History of Jaina Monachism

SR No.: 001727
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: S B Deo
Publisher: Deccan College Research Institute
Publication Year: 1956
Total Pages: 616
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Principle, & History
File Size: 12 MB

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S. B. DEO
power of healing. And it was said that the touch of the water used for washing his feet had the virtue of turning iron into gold.440
Of Samantabhadra, a record of 1129 A.D. says that he was "skilful in reducing to ashes the disease bhasmaka (morbid appetite), receiver of an exalted position from the Goddess Padmavati, who summoned Candraprabha by the words of his spells....
Similar other instances like controlling the 'brahmaraksasa',448 curing snake-bite by reciting the 'pañcanamaskara',443 being expert in the six acts (santi, vasikarana, stambhana, vidveşa, ucchäțana and māraņa), bringing under control female goblins,445 being endowed with seven great supernatural powers (pertaining to buddhi, vikriyä, tapas, bala, ausadha, rasa and ksetra) 446 and curing the effects of various types of poisoning447 are referred to in epigraphs of the fourteenth century and after.
It should be noted that the Pattavalis and later literature also refer to such feats,448
DEATH:
The mode of death that is frequently referred to is fasting unto death, denoted by the Jaina technical term 'sallekhana'.
Besides this term449 three other expressions are found to have been used to denote this mode of death. They are:
(i) having observed the vow, ended his or her life;450 (ii) accomplished samadhi;451
and (iii) died by the rites of sannyasana."
440. Ibid., 258 of 1123 A.D.
441. Ibid., 67, of 1129 A.D.
442. Ibid.
443. I.A., XIV, p. 22: 12th cent. A.D.
444. E.C., II, 65, of 1176 A.D.
445. Ibid., 64, of 1163 A.D.
446. Ibid., also 66, of 1176 A.D.
447. Ibid., 65 of 1313 A.D.
448. See, HOERNLE (I.A., XIX, pp. 236-7) regarding Upakeśa gaccha and the miraculous powers of the monks belonging to it; GLASENAPP, op. cit., p. 70, refers to Muni Sundara who warded off a famine by reciting a stotra; Kakka Sūri producing water from the earth: HOERNLE, op. cit., p. 240; flying through the air, given in Räjävalikathe of Deva candra (1770-1841 A.D.), referred to by UPADHYE, Prv., Intr. p. viii.
449. E.C., II, 118, 258, 359 etc.
450. Ibid., 4-9 of c. 700 A.D.
451. Ibid., 1, 2, 22, 59, 93, 106, 108, 114, 128, 129, 142, 143, 258, 351, 495. 452. Ibid., 15, 24, 28, 33, 34, 68, 75-77, 88, 97, 102.