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Five Anga-texts – story-collection
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scene. Again, it was perhaps natural for these authors to pay special atte. ntion to the cases of punishment inflicted on a criminal, for they must have thought that their thesis of rebirth would be vindicated if punishment for a crime of his life was given out as punishment for a sip of the past life. Such an attempt at vindication might fail to convince a plain student of the social scene who would nevertheless be thankful to these authors for having provided him with material relevant for an investigation into the problem of crime and punishment as viewed by the contemporary society. Vipākaśruta II aims at supplying 10 stories wbich should demonstrate how a virtuous act performed in this life is rewarded in the next. In fact, how. ever, what is forthcoming there is just one story repeated ten times; but even this one story is revealing in its own way. For it tells us how a pious householder properly fed a well-bebaved monk and how as a reward for this virtuous act of his he in his next birth had the good opportunity of first becoming a pious householder and then a well-behaved monk who would be next born in the uppermost heavenly region. What is noteworthy is that not only in this story but even elsewhere religious zeal on the part of a Jaina—whether householder or monk-is held out to be bis greatest virtue. This attitude is somewhat understandable in the case of a monk who has after all taken leave of the regular society, though in view of the fact that monks are the heroes in our stories in an overwhelming majority of cases that would mean that in an overwhelming majority of cases these stories will not be placing before us the ideal conduct of a morally upright social man. But curiously, when a text like U pasakadaśa which depicts incidents from the life of ideal Jaina householders never depicts ao incident that should throw light on the ethico-social attitude of any of these householders. True, these householders are said to be the practisers of the 12 duties prescribed for a pious Jaina householder and many of these duties-particularly what are called the 5 anuvratas--have obvious social significance, but the point is that a pious householder is extolled in these stories not for his practice of any of these socially significant duties but for his religious zeal, Here three stories - viz. I, IX, X-have got virtually no plot, while the first of these is remarkable rather for its detailed descr. iption of the 12 duties of a Jajna householder. In four-viz. II-V-a hou. seholder is shown to refuse to renounce faith in Jainism even when threa. ts of all sorts are showered on him by a god; in one story-viz. VI-a householder punctures a god who seeks to convince him of the correctness of the Ājivaka view, in another-viz. Vil -an Ajivaka householder is converted to Jainism by Mahävira, refuses to renounce his new faith even in the face of Gośālaka's own pleadings, and finally remains steadfast even when threatened by a god in the manner described in stories II-V, in a third-- viz. VIII-a householder refuses to give up pious meditation even when coaxed and cajoled by his own wife who seeks his company for car.
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