Part 3: Meeting with Hemacandra

One day the king will see Ācārya Hemacandra of the followers of Municandra in the Vajraśakhā. Delighted at the sight of him, like a peacock at the sight of a cloud, he, pure-minded, will hasten to pay homage constantly to the muni. The king, with layman and ministers, will go to pay homage to the sūri delivering a sermon in a Jain shrine. There, bowing to the god, though not knowing the truth, he will pay homage to the ācārya with a mind pure by nature. Hearing with pleasure from his mouth a pure sermon, he will take the lesser vows accompanied by right-belief. Enlightenment having been attained, he will become proficient in lay-practices. Even in the assembly he will delight himself with a religious fellowship. Daily he will accept especially the restraints on food, vegetables, fruits, et cetera and he will generally observe continence. He, intelligent, will not only abandon courtesans, but will enlighten his wives to practice continence.

Knowing the principles of jīva, ajīva, et cetera, like an ācārya, from the teaching of the muni, he will enlighten others. Some people, Brāhmans named Pāṇḍura, et cetera, who are hostile to the religion of the Arhats, will be embryo-laymen, as it were, from his teaching. If the shrines do not have pūjās, if the gurus are not honored, he, pious, having taken layman’s vows, will not eat. He will not take the money of men who have died childless. That is the fruit of discernment. The undiscerning are insatiable. He himself will give up hunting which was not given up by the Pāṇḍus and others; and all the people will give it up at his command. With him preventing injury (hiṃsā), not even an outcaste will kill a bug nor a louse, to say nothing of hunting, et cetera. With him preventing hunting in the forest, the deer will always chew their cuds unhindered like cows in a stable. Always he will guard against the killing of creatures, belonging to water, earth, and air, a Pākaśāsana in commands. Ones, who have eaten meat from birth, will reach forgetfulness of even the mention of meat, like an evil dream, from the power of his command. That which was not abandoned formerly by the Daśārhas, though they were laymen, namely, drinking—he, with a soul beyond censure, will suppress everywhere. Just as he will suppress the preparation of liquor on earth, so the potter will not make liquor-vessels. When they have stopped drinking at his command, prosperity will come to those drinkers, whose prosperity was always destroyed by their addiction to liquor. That which was not given up formerly by kings, Nala and others—namely, gambling, he will root up even the name, like his enemies. The sport of betting on pigeons and cock-fights will not exist, while his rule prevails on earth. He, with unlimited power, will make this earth adorned with temples of the Jinas in almost every village. In every village, in every city on earth, as far as the sea, he will make a chariot-procession of the statues of the Jinas. Constantly giving money, freeing the world from debt, he will brand his own era on the-earth.^[1]

One day he will hear from the mouth of his guru in the course of conversation that the statue consecrated by Kapila is covered by sand. Then he will form the wish, “Digging away the sand, I shall take the all-purifying statue.” At that same time, knowing the impetuosity of his mind and other reasons, the king will resolve that the statue shall come into his possession. Obtaining the guru’s permission, appointing agents he will undertake to dig up the ground at Vītabhaya. Then the messenger-deity will make an appearance, because of the noble character of the king, an advanced layman. By the great merit of King Kumārapāla, the statue will appear at once in the place being excavated. Then the grant over villages that was given to the statue by King Udāyana will appear, also. The king’s agents will put the statue—though old, like a new one—on a chariot, after they have made a fitting pūjā. The agents will bring the statue to the edge of the city, many kinds of pūjās taking place on the road, concerts being held constantly day and night, special dances with hand-clappings of young women of the villages taking place, musical instruments with five notes played excitedly, and fly-whisks rising and falling on both sides. The king will go to meet it, accompanied by his harem and attendants, surrounded by the four-part army, taking the whole congregation. After taking it down from the chariot himself and mounting it on a noble elephant, the king will escort the statue to the city. Establishing it in the play-house near his own house, Kumārapāla will make a pūjā properly three times a day. When he has had read the grant to the statue, he will confirm what was given by Udāyana. For the installation of the statue in that same place, the king, guileless, will have a palace of crystal made. The palace caused to be made like the heir-apparent of Aṣṭāpada, to be honored, will cause astonishment to the world. The king, because of the statue being installed, will flourish in power, wealth, and knowledge leading to emancipation. By devotion to gods and to gurus, like your father, Kumārapāla will become king in Bharata, Abhaya.”