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Lord Mahâvîra
suggesting her death in near future. So with the consent of her lord she turned a recluse, a nun, and after death was reborn as a god in one of the heavens. After the death of Prabhavati, Uddayana entrusted the worship of the sandalwood image to the care of his slave-girl Devadatta by name.
I have noted that Uddayana had become a Jaina monk later in life.10 The Jaina accounts unanimously say that he did so when Mahâvîra paid a visit to the city of Vitabhayapattana. The accounts further show that while renouncing the world, Uddayana placed his sister's son, Kesi by name, on the throne, instead of his own prince Abhiti-kumara, thinking that kingship is open to moral degradation, and that his own son should better be saved from it.11 Austerities enjoined upon a monk's life, accompanied by irregular and poor diet, brought about disease to the person of this royal monk, who was not used to such a mode of living. He was advised by physicians to live upon a diet of curds. When this royal monk returned to Vitabhayapattana, Kesi and his evil minded ministers thought that he was returning with a desire to regain his kingship. The monk was therefore administered poison in his curds-diet and died. The superintending deity of the city, enraged at this atrocity on a pious monk, raised a terrific sandstorm whereupon the city was buried under sand and destroyed.12
A parallel to the Jain a tradition about Uddayana and the sandalwood image is also obtained from Buddhist literature, in the Rudrayanavadana chapter of the Divyavadana. 13 Rudrayana, the king of Roruka, had a queen named Candraprabha and two ministers called Hiru and Bhiru. The king sent priceless jewels as a token of friendship to Bimbisara of Pataliputra, who, in return, sent costly garments of local manufacture to Rudrayana. Once Bimbisara sent a painting of the Lord Buddha seeing which Rudrayana desired to know more about Buddha's teachings. A monk named Katyayana and a nun called Saila were therefore sent to the city of Roruka. On account of their preaching the Rudrayana and his queen became more and more devoted to the Buddhist faith.
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Once upon a time when the queen was dancing to the tunes of vina played by the king, her husband could foresee signs of approaching death of the queen and the vina fell from his hands. Realising the cause of this break in the music, the queen became
| SR No. | 023277 |
| Book Title | Lord Mahavira Vol 02 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | S C Rampuria |
| Publisher | Jain Vishva Bharati Institute |
| Publication Year | 2001 |
| Total Pages | 244 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 21 MB |