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

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YASASTILAKA AND INDIAN CULTURE
and Indra; Parvati and the Elephant Demon; and Chaya and the Fire god (the former had been placed by her father in the custody of Yama who vainly put her in his stomach for safety), Yasodhara cites two little known tales. The first relates to the wife of a merchant, who resorted to the expedient of putting on a single cloth with her, but could not thereby prevent her from committing adultery with Müladeva. The second story is about a clever adulteress named Upadhyāyikā, the wife of a Brāhmaṇa teacher.1 According to Śrutasagara, the name of the husband was Garga and that of the woman Somaśrī.
The temptations offered by women are illustrated in Book I by the legend of how the austerities of Siva were interrupted by the sight of the water-sports of the daughters of Daksa, those of Brahman by the musical performance of the nymph Tilottama, those of Parasara by the meeting of the fisherman's daughter, and those of Rathanemi (see above) by the dancing of a nautch-girl."
g) Miscellaneous Stories
The legend of Jimutavahana is referred to in a simile in Book I. The allusion to Radha and Nārāyaṇa in Book IV is of particular interest in view of the paucity of early references to the former, and shows that the Radha legend must be much earlier than the 10th century. It is noteworthy that both Kṛṣṇa and Radha are mentioned in Hala's Gāthāsaptasati 1. 89.5 A woman named Radha appears in the story of Dhanakirti in Yasastilaka VII. 26. The antiquity of the name is shown by the fact that a woman called Radha is also mentioned in Lalitavistara, chap. 18, the famous Mahāyāna work, earlier than the ninth century." The ten Incarnations of Viṣṇu are referred to in Yasastilaka, Book IV."
1 ' तथाहि अनुश्रवः - कृतरक्षाशल्याप्यहल्या किलाखण्डलेन सह संविवेश, हरदेहार्धाश्रितापि गिरिसुता गजासुरेण, यमजठरालयापि छाया पावकेन, एकवसन वैदेहकवधूर्मूलदेवेन, एवमन्याश्चोपाध्यायिकाप्रभृतयो निजपतिसमक्षमुपपतिभिः acitfat #granean p. 62. A story very similar to that of Chaya and the fire god occurs in Milindapanha iv. 2. 18. A Danava, to guard his wife, put her into a box, and swallowing it, carried her about in his stomach. That did not prevent a Vidyadhara entering his mouth and enjoying the company of his wife. Rhys Davids: The Questions of King Milinda, Vol. I, p. 217.
2 ' श्रूयते हि किला लक्ष्यजन्मनो दक्षसुतानां जलकेलिविलोकनात् तपः प्रत्यवायः, पितामहस्य तिलोत्तमासंगीतकात् कैवत. संगमात् पराशरस्य, रथनेमेश्च नटीनर्तनदर्शनात् ।' Vol. I, p. 109.
3 ' जीमूतवाहनचरितावतारमिव नागवल्लीविभव सुन्दरम् ।' p. 95
4 'किं न रेमे राधा नारायणेन' Vol. II, p. 142.
5 मुहमारुण तं कल गोरअं राहिआए अवणेन्तो । एता वलवीणं अण्णाण वि गोरअं हरसि ॥ N. S. Press, third
edition.
6 'तेन खलु पुनर्भिक्षवः समयेन सुजाताया ग्रामिकदुहितुर्दासी राधा नाम कालगताभूत् ।'
7'
a '. For the verse in question see Chapter XII.