Yasastilaka and Indian Culture

SR No.: 001609
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
Publication Year: 1968
Total Pages: 566
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Story, Literature, & Culture
File Size: 16 MB

Page 194

7. TAŚASTILARA AS AN ANTHOLOGY OF SANSKRIT VERSE
175
All men are expert in giving advice to others, but not in doing their alloted work. The eye can see even distant objects, but not itself (Book IV).
FATAL TEMPTATION किं नास्ति पलं सलिले येन तिभिः सादरो गलाहारे । प्रायेण हि देहभृतां तत्रासक्तियतो मृत्युः ।।
Is there no other food in the waters that a fish eagerly swallows the bait? Creatures are, as a rule, attached to objects that cause their death (3. 231 ).
FORCE OF ASSOCIATION पूज्यमलं श्रियः सङ्गाज्येष्ठायाश्च न कैरवम् । प्रायो जनेऽन्यसंसर्गागुणिता दोषितापि च ॥ .
The day lotus is esteemed for its association with the goddess of wealth, but not the night lotus for its association with the goddess Jyeșthā'. Merit and blemish among men depend invariably upon the company they keep (3. 118).
संसर्गेण गुणा अपि भवन्ति दोषास्तदद्भुतं नैव । स्थितमधरे रमणीनाममृतं चेतांसि कलुषयति ॥ It is not strange that even merits turn into blemishes owing to the force of association. The nectar that is in women's lips corrupts the hearts of men (1. 79).
REASON ईर्ते युक्तिं यदेवात्र तदेव परमार्थसत् । यदानुदीप्तिवत्तस्याः पक्षपातोऽस्ति न क्वचित् ॥
Whatever in this world conforms to Reason is really true, for, like the rays of the sun, Reason is partial to none (Book VI, p. 270).
VII. ATTACKS ON WOMEN Numerous attacks on women occur in Yasastilaka in prose and verse, and this is explained partly by the very nature of the plot and partly by the fact that such attacks are frequent in Jaina literature owing to the stress laid on asceticisin and abstention from pleasures. Attacks in verse occur in works like Guņabhadra's Atmānusāsana, hacandra's Jñānārnava, Amitagati's Subhāṣitaratnasamdoha (both censure and praise), and in Hemacandra's commentary on his Yogaśāstra 2. 105. A. notable instance of such attacks in Jaina canonical literature is found in Tandula-Veyaliya, one of the Païņņas, wherein women are decried in prose and verse. It should, however, be noted that the character of women is sometimes painted in dark colours in non-Jaina works as well, for example, in the Mahabhārata (Anušāsanaparva, chap. 38).
Num
1 For Jyeșthā see Chap. XV.