Twenty-Second Lecture. Rathanêmi

Jaina Sutras, Part II (SBE45), tr. by Hermann Jacobi, [1895], at sacred-texts.com

TWENTY-SECOND LECTURE.

RATHANÊMI.

In the town of Sauryapura ² there was a powerful king, Vasudêva by name, who possessed the characteristic marks of a king. (1)

He had two wives, Rôhinî and Dêvakî; each of them had a beloved son, Râma and Kêsava. (2)

In the town of Sauryapura there was (another) powerful king, Samudravigaya by name, who possessed the characteristic marks of a king. (3)

His wife was Sivâ by name; and her famous son was the venerable Arishtanêmi, the saviour of the world and the lord of ascetics. (4)

This Arishtanêmi, who was gifted with an excellent voice and possessed the thousand and eight lucky marks of the body, was a Gautama, and his skin was black. (5)

His body was strong like that of a bull, and hard

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like steel; he was well proportioned, and had a belly like that of a fish.

Kêsava asked the girl Râgîmatî ¹ in marriage for him. (6)

Now this daughter of an excellent king ² was virtuous and well looking; she possessed all lucky marks of the body, and shone forth like the lightning Saudâmanî. (7)

Her father said to the powerful Vâsudêva: 'Let the prince come here that I may give him my daughter.' (8)

He had taken a bath containing all (lucky) herbs, and had performed the customary ceremonies; he wore a suit of heavenly clothes and was decked out with ornaments. (9)

Riding on the best mast elephant ³ of Vâsudêva he looked beautiful, like a jewel worn on the head. (10)

He sat under a raised umbrella, fanned by two chowries, and he was surrounded on all sides by a host of Dasârhas ⁴ and by a complete army drawn

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up in rank and file, while the heavenly sound of musical instruments reached the sky. (11, 12)

With such pomp and splendour the hero of the Vrishnis started from his own palace. (13)

On his way he saw animals, kept in cages and enclosures, overcome by fear and looking miserable. (14)

Seeing them on the point of being killed for the sake of their flesh, and to be eaten afterwards, the great sage spoke to his charioteer ¹ thus: (15)

'Why are ² all these animals, which desire to be happy, kept in cages and enclosures?' (16)

Then the charioteer answered: 'Lucky are these animals because at thy wedding they will furnish food for many people.' (17)

Having heard these words, which announced the slaughter of many animals, the great sage, full of compassion and kindness to living beings, meditated thus: (18)

'If for my sake many living beings are killed, I shall not obtain happiness in the next world.' (19)

Then the famous man presented the charioteer with his pair of earrings, his neck-chain, and all his ornaments. (20)

When he had formed his resolution, the gods

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descended (from heaven), according to the established custom, to celebrate, with great pomp together with their retinue, the event of his renunciation. (21)

Surrounded by gods and men, and sitting on an excellent palankin, the Venerable One left Dvârakâ and ascended mount Raivataka ¹ (22)

On arriving at the park he descended from his excellent palankin, surrounded by a crowd of thousands, and then his renunciation took place, while the moon was in conjunction with Kitrâ ². (23)

Then he himself plucked out his delightfully-perfumed, soft, and curled hair in five handfuls. (24)

And Vâsudêva said to that subduer of the senses, who had plucked out his hair: 'O lord of ascetics, may you soon obtain what you wish and desire. (25)

'Increase in knowledge, faith, and right conduct, in forbearance and perfection!' (26)

In this manner Râma and Kêsava, the Dasârhas, and many people paid homage to Arishtanêmi and then returned to the town of Dvârakâ. (27)

When the daughter of the king heard of the ordination of the Gina, laughter and gaiety forsook her, and she was overwhelmed with affliction' ³. (28)

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Râgîmatî thought: 'Shame upon my life, that I have been forsaken by him! it is better I should turn nun.' (29)

Firm and decided she cut off her tresses which were black like bees and dressed with a brush and comb ¹. (30)

