Unknown Pilgrims

SR No.: 007014
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: N Shanta
Publisher: Sri Satguru Publications Delhi
Publication Year: 1997
Total Pages: 820
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

Page 145

The Gods Named Him "Mahāvira", the Great Hero
125
and the injustice of which she had been the victim, she serenely observed that it was due to her past karmas and expressed no rancour towards any single person. Satānika was uiterly changed. He recognised his errors, humbled himself and begged for pardon. Candană agreed to go to the palace and stay there awile. Satānika implored King Dadhivāhana to leave the jungle and to govern both kingdoms. Next there was talk of finding a prince worthy of the hand of Candană, but she, firm in her resolve and convinced of her vocation, requested Mahāvira, who was now a kevalin, to give her diksā. He consented and Candanā became the first sādhvi disciple of the great tirthankara, and the pravartini, the spiritual Mother, of all the other sādhvis.58
Later on Queen Mşgāvati, now a widow, was also obliged to struggle to preserve her chastity and avoid being carried off by King Pradyota of Ujjayini. Having entrusted Kaušāmbi to her young son, she received dikṣā and placed herself under the direction of Candană. Concerning Candanā and Mrgāvati this marvellous story is told: Mahāvira and his groups of munis and sådhvis were once in Kaušāmbi. Mļgāvati requested permission from Candanā to go to Mahāvira to have his darśana. The tirthankara drew to himself not only human beings, but also gods and goddesses, among them surya, the sun, and candra, the moon, whose lights thus illumined the whole assembly. Thus Mrgāvati paid no heed to the time and, when she regained the upāśraya of the sadhvis,59 night had already fallen. Candanā reprimanded her, for sādhvis are not permitted to stir abroad after nightfall.60 Mrgåvati acknowledged hei fault and, whereas the
58 Apud JSBSam V, pp. 197-246 (Avaśyaka-niryukti Haribhadra 520-521); TrisalPC X, 4,516-600; 5, 161-185; cf. also PPN, pp. 246-247.
59 Upāśraya, cf. P 440 ff.
60 The chief reason for this prohibition is that they might, on account of the dark, cause harm to living beings. In the biography of Mahāsati Pannadevi, of our own time, it is recounted how one day, having been unable to reach any village before dusk, the group of sādhvis spent the night in the jungle; cf. P620 ff.