An Investigation Of Textual Sources On Samavasarana

Author(s): Nalini Balbir
Publisher: Nalini Balbir

Page 12

NALINI BALBIR
AN INVESTIGATION OF TEXTUAL SOURCES ON THE SAMAVASARANA
89
logical designation of the precise moment when the first porisi after sunrise is over (viz. around 9 a.m.). However, malla is attested neither in the verses developing the entry (vss. 46-49), nor in the prose-commentaries, where it is artificially sanskritised as málya and replaced by a more common word: bali (fem.; see above 1.3. note on vs. 49), i.e. religious offerings. One must avoid an improper offering (dubbali). A proper offering consists of one adhaga (= four prastha.s) of high quality rice, full, cleaned, without impurity. The adjectives recur elsewhere, for instance in the Tandulavaicărika-prakirnaka. The syntagm ball pavisai ("the offerings enter") is a metonymic designation. In the account of the Av. cúrni, the relevant passage runs as follows:
"At the end of the first porisi (deva-malle) either the king or his minister, or a leading person from city (pauram!) or village enters with (offerings) through the eastern door. They are surrounded by the gods and the sound of musical instruments. So much for the bringing. When the offerings have entered and are inside the inner wall, the Tirthamkara, who was preaching the Law, becomes silent. Then the king and others, the offerings in their hands, surrounded by the gods, perform a triple pradaksina of the Tirthamkara and put the offerings at his feet. The gods take half of them, without letting them fall on the ground. Half of the rest the king takes. The rest is taken by the people. Then, if a lump of rice is thrown (by the Jina) on to the head of somebody, his previous diseases will cease, and for the next six months he will not get any new disease." After the offerings have been made, the Tirthamkara gets up, goes out through the northern door of the first innermost) wall, and in the east where the divine canopy (devacchandaya) is," there he sits as if in meditation (samadhi) (333.1-7)."
The solemnity of the event is emphasized by the contrast between the music and the silence of the Jina. The offerings have a symbolic value. They seal the exchange-process between the Jina and the audience and they are a further sign of the perfect cohesion of all actors and participants in the samavasarana, since gods, representatives of the society and the Jina have their own part to play. The going and coming of the offerings from the king and people to the Jina and back, as well as their sharing among all participating groups, also point in the same direction. Their power comes from the fact that they have been endowed with a supplementary value through their direct contact with the Jina. The specification about the fact that they should not fall is important: the holy contact should not be broken under any circumstances. The whole process evokes the familiar gesture of the Jaina monks, when, at the end of their vyakhyan.s, they shower handful of white or coloured grains of rice which the audience cagerly catches, or the Hindu prasad.
1.4.3. Samavasarana and Jaina dogmatics
The samavasarana-tract is an opportunity to emphasize certain fundamental ideas of the Doctrine.
The main aim of the samavasarana, achieved by the Jina's preaching and favoured by the all-pervading peaceful atmosphere, since, as an often quoted half-verse says, "there is neither oppression, nor wrong talk, nor mutual hate, nor fear" (vs. 24cd), is to help beings in their spiritual progress. This is expressed (vs. 26) through the chain savvam (abbreviation for savva-viraim), desa-viraim and samman (suyam and sammam, cf. N 796). This chain defines the basic concept of sämdyika, broadly "equanimity or ability to consider all beings as having as much importance as oneself, and enlists its four stages in descending order: full renunciation (of ascetics), partial renunciation of laypersons), scriptural knowledge and right faith. The number and the nature of varieties accessible are related to the class of beings to which one belongs. Human beings can reach any of the four stages, while animals may attain the second or at the most the third stage. In case no human being or animal reaches the first stage, at least one of the gods attains it.
The qualities of dana (vs. 42-45) are extolled. The gifts of money are meant as awards offered by the king to the person, an official or not, who has brought the announcement that a samavasarana is to be held (vs. 44). As is well-known, this figure has become a standard character in the narrative literature. The amounts to be offered are not fixed and depend on the wealth possessed in the case of ordinary
"Ed. W. Schubring, Wiesbaden 1969, p. 12 6 VII; Hemacandra, Trisaspisalakapuruşacarita 1,3,667.
"Cp. the well-known instance kuntah pravidanti quoted and explained by Indian poeticians (Mammata, Kavyaprakasa, comm. on 11.10).
This sentence is also quoted by Kșemakinti in his commentary on vs. 47.
"Note in the corresponding verse (49) the use of kappal; for its meaning in Ayurvedic contexts see Sk. kopa "excitement of the morbific elements).
Earlier the samavasarana-tract and its prose commentaries implied that this object is located in the central part of the sacred space. The later sources listed in 2. below) generally remove this inconsistency and explicitly state that the devacchandata is located in the north-eastern part of the middle precinct and is meant for the Jina to rest in after his preaching.