Agama And Tripitaka Comparative Study

Author(s): Nagaraj Muni
Publisher: Today and Tomorrows Printers and Publishers

Page 24

xxii
Jivitatyayamapanno yo'nnamatti yatastataḥ akasamiva pankena na sa papena lipyate. ajirgataḥ sutam hantumupasarpadbubhukṣitaḥ na calipyata papena kṣutpratikāramācaran.
Here we have an account of sage Ajirgata[13] who killed his son and yet did not incur any sin.
From these accounts cited above from different sources, it should be clear that there must have been an age when the killing of the son by the father under exceptional circumstances been recorded and this had been freely repeated in the Jaina, Buddhist & Vedic traditions to establish or demolish a point. Under the cir cumstances, 'puttam piyā samārabbha' appears to be the correct reading. Sutrakṛtanga only cites this to indicate a Buddhist practice. This has been met and demolished in the Gathas that follow.
The renouned scholar Dr. A.N. Upadhye read the book from cover to cover and I have the pleasure to say that he is in agreement with the dates of my chronology.
In the preparation of this volume, at least 300 books have been directly used. An even larger number of books it has been necessary to consult. I express my deep gratitude to their writers. I have tried to meet the findings of many of them. In doing so, I have always been objective and analytical, and never communal or parachial. I hope, the scholars will take them in that light.
This volume has been edited by Muni Mahendrakumaraji Pratham and Muni Mahendrakumaraji Dvitiya. The amount of labour and erudition they have mobilised and applied in this arduous job is clear from the Index of Jaina and Buddhist Technical terms given in the Appendix. The work of these fellow monks was not restricted to this but has extended from the preparation of the outline of the work till its completion in connection with thinking, consideration, reading, search and other ways.
Indirect help in the preparation of the volume has been received from Muni Manmalaji of Bīdāsara. He has been available to me in other respects also which are in no way inferior or less necessary than the main object.
13.
This story is fully available in the story of Ajirgata in Banavrc Brāhmaṇa.