________________
CHAPTER III
BIRTH, YOUTH, INITIATION, AND OMNISCIENCE OF SRI PĀRSVA
Tenth incarnation of Kamatha (1-8)
Then the lion's soul, experiencing pains in worldly existence, was born as a son in a poor Brahman family in some hamlet. His father, brothers, et cetera had died soon after he was born. He had been kept alive by the people from compassion; and he was called Katha. He survived childhood and had reached youth, always in a miserable condition. Ridiculed by the people, he got food with difficulty.
One day, seeing rich men wearing jewels and ornaments, disgust with existence having developed at once, Katha reflected:"These thousands of gluttons, adorned with various ornaments, are like gods. I think that is the fruit of penance in a former birth. I, always craving mere food, surely did not perform penance. So I shall practice penance now." Reflecting to this effect, from desire for emancipation, he took the vow of an ascetic and practiced the penance of the five fires, et cetera, his food consisting of bulbs, roots, et cetera.
Incarnation as Pārsvanatha (8-366)
Now in this Jambudvipa, there is a city, Varanasi, on the Ganga, the ornament of Bharatakṣetra. Banners on its shrines looked like waves of the Jahnavi. The golden finials were like lofty lotus-calyxes. The rays of the full moon, rising above its wall, gave the appearance of a silver coping at night. Maidens, who are guests in the houses there whose floors are paved with sapphire, are laughed at because they put their hands (on the floors) with the idea that they are water. Its shrines with rising smoke of burned incense, that was like blue garments that had been put on, shone for the destruction
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
