Dhurtakhyan

SR No.: 001861
Original Sutra Author: Haribhadrasuri
Author: Jinvijay
Publisher: Saraswati Pustak Bhandar Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 2002
Total Pages: 160
Language: Sanskrit, Prakrit, Gujarati
Classification: Book_Devnagari, Story, Literature, P000, & P030
File Size: 14 MB

Page 76

CRITICAL STUDE
45
Puebed against me. Helpless and terrified I entered into the Kamandalu which was placed on the branch of bhinda; the elephant also rushed into it, and began tearing my clothes with its trunk, I ran out through the spout; the elephant also followed me; but with its tail stuck there, it fell on the ground. I reached a Jaina temple, and not getting ctothes I accepted this traditional form of a Jaina monk.' The Brāhmaṇas laughed at him as a fantastic lier telling impossibilities, Wbon they assured him to abandon such scriptures as contained these details, be narrated to them the following episodes: Arjana brought the Nägeloka through an arrow-hole; Agastya drank the whole coean, and his Kamandale containing the universe was put on the branch of an atasi plant; and Brahman's hair was caught at Vişnu's navel when the former came out of latter's stomach after seeing there the universe which was once missing. If these legends are true, it is quite possible that the elephant could pass through the Kamandalubole, be accommodated in the Kamandalu, and have it's tail stuck in the spout. The Brāhmaṇas were thus silenced, and they were further instructed by him on the faults of divinities and on the true nature of God.
IV. Fourth time Manovega became a Tāpasa, and accompanied by his friend, met the Brāhmaṇas as before. On condition that they are yuite considerate, he narrated his tale thus: 'At the time of my mother's marriage there was a confusion created by an elephant. She rushed out with the bride groom at whose touch she fell in a swoon, but he ran away. It was discovered that she was pregnant due to his toueh. Hearing of a 12 years' famine from Tāpasas, I remained in the womb all the while and came out when the famine was over. As soon as I was born, I took a pot and demanded foou! It was considered ominous; and I had to leave home and become a Tapasa like Wais. My mother was rigblty married again, as though she tried to follow Drauli's example. I came here on my religious tour.' The Brāhmaṇas said that he vas a first-rate lier talking impossible things; they admitted that they were open to correction, if such details were found in their Scriptures. Manovega, to confirm his experience, narrated the following legends : Bhagiratha was conceived at women's mutual contact; Gandhāri became pregnant by embracing a jackfruit tree; Abhimanyu understood cakra-vyūha while he was in the womb; Mandodari conceived at the contact of her father's semen, had her footus restrained in the womb for seven thousand years, and delivered Indrajit after being married to Rāvana; Vyāsa accepted renunciation immediately after his birth, and his mother remained still a virgin ; Kunti remained a kanyā even after begetting a son from the Sun; and Candramati was still a kanyå after Nāgaketu's birth and was married to Uddālaka. If these Purānic legends are true, there is nothing incredible in my mother conceiving me at her beloved's touch, in my hearing about the famine from the womb, in my remaining there for twelve years, in my becoming an ascetic soon after my birth, and in my mother becoming again a kanyă after delivering me.' Manovega further enlightened Pavanavega and all others there by narrating the true tales about Karna, Vāga Pandavas, etc. He illustrated to them how people mechanically and thoughtlessly follow others, as in that story of the Copper Pot.