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CHAPTER II
VĀSUPŪJYACARITRA Homage to the holy Vāsupūjya, who is entitled to worship from every one, protector, whose nails are rubbed by the tops of the diadems of Indras and Upendras. I, engaged in meditation on the form of the Tīrthankaras, 84 shall relate his life purifying to all and surpassing even the moon in spotlessness, like the Arhat.
Incarnation as Padmottara (3-12) There is a city, Ratnasañcayā, in the province Mangalāvati, which is the ornament of East Videha in the
inhabited) half of Puşkaravaradvīpa. Its king was named Padmottara, always superior with a wealth 85 of everything, dear to the people as the moon.86 He carried in mind the pure teaching of the Jinas, as kings carried his own commands on their heads with devotion. Of him, the sole abode of merit, the wealth and fame increased very much simultaneously, as if they were born twins. He, the crestjewel of kings, ruled the earth surrounded by the ocean, like a city girdled by a moat. Always considering that "Fortune is a fickle wanton; beauty is fleeting as youth; meritorious acts are transitory as a drop of water on the tip of a lotus-petal; 87 even brothers are strangers like travelers who have met on the road,” he attained disgust with existence.
84 2. See I, n. 409. 86 4. Padmā = Lakşmi, goddess of wealth.
86 4. The alternative reading given by the editor: øjānivajjanavallabhaḥ, seems preferable to the reading of the text: 'rājarājeva vallabhaḥ. Of course, the inherent idea is really a combination of the two readings, 'dear to the people as the moon to the night.'
87 8. A drop of water on the tip of a blade of kuśa is the usual symbol of extreme instability.
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