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About an Aksayatrtiya
vyakhyana by Dr. Nalini Balbir, Paris
15 II
ations pertaining to Jaina festivals are Lord. The contrast between the people who available so far, I was prompted to collect are distressed because the Lord does not data on the history and contemporary take any of the gifts they propose since they process of Aksayatrtiya.
are unacceptable for a monk, and the joy of
the Lord deeply immersed in asceticism, was In 1988, a grant from the Central National
strongly underlined. The arrival in Hastinade la Recherche Scientifique (France)
pur, the dreams of Prince Sreyamsa who enabled me to take part in the life of the
comes to remember his former births and. pilgrims and to witness this festival as it was finally, the gift of sugar-cane juice were celberated in Hastinapur (from 13th to 20th briefly sketched. In short, the main outline of Apirl). This tirtha was selected because, as the story as handed down from times have shown elsewhere, its place in the Jaina immemorial was told to the audience in a religious geography has increased consi- simple manner, without any reference to derbly in the last ten years, under the
literary sources or quotation. auspices of the Shree Atma allabh Jain Smarak Shiskshan Nidhi, and this partly
On the other hand, three details seem to thanks to the legendary connection with
be specific of the vyakhyana-genre as Aksayatrtiya which was made to revive: in
opposed to the traditional biographies of 1978 the Parana Mandir which contains the
Rsabha (where they do not seem to occur) full images of Lord Rsabha and Prince
and are worthy of note since they show how Sreyamsa was inaugurated for this purpose
the use of a text for a living religious purpose inside the Svetambara comlex.
could imply adjustments and insertion of
popular elements. The always increasing (In all their festivals the Jainas read or
importance given to 108 as a sacred number listen to special vyakhyanas (or prava
could account for the mention of "108 pots" kathas) which are narratives made to remind
of sugar-cane juice given by Sreyamasa in the audience of the celebrated mythological
the vyakhyanas (see also Ksamakalyana events, so that a vast literature of this kind is
etc.),whereasnonumberismentionedin other at our disposal. In what follows, as a personal
sources. The search for an explanation to the tribute to Acarya Vijayendradinn Suriji
fact that Rsabha could not find any suitable Maharaj, the present pontiff of the lineage
alms during one whole year has led to a brightly illustrated by Acarya Vijay Vallabh
courious by-story where the common motif Suriji Maharaj, I shall have an analysis of the
of the previous birth and the law of karman Hindi vyakhyana which recorded when
(antaraya-karman in the present case) are it was delivered by Him on the eve of the main
made use of in his former existence Rsabha day (18th April 1988; about 30 minutes), and
happened to see a farmer who was beating shall try to see how it takes its place in a
his bulls. He asked him why he was doing so, continuous literary tradition (e.g. Aksaya
advised him to block the animals mouths and triyakatha by Kanakakusala, 17th cent, A
himself showed how to procede. Since this vyakhyana by Ksamakalyana, 19th cent).
prevented the bulls from feeding themselves As all the available versions, the and led them to die, he acquired some bad vyakhyana mentioned how Lord Rsabha took Karman. In the Acarya's vyakhyana this initiation (diksa) along with other kings such incident (also narrated by Ksamakalyana) as Kaccha and Mahakaccha and how their was emphasised and served as a startingsons, Nami and Vinami, were granted point for a short generalization about sovereignty because they had served the Karman (supplemented by a Sanskrit quotarelibrary.org
From the fundamental concept of dana, with which I started my studies in Jainism nine years ago, under the impulse of my guru, Prot. C. Caillat (see Danastakakatha. Paris, 1982 in Frenchl: "The 'micro-genre' of dana stories in Jaina Literature": Indologica Taurinensia 11.1983), it is but natural that I slowly came to be interested in Aksayatrtiya, since this annual Jaina festival commemo- rates Lord Rsabha's fast-breaking through the hands of Prince Sreyamsa and is thus the prototype of the monk-layman relationship of
mutual solidarity. Since very few investig- Jain Education International
