Critical Study Of Paumacariyam

SR No.: 022643
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: K R Chandra
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology and Ahimsa
Publication Year: 1970
Total Pages: 672
Language: English, Sanskrit
Classification: Book_English & Book_Devnagari
File Size: 18 MB

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INTERVENING STORIES
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after being reborn as Tāpasas passed through the life of Jyotiska devas and then were reborn as Hasta and Prahasta.
43. The previous births of Višalya and Laksmana or the
story of Anangasarā and Punarvasu: When Lakşmaņa received injuries on being hurt by the "Sakti: hurled by Rāvana there happened to arrive Khecara Candramandala who suggested Rāma to procure the bath-water of Višalyā, with which Lakşmaņa could be cured because he himself had been cured with it. At this news Rāma enquired about the source of the sacred bath-water. Candramandala replied that he himself had been told of it by Bharata. Bharata had come to know of it from his maternal uncle Dronamegha when the latter's family had totally escaped while the whole country was u nder the peril of epidemic. Their escape was due to the efficacy of the bath-water of Višalyā, the daughter of Dronamegha. Bharata enquired of Muni Sarvahita the cause of the curative power of that bathwater. The Muni narrated the story to the former (63.24-70) elucidating the fruits of penances. The story runs as follows in two parts :
(A) Anangasarā, the daughter of Cakravartin Tribhuvanānanda of Pundarikavijaya was abducted by king Punarvasu of Pratişthāpura. The abductor was chased and his chariot was broken down. Anangasarā fell down in a forest, She performed penances for several years, Khecara Labdhisāra tried to take her to her parents, but she did not consent to his proposal because of the fear of her vows getting broken. The matter was reported to her father who duly arrived there but found that his daughter who was performing 'sallekhana' was swallowed by a huge serpent. At this the king renounced the world, Anangasarā was reborn in a celestial abode. Punarvasu died with a resolve (nidāna) to get her again, hence he after passing through the life of a celestial being was reborn as Laksmana and Anangasarā as Višalyā. It was on account of the result of her previous penances that her bath-water proved to be a panacea for various diseases.
(B) A Merchant and a Buffalo :-On further enquiry the monk narrated the cause of the spreading of the epidemic in the whole country.
Vindhya, a merchant of Gajapura, went to Sāketapurī loading heavily one of his he-buffaloes. That buffalo fell sick, died, and was reborn as Pavanāsuradeva. Remembering the previous tortures inflicted on him by the people, that Deva had polluted the air with infectious germs.
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