________________
CHAPTER TWO
in brilliance. Thundering, as it were, with drums summoning beggars, he favored the earth with money like a cloud favoring it with water. His numerous armies traversed the earth for amusement, but not for conquest, his enemies being defeated just by his brilliance. As the king, who was the essence of authority, was the chastiser of the wicked, the word 'slave' was found in the dictionaries, but not among the people. He bore the pure teaching of the Omniscients (the Jinas), like an eternal śrīyatsa, in his heart, devoted to those practicing dharma.
His chief-queen, an object of delight, was named Jayā, victorious over love and beauty, the hansi to the pool of her family. She, who was deep and had a slow, winding gait like the Jāhnavi, entered Vasupujya's mind which was deep as the Eastern Ocean. King Vasupujya dwelt always in her heart spotless as pure crystal, like the supreme spirit in the heart of one truly devoted. Some time passed in wonderful happiness for them suited in beauty, grace, and virtues, delighting in each other.
Birth (29–33) Now in the heaven Prāṇata, the jiva of King Padmottara, absorbed in pleasure, passed his life of maximum length. On the ninth day of the white half of Jyeștha, the moon being in Satabhișaj, the jīva fell from Prāṇata, and entered Jayā's womb. Then Queen Jayā, sleeping comfortably, saw the fourteen dreams which indicate the birth of a Tirthakệt. The Lady Jayā supported the best of embryos, like a row of clouds the moon, like a mountain-cave a lion. At the right time, on the fourteenth day of the dark half of Phālguna (the moon being) in the constellation Vāruņa,94 she bore a son, red color, marked with a buffalo.
08 26. I.e. the Jāhnavi, the Ganges, flows into the Eastern Ocean. 94 33. The same as Satabhisaj. 5B
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org