Amrita Collected Papers by A M Ghatage

SR No.: 006968
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: Kasturbhai Lalbhai Smarak Nidhi Ahmedabad
Total Pages: 530
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 10 MB

Page 198

The Sūtrakstānga-Niryukti
189
existence and abstention from which is the best way to clear oneself of all sins (165-168).
The third chapter gives us information about the food of living beings. It is either food in general which all beings, yet undeveloped, take in, or Loma-āhāra receiving nourishment through ones hair, and lastly the usual method of taking food in lumps. At the start of his life the soul lives without food for three moments at the most and then begins to receive food (169178). The next deals with confession.
The fifth is called Ayārasuya or Anagārasuya, and says that one should follow the right conduct and abstain from the wrong one (181-183).
The sixth chapter is the result of the conversation between Ardraka and others. The Niryukti points out that though the whole of the canon is a complete work yet there are occasions which require the statement of a dogma in clearer terms. The author has given a synoptic view of the story which runs as follows:
In the country of Magadha there was a town Vasantapura and a householder Sāmāyika. He took to monkhood at the advice of his teacher Dharmaghosa along with his wife and began his wandering career. But one day he saw his own wife in the form of a nun and became attached to her. Knowing his intention she abandoned food and as a result of her religious penance she became in her next birth a god. He also, coming to know her act, died with a fast and became Ardraka in the town of Ardra as a son of one also is called Ardraka. His wife was born in the town of Vasantapura as the daughter of a merchant.
. Once, king Ardraka sent presents to king Srenika and prince Ardraka also despatched presents to prince Abhaya. Abhaya, in return, sent back to him an image of the Jina which was the cause of his enlightenment. But his father, to keep him in the worldly life, kept 500 other princes round him as guards. One day, he went out on his horse and against the advice of a deity, he took the role of a monk. In the town of Vasantapura he saw a girl, his former wife, who called him her husband. At that time the deity showers gold which the father takes up only for the girl. Many suitors come for the hand of his daughter but the girl refuses all of them on the plea that a girl can be given in marriage only once. To find Ārdraka out, the father keeps a almshouse and the girl detects him there. They are married and lead a life of pleasures. They get a son, when Ardraka shows signs of resuming his wandering career. But the boy in play encircles his father with a thread 12