Agam 30 mool 03 Uttaradhyayana Sutra Sthanakvasi

SR No.: 002494
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Amarmuni
Publisher: Padma Prakashan
Publication Year: 2011
Total Pages: 726
Language: Hindi, Prakrit, Sanskrit
Classification: Book_Devnagari & agam_uttaradhyayan
File Size: 28 MB

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सचित्र उत्तराध्ययन सूत्र
The soul of ascetic Chitra was reborn as the son of a very rich merchant of Purimataal city. On hearing sermon of senior scholarly sages, he acquired Jatismaran jnana (memories of past births). As a result he got detached, got initiated and engrossed in practice of restrain and austerities.
Emperor Brahmadutt was once enjoying a drama. All of a sudden he thought-'I have seen such drama earlier also, but when and where?' Ruminating thus he went so deep into his memories that he recollected the memory of his five earlier births (see illustration). Now he was disturbed by the memory of his beloved brother. In order to find him the emperor composed one line of a couplet and made an announcement that 'whoever completes the couplet will be rewarded with half of his empire. The first half of the couplet was
We were slaves, deer and geese, then chandaals and at last gods. The greed of half kingdom of an emperor is very powerful. Though no one was aware of the cryptic meaning of this line, each and every man muttered this line, whether he was literate or illiterate, labour or merchant, or of high or low class.
Wandering from one village to another, ascetic Chitra arrived in Kampilyapur and stayed in a garden outside the city. There a keeper of water-wheel was muttering that line. The ascetic heard this line and completed the couplet at once
This is our sixth birth, in which we are separated from each other.
The waterman memorized the line, went to the emperor's court and repeated it verbatim.
The emperor asked—“Did you compose this line?”
The waterman replied—“Sire! I am not such a scholar. An ascetic has come to the garden today. It was he who composed this line.”
After knowing the truth, emperor himself came to the garden. He met the brother of his last birth, Chitra ascetic, paid him homage and started conversation.
This conversation is narrated in the text of the chapter.
Due to the affinity from earlier births ascetic Chitra forcefully advised emperor Brahmadutt to get initiated. He went to the extent of saying that if he cannot practice asceticism, then he should at least indulge in noble deeds, so as to be reborn as a god of very high status (mahardhik dev).
But Brahmadutt remained unaffected. In the end he said,"My condition is like an elephant caught in a swamp. It is, indeed, able to see the shore but cannot reach it. At last ascetic Chitra left after saying-Emperor! I have simply wasted my time in trying to persuade you otherwise."