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18. SANJAYA
The story of king Sañjaya is told in the Uttaradhyayana text. Once when the king was out hunting on horseback he pursued a deer to a grove where the venerable monk Gardabhāli was engaged in meditation. The deer sought protection of the monk, but Sanjaya did not see the holy man and shot. At once, on discovering Gardabhäli, he was aghast, for he might have shot him instead of the deer, and he begged forgiveness. The monk, lost in meditation, did not hear him. Again the king besought him, "for a monk by his wrath might reduce millions of men to ashes." This time the monk replied, "Be without fear, O king, and give immunity to other creatures. In this transient world of living beings why do you practice cruelty?" The monk preached a sermon, and Sañjaya was converted, himself entering the order. Later Sañjaya preached a long sermon to a kṣattriya who had taken the vows, and this sermon occupies a large part of the text but has no relation to any of the paintings.
The illustrations all set the scene in the grove where Gardabhali was meditating. In DV (fig. 62) the monk stands at the left, but in the posture of teaching rather than that of meditation. Above his head is the deer, shown here as an antelope or "black buck," bounding on all four feet, as is characteristic of this animal when in full flight. The king appears at the right with drawn bow; his horse is not shown.
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