vidyādharas.’

After they had heard this account of their former births, delighted, they bowed to the muni and came here with devotion to see you, their father in a former birth. They arranged the meeting of the cocks, which was a means of seeing you, from curiosity, Master. Now, after they have gone to the guru Bhogavardhana and have become mendicants, their karma destroyed, they will attain an imperishable abode.”

When they had heard this, the Vidyādharas appeared, considering themselves sons as before, bowed to Ghanaratha, and went home.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

See I, n. 1.

[2]:

Tīrthakṛlliṅga. This is the devadūṣya that Śakra gives a future Tīrthakṛt at the time of his initiation. That is the only garment that he uses thereafter. He can always be recognized by this cloth.

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