Part 5: Initiation of Mahāvīra

In the twenty-eighth year from the Master's birth, his parents died from fasting and went to the heaven Acyuta. When the souls of Siddhārtha and Triśalā fall from Acyuta, they will attain emancipation in the country called West Videha.

When the parents’ cremation had taken place and a day from then had passed, the Master said to Nandivardhana and his harem plunged in grief: “Death is always near; life is always fleeting. When this day has come, grief is no remedy. It is only the practice of dharma with the support of fortitude that is fitting, but not grief, et cetera, suitable for a contemptible man, brother.”

Thus enlightened by the Master, Nandivardhana became composed and requested the Lord to adorn the ancestral throne. When Vīra, afraid of existence, did not take possession of the ancestral kingdom, then Nandivardhana was made king by the persistent ministers. Mahāvīra, eager to take the long-desired mendicancy, took leave of his brother Nandivardhana. His voice choked with grief, Nandivardhana said; “Today our parents are not forgotten, brother. Today all their people, like me, are filled with grief. Will you pour acid on my wound by your separation?”

So from regard for his elder brother grieving, the Lord of the World, a yati by nature, adorned with ornaments, constantly practicing kāyotsarga, devoted to chastity, deprived of baths and unguents, engaged in pure meditation, maintaining life by food free from faults of acceptance^[1] and free from life, noble-minded, somehow or other passed a year as a house-holder.

Told by the Lokāntika-goods, “Found a congregation,” the Master gave gifts—whatever they desired—to petitioners for a year. The initiation-ceremony of Śrī Vīra was held fittingly by the gods, Śakra and others, and by the kings, Nandivardhana and others. Consumed by grief, like the Moon by Rāhu, at separation from his brother, then Nandivardhana gave orders to his men somehow or other:

“Make the finest palanquin with golden pillars and balconies like an assembly-hall of the gods, adorned with pearl-svastikas like the sky with stars, with a golden throne inside like the slope of Meru with the sun, with a tinkling row of little bells like a younger sister of Pālaka,^[2] with a flag waving like Gaṅgā with high waves, fifty bows long, thirty-six bows high, and twenty-five bows broad, named Candraprabhā, suitable for the throne of Śrī Vīra.”

Quickly they made the palanquin just so. Indeed, an object may be (produced) by the command of kings as well as by a thought of the gods. Then Śakra had just such a palanquin made and they, equal, shone with equal splendor like twins. Then by the power of the gods the second palanquin became inside the first instantly, like a river within a river. The Lord circumambulated the palanquin, got in it, and adorned the lion-throne provided with a foot-stool. Wearing auspicious white garments, the Lord looked like the moon with moonlight and like another wishing-tree with his ornaments. When the Lord was seated, facing the east, all the attendants on his right, pure, well-dressed, wearing various jeweled ornaments, adorned with handkerchiefs like trees with garlands, then sat down with one accord, prominent men of good family.

One goddess, wearing pearl-ornaments and spotless garments, like moonlight, held an umbrella, like the moon, over the Lord’s head. Two carried beautiful fly-whisks at his sides, with gold ornaments on their persons, like moons on Meru’s slope. One stood in the north-west, holding a silver vase; another stood in the south-east, holding a palm-leaf fan. At the back Indras carried white umbrellas with handles of cat’s-eye and one thousand and eight golden ribs. At the sides of the palanquin the Indras of Saudharma and Īśāna stood, holding fly-whisks that resembled the pillars of an arch. In front men lifted the palanquin that had to be carried by a thousand; then the gods, Śakra, Īśāna, Bali, Camara, and others. Śakra took hold of the palanquin at the top on the right, the Lord of īśāna himself at the top on the left. Camara and Bali took the bottom part on the right and left, and the other Bhuvanapatis, et cetera carried it properly.

Then the sky was filled with gods coming and going like very swift birds at the end of day. By means of the palanquin conveyed by the gods, the Lord arrived at the best garden called Jṭātakhaṇḍavana. He entered the garden lovely with lavalīs^[3] like bodies with hair erect from joy in the guise of buds at the coming of winter like a sweetheart; marked with orange-groves with rows of ripe fruit like garments colored with safflower dropped by the Śrī of the forest; always with murmurs rising from the mutual embraces of the leaves of the purple sugar-cane, as if it (the garden) were calling travelers.

The Lord descended from the palanquin, removed his ornaments, and Indra placed a divine garment on the Lord’s shoulder. The Teacher of the Three Worlds pulled out his hair in five handfuls. Śakra received it in his garment and cast it in the Ocean of Milk. When the tumult had been quieted by him having returned, the Lord of the Three Worlds recited the namaskāra to the Siddhas and adopted right-conduct (in accordance with the five vows).

The thirtieth year from his birth having passed, on the tenth day of the dark half of the month Saha,^[4] the moon being in Hastottara, in the last watch of the day, as the Lord was observing a two-day fast, in the presence of the three worlds, his mind-reading-knowledge became manifest at the same time as good-conduct.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Eṣanīya. See the list of the 47 faults to be avoided in regard to alms. I, n. 17; Uttar. 24.11.

[2]:

Indra’s car.

[3]:

Lavalī. A creeper of which the identification is uncertain. MW’s Averrhoa acida will not do, as it is a tree. Artobotrys odoratissima or suaveolens has been suggested, but the flowering season is not right. Hemacandra’s lavalī is a winter-bloomer.

[4]:

Saha = Mārgaśīrṣa, the first month of the cold season.