Book Title: Epigraphia Indica Vol 25
Author(s): Sten Konow, F W Thomas
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Previous | Next

Page 393
________________ 330 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA. [VOL. XXV. it. She was Bhadra Kåpilayani, daughter of an equally well-to-do Brāhmana of the Kausika götra. She shared the propensities of Pippali Māņavaks, like him not caring for connubial felicity. Finally, however, their marriage was settled in spite of them. They married, but did not lead a married life. An opportunity offered itself and they forsook each other, renounced all and turned ascetics. "Pippalf Mänavaka, with a single robe on and a bowl in hand, left home in quest of the Buddha. He saw the Lord seated under a bodhi tree called Bahaputraka somewhere between Rājagriha and Nálanda. It was there that he received his ordination (upasampadā) from the Lord. Later on Pippall Manavaka, now Kasyapa, presented his silken sarghāti to the Master and accepted with alacrity from the latter his coarse and threadbare robe in exchange. So ardent was Käsyapa's faith that he attained the position of an Arbat only a week after his ordination." Asvaghosha has also left us a brief sketch of Kasyapa. Therein Kāśyapa is said to be Räj-adi-geh-akhya-desi which compound Cowell translates as an inhabitant of Rajageba'. We have just learnt from the Ayhakathas that Käsyapa hailed from a village called Mahätittha in Magadha. In the light of this information we may explain the above expression more precisely as an inhabitant of the country named Rajagēha'. Wo kaow that Rājagriha was then the capital of Magadha: And in the present instance the country is denoted simply by the name of its capital, which practice has not been uncommon. In this way Asvaghosha's statement on the point of Käsyapa's native land is not at Variance with the information contained in the Ayhakat)ās. Again, according to Asvaghosha's description, Käsyapa had performed six years' hard penance before he met the Master. Asvaghosha does not allude to Käsyapa's marriage with Bhadrā Kāpilāyani, which event is, however, confirmed by references in certain stories of the Buddha's former births. Thus in the Asätamanta Jataka, the Lord identifies the characters of that story in the following manner: "Kapilāni was the mother of those days, Maha-Kassapa was the father, Ananda the pupil, and I myself the teacher". Similarly in the Hatthipala Jātaka, the chaplain was Kassapa and his wife was Bhaddakāpilāni. Again, in the Sāma Jātaka, the father was Kassapa and the mother Bhaddakapilāni. The name Kapilyani (or Kapilant or Kapiliyà as we shall have it later) is apparently derived from Kapila, which, as we know from the Apadana (P. T. S. edition, p. 583, verse 57), was Bhadra's father's name, The same source gives her mother's name as Sachsmati. A detailed account of her also is found in Dr, G. P. Malalasekera's Dictionary of Pali Proper Names under Bhadda Kapllant Thert (Vol. II, pp. 354-56). * This mammary is extracted from an account of Kafyapa-arayana, which is given by Mahapandita Tripitakācharya Rahula Säkrityāyana in his Buddhacharyya (Hindi), pp. 41 ff, and which in its tum ia based upon the following works: Theragatha Athakatha 30; Samyu.ta-Niliya Athakatha, 15, 1, 11: Anguttara-Nikaya Atlakatha 1. 1. 4. * E. B. Cowell's edition of Asvaghosha's Buddhacharita, XVII, 12: चिजः काश्यपायी धने यक्षराजी गुरुर्वेदविद्यास राजादिगेहाख्यदशी uform: (fan: ?) are hera wata faptulmar( ?) afety: यदा बीधिनचावितीऽसौ कुमारसपः प्राचरहुष्करं तत् षडब्दं महात्मा ततोऽवाप्त बोधि मुनीन्द्रं समा(समा)भवत्काश्यपीऽसौ यतीशीऽसामग्रगण्यः । Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XLIX, part i, p. 193 f. Compare such cases as Avanti and Kanchi. .V. Fausboll's edition of The Jataka, No. 61. + Translation of the Jataka, Vol. I, p. 160. The Jätaka, No. 509. Translation, Vol. IV, p. 304, The Jataka, No. 540. Translation, Vol. VI, p. 52.

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448