Saddharma Pundarika

SR No.: 007677
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: H Kern
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1884
Total Pages: 2546
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 46 MB

Page 826

LIVES OF THE GINAS.
261
a lotus; his senses were well protected like those of a tortoise; he was single and alone like the horn of a rhinoceros; he was free like a bird; he was always waking like the fabulous bird Bhårunda ', valorous like an elephant, strong like a bull, difficult to attack like a lion, steady and firm like Mount Mandara, deep like the ocean, mild like the moon, refulgent like the sun, pure like excellent gold? ; like the earth he patiently bore everything; like a well-kindled fire he shone in his splendour.
These words have been summarised in two verses :
A vessel, mother of pearl, life, firmament, wind, water in autumn, leaf of lotus, a tortoise, a bird, a rhinoceros, and Bhârunda; I
An elephant, a bull, a lion, the king of the mountains, and the ocean unshaken—the moon, the sun, gold, the earth, well-kindled fire. II
There were no obstacles anywhere for the Venerable One. The obstacles have been declared to be of four kinds, viz. with regard to matter, space, time, affects. With regard to matter : in
1 Each of these birds has one body, two necks, and three legs.
. The last three similes cannot be translated accurately, as they contain puns which must be lost in the translation. The moon is somalese, of soft light, but Mahavira has pure thoughts (lesya, manaso bahirvikära); the sun is dittateo of splendent light, Mahavira of splendent vigour; gold is gâyarūva, a synonym of kanaga gold, Mahâvîra always retains his own nature. It is worthy of remark that only two regular puns (for the second is but a common metaphor) occur in a passage in which a later writer would have strained his genius to the utmost to turn every simile into a pun. The difference of style is best seen on comparing this passage with e. g. the description of the nun Sarasvati and of autumn in the Kalakakarya Kathânaka; see my edition, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenl. Gesellschaft, XXXIV, pp. 260, 263.
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