Kuvalayamala Part 2

SR No.: 002778
Original Sutra Author: Udyotansuri
Author: A N Upadhye
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Publication Year: 1970
Total Pages: 368
Language: Sanskrit, English
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Literature
File Size: 12 MB

Page 109

70
KUVALAYAMĀLĀ
sādharmika-vātsalyatva (116.23, 137.20) clearly indicates that Jaina religion was not a theoretical philosophy, but a way of living tending to community life. A caraṇa-sramana is gifted with certain miraculous powers; he has no gacchaparigraha; and he does not initiate others into the order. (80.17 f.). The Jaina Tīrthakaras and saints are introduced here and there more than once. The saints staying in the forest have an atmosphere of peace and amity around them; and their routine of living is also interesting (28.22, 34).
4. RELIGIOUS TOUCHES IN THE KUVALAYAMĀLĀ
Besides the insertion of Jaina dogmatical details, there are contexts in the Kuvalayamālā in which the author either criticises the views of other creeds or casually refers to them whereby we get a good glimpse of the contemporary religious ideas.
According to the Lokaśāstra, or scriptures current among the people, a son is necessary for the parents to reach better worlds and to satisfy the ancestors; so, for securing an issue (13.5 f.) various cults were current: flesh from one's body, dripping with blood, was offered as oblation in front of Iśvara; one's head was offered to Katyāyanī who is stepping on a buffallo felled with Triśūla; human flesh was sold on the burial ground; guggula resin was burnt on the head as an act of devotion; Bhūtas, gods and Matṛs were pleased with blood; and prayers were offered to Indra. These are all risky practices (§ 32). Advised by wise ministers, king Dṛdhavarman offers prayers, after due rituals (§ 34), to Rajalakṣmī (addressed by various names 14.16) and urges her to grant him audience within three days; otherwise he would offer his head. This Rajalakṣmī is the spouse of ancient kings like Bharata, Sagara, Mādhava, Nala, Nahuṣa, Māmdhātṛ, Dilīpa and others; and after a little joke with her, the king gets the promise of a son from the Kuladevatā. Once prince Candragupta passes through a fatal test and satisfies a Vetāla (§ 379) from whom he gets the required details about a robber who could not be spotted by the city guards. The deities, the author tells us, are twofold: sarāğa and viragin (§395); and for worldly ends, the credulous people worship the latter of different names : Govinda, Skanda, Rudra, Vyantara, Gaṇādhipa, Durgā, Yakṣa, Rākṣasa, Bhūta, Piśāca, Kinnara, Kimpuruşa, Gandharva, Mahoraga, Nāga, astral bodies, natural phenomena etc. Sailors in difficulty offer prayers and make propitiative promises to different deities (68.17 f.) A lady about to commit suicide appeals for grace to Lokapālas (53.6). Yakṣa worship is referred to; and there were Yakṣa statues with Jinas on their heads.
There is a substantial section (§ 322) in which the author reviews various tenets and practices of different religious schools rather than religious systems as a whole, and those too as contradistinguished from the Jaina ones. It is quite likely that these views are picked up and stated with the object of showing them to be contradictory and not acceptable to Jainism. Taking them seriatim, some of the systems reviewed are Buddhism, Tridaṇḍin, Samkhya, Upanisadic, Vedic sacrifice, Vanaprastha creed, gifts to Brāhmaṇa, the alleged Advaita creed, extreme Bhakti cult, self-immolation or torture for divine propitiation, Digging of wells, etc., washing sins in the holy Ganges etc., Caturvarṇya-dharma,