And Vâsudêva said to her who had cut off her hair, and subdued her senses: 'Lady, cross the dreadful ocean of the Samsâra without difficulty!' (31)

When she had entered the order, the virtuous and very learned lady induced there many people, her relations and servants, to enter the order too. (32)

On her way to mount Raivataka it began to rain; her clothes being wet, she entered a cave and waited there in the darkness while it was raining. (33)

She took off her clothes and was naked as she was born, thus she was seen by Rathanêmi ², whose

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[paragraph continues] (peace of) mind became (thereby) disturbed; and afterwards she saw him. (34)

She was frightened when she discovered herself alone with the monk; folding her arms over her breast she sank down trembling. (35)

When the prince, Samudravigaya's son, saw her frightened and trembling, he spoke the following words: (36)

'I am Rathanêmi, O dear, beautiful, sweetly-speaking lady! Do accept me for your lover, O slender one ¹, you shall have no cause to complain. (37)

'Come, let us enjoy pleasures, for it is a rare chance to be born a human being; after we have enjoyed pleasures, we shall enter on the path of the Ginas.' (38)

When Râgîmatî perceived that Rathanêmi's strength of will was broken, and temptation had got the better of him, she did not lose her presence of mind and defended her Self on that occasion. (39)

The daughter of the best king, true to self-control and her vows, maintained the honour of her clan and family, and her virtue, and spoke to him: (40)

'If you owned the beauty of Vaisramana ², the pleasing manners of Nalakûbara ³, if you were like Purandara ⁴ himself, I should have no desire for you. (41)

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'Fie upon you, famous knight, who want to quaff the vomited drink for the sake of this life; it would be better for you to die ¹. (42)

'I am the daughter of the Bhôga-king ², and you are an Andhakavrishni; being born in a noble family let us not become like Gandhana-snakes ³; firmly practise self-control! (43)

'If you fall in love with every woman you see, you will be without hold like the Hatha-plant ⁴, driven before the wind. (44)

'As a herdsman or a keeper of goods does not own the things (he has the care of), so you will not truly own Sramanahood.' (45)

Having heard these well-spoken words of the virtuous lady, he returned to the Law like an elephant driven by the hook ⁵. (46)

Protected in thoughts, words, and acts, subduing his senses and keeping the vows, he practised true Sramanahood throughout life. (47)

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After practising severe austerities both of them became Kêvalins, and having completely annihilated their Karman, they reached the highest perfection. (48)

Thus act the enlightened, the wise, the clever ones; they turn from pleasures as did this best of men ¹. (49)

Thus I say.

Footnotes

112:2 According to the Brahmanical account Vasudêva lived in Mathurâ. The name given to the town by the Gainas is apparently derived from Sauri, an epithet of Krishna, whose grandfather was Sûra. Soriyapura may be Saurikapura or Sauryapura. The latter rendering adopted by our commentators is based on a wrong etymology.

113:1 Râîmai, Râimaî, and Râyamatî are the forms of her name in Prâkrit; the spellings Râgimatî and Râgamatî are also met with in Sanskrit.

113:2 Viz. Ugrasêna. He was placed on the throne by Krishna on the death of Kamsa, cf. Vishnu Purâna V, 21. He and Dêvaka were the sons of Âhuka, Kamsa was a son of Ugrasêna, and Dêvakî a daughter of Dêvaka, loc. cit. IV, 14. According to the legend of Krishna, as told by the Brahmans and Gainas, Garâsandha afterwards repeatedly attacked Mathurâ. Krishna therefore built Dvârakâ on the shore of the western ocean, and sent thither the Yâdava tribe, loc. cit. V, 22 and 23. The events narrated in the text must be understood to have occurred in Dvârakâ, as is evident from verse 21.

113:3 Gandhahastin, an elephant of the best class, whose very smell is sufficient, as is believed, to frighten common elephants, see verse 55.

