Part 1: Conclusion of Udāyana-story

Abhaya bowed again and asked the Supreme Lord, “What will be the future fate of the royal sage, Udāyana?” Then the Blessed One, son of the Jṭāta-family, intent upon the wearing away of strong tīrthakṛt-karma, explained:

“One day, as Muni Udāyana wanders over the earth, he will be attacked by severe illness due to unwholesome food at the wrong season. One day his doctors, with unimpeachable intentions, will say to the muni, ‘Eat curds, O ocean of the jewels of good qualities, though you are indifferent to the body.’ Then the great muni Udāyana will wander to the cattle-stations; for alms of curds, free from faults, are easy to get there.

One day Udāyana will go to the town Vītabhaya governed by his sister’s son, King Keśin. Keśin will be told by his ministers when they learned that Udāyana had come: ‘Certainly your maternal uncle is disgusted with penance. After abandoning a wealthy kingdom and a rank like Indra, regretting it, certainly he has come for the kingdom. By no means be trustful.’ Keśin will say: ‘Let him take the kingdom now, Who am I? What cause for anger is there, if a rich man takes the money of a cowherd?’ The ministers will say: ‘The kingdom came to you from your merit. It was not given by anyone. The duty of kings is not such. Who would take a kingdom by force from father, brother, uncle, or a friend, or even an enemy? Who gives it up, when it has been given?’

Talked to by them to this effect, Keśin, abandoning devotion to Udāyana, will ask, ‘What is to be done?’ and they will have him give poison. Mixing curd with poison Keśin will have it given to him by a herd-girl. What course is there of the dependent of another? A deity, seizing the poison, will say to the muni: ‘The taking of curd is poisonous for you. Do not touch curd.’ Then, curd being given up, the muni’s disease will increase. For diseases spread, like a ghoul that has played a trick. He will take curd again to check the disease. Three times the deity will take away the poison.

One day from negligence the deity will not take away the poison and the muni will eat the curd with the poison. Knowing that his death was near from the waves of poison stealing consciousness away, the great sage will observe a fast. After he has fasted for thirty days, with concentrated meditation, omniscience having arisen, he will die and attain emancipation.

The goddess, when she has come again after Udāyana has died and has learned that, will become angry in a way like the night at the end of the world. From anger she will fill Vītabhaya with sand and from that time she will make a rain of sand unceasingly. Then the statue consecrated by Kapila will be in the ground like a deposit, sir. The goddess, raining sand, will take away a sinless potter, who afforded refuge to Muni Udāyana. After taking him to Sinapallī, she will found a place, named Kumbhakārakṛta, from his name.”^[1]

Abhaya bowed to the Supreme Lord and asked again, “What is the future course of Abhīci, son of Udāyana?” The Master explained: “When his father gives the kingdom to Keśin, Abhīci, Prabhāvatī’s son, will reflect: ‘Even though I am here, a devoted son, fit for the kingdom, my father gave the kingdom to Keśin, treating it like a royal debt. What discernment is this of my father, that he gives the kingdom to Keśin, his sister’s son, who is fit for prison? My father is my lord. Let him do whatever he wishes at his fancy. How shall I do service now to Keśin? For I am his son.’

With this idea, humiliated by his father, he will go to Kūṇika. For the proud, a foreign country is better in case of disaster. Being treated with dignity always by Kūṇika, his mother’s sister’s son, he will remain there happily. A worshipper of ascetics, knowing fully the principles of jīva, ajīva,^[2] et cetera, Abhīci will observe fittingly a layman’s duties. Observing a householder’s duties unbroken for many years, recalling his humiliation, he will not give up hostility to Udāyana. After making saṃlekhanā with all rites by a fast of a fortnight, not confessing his hostility to his father, after death he will become a chief Asura. After completing a life of a palyopama in that, Abhīci’s soul, arising in the Mahāvidehas, will attain emancipation.”

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

LIA, p. 302, takes Kumbhakārakṛta to be another name for Vītabhaya=Bhera, but here it is evidently entirely different from Vītabhaya.

[2]:

Soul, non-soul: the first 2 categories of the 9 Tattvas. See I, App. IV.