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56
COLETTE CAILLAT
Lay devotees who fasted unto death form the subject of the Uvāsagadasão. Mutatis mutandis, the narrative is very similar to the above relations.
The hero, generally a rich merchant, is converted by Mahāvira's or some other saint's sermons. He takes the layman's five Minor Vows 46 and consolidates them by a series of lesser observances.47 He follows them as best he can during a first period, which, generally, lasts for about fourteen years.
In the course of the fifteenth year, he sees how difficult it is to observe the Law strictly while living in the turmoil of the world. Therefore, he hands his business over to his eldest son, announces that he should not be consulted further about it, and forbids any food to be prepared for him. He retires to his vigil house (posahasālā), where he will be able to be absorbed in meditation. There, he stretches out on a bed of darbha-grass, 48 and lives in conformity with the Jaina teachings. His austerities are such that he becomes 'withered, wizened, fleshless ...',49 the above cliché being used in this circumstance also.
At this point, in the first story concerning the lay-follower, the devotee sees a supernatural vision: it proves the spiritual progress of this man, 50 who, in fact, has ascended the whole scale of perfection, as far as a layman can.51
Then, and then only, he undertakes the samlehaņā fast, thanks to which he will be reborn in one of the highest heavens, and, ultimately, in the Mahāvideha continent, where he will awaken and obtain Deliverance.52
Here again, three main stages are distinguished. It happens that the first of these, in some stories, is troubled by various trials: the devotee is victorious, thanks either to his own spiritual
46 aşuvvaya, Lehre 170. They are similar to the mahavvayas, but milder.
47 pancâņuvvaiyam satta-sikkhāvaiyam duvālasa-viham sāvayadhammam padivajjai ..., Uvās 1, $ 58 (cf. Lehre, ib).
48 ib, 1, $ 69, etc.-Cf. n. 33. 49 ib, $ 72, etc. 50 ib, $ 74.
51 uvāsaga-padimão uvasampajjittäņam viharai ..., Uvās, 1, $$ 70-71 (cf. Hoernle, Uvas II, p. 45, n. 127; and, on padimas, Lehre 156; Williams, Jaina Yoga, p. 172-181).
52 Uvās 1, $$ 89-90, etc.