113:4 Dasâra in Prâkrit. They are a clan descended from Yadu.

114:1 In verse 10 Arishtanêmi rides on an elephant, but in the sequel he is supposed to travel in a car. Unless the poet can be charged with having made this blunder, which I think just possible, verse 10 must be considered a later addition.

114:2 The form of the verb akkhahim for akkhanti is worthy of note, because him as ending of the third person plural belongs to Apabhramsa. It is interesting to find a true Apabhramsa form in a text so old as ours, for it seems to prove that at all times Apabhramsa went along with the common Prâkrit, a vulgar or low with a high middle-Indian language.

115:1 Raivataka is mount Girnâr in Kathiawâd. The hill is one of the most sacred places of the Gainas, and is covered with temples of the Ginas. It is also sacred to the Hindus on account of its connection with the history of Krishna. The poetical description of mount Raivataka forms the subject of the fourth sarga of the Sisupâlavadha by Mâgha.

115:2 The lunar mansion, the chief star of which is Spica or α Virginis.

115:3 The lamentation of Râgîmatî on her husband's becoming an ascetic forms the subject of a curious Sanskrit poem called Nêmidûtakâvya, by Vikrama, son of Saṅghana, which has been edited in p. 116 the Kâvyamâlâ of 1886. It is what is technically called a samasyâpûrana or gloss. The last line of each stanza is taken from the Mêghadûta of Kâlidâsa, and the first three lines are added by the poet to make the whole fit the circumstances of his tale.

116:1 Kukkaphanaga, in Sanskrit kûrkaphanaka. According to the scholiasts phanaka is a comb made of bamboo.--I have translated, 'cut off her tresses,' but literally it is: 'plucked out her hair.' However, I do not think that women also are to pluck out their hair.

116:2 Rathanêmi was her husband's elder brother. According to a legend told in Haribhadra's Tîkâ of the Dasavaikâlika Sûtra (see Leumann in the Journal of the German Oriental Society, vol. 46, p. 597), Rathanêmi fell in love with Râgîmatî. But that lady in order to make him see his wrong, vomited a sweet beverage she had drunk, in a cup and offered it him. On his turning away with disgust she explained to him her meaning: she too had been vomited, as it were, by Arishtanêmi, notwithstanding which he wanted to have her. She then taught him the Gaina creed, and he became a monk.

117:1 Suyanu = sutanu. This may, however, be a proper name, a synonym of Râgîmatî, for according to the Harivamsa 2029 and the Vishnu Purâna IV, 14, Sutanu was a daughter of Ugrasêna.

117:2 Vaisramana is a Prâkrit spelling for Vaisravana = Kubêra.

117:3 Nalakûbara is Vaisramana's son.

117:4 Indra.

118:1 The verses 42, 43, 44, 46 have been received in the Dasavaikâlika Sûtra II, 7-10, see Leumann's edition of that Sûtra quoted in the note, p. 116. A metrical German translation will be found in the same place.

118:2 On the Bhôgas see p. 71, note 2. It is perhaps here misspelt for Bhôga. In the Vishnu Purâna, Kamsa, Ugrasêna's son, is twice called Bhôgarâga (see Wilson's translation, ed. Hall, vol. iv, pp. 260, 271), in contradiction to the common tradition which makes him an Andhaka, compare Patañgali on Pânini IV, 1, 114.

118:3 There are said to be two kinds of snakes, the gandhana and the agandhana. The former can be made to suck the poison from the wound they have inflicted; the other will rather die than do so. Cf. Leumann, loc. cit., p. 597, note *.

118:4 Pistia Stratiotes, an aquatic plant.

118:5 Dêvêndra here refers to the story of the Nûpurapandita, of which he gives a small portion in Prâkrit. The whole story 's related in the Parisishtaparvan of Hêmakandra, see the introduction to my edition of that work in the Bibliotheca Indica.

119:1 Compare the last verse of the Ninth Lecture.