Jain Journal 1971 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 76

The Dialogue of the King Pradesi
Paesikahānyam, Rayapasenaiya Suya
[The Rayapasenaiya (Rayapasenaijja or Rajapraśniya Sutra) is counted as the second Upanga. Malayagiri Suri, who was a contemporary of Kumarapala, wrote a commentary on it. As its title implies it is a dialogue in which a king is the interlocutor. He is Paesi (Pradesi) of Sevaviya. Kesi, a follower of Parsva, is represented as the gifted Jaina recluse who answered the questions put to him by Pradesi. Pradesi is in the role of a typical akriyāvādin of the Sūtrakṛtānga and in that a veritable nastika denying the existence of soul as an entity apart from the body. This philosophical dialogue given below is contained in the second part of the Sutra, while the first part is concerned with the description of a grand worship of Mahavira by Pradesi reborn as the god known as Suryabhadeva. According to Winternitz it is a splendid and lively dialogue in which the monk endeavours to prove to the king that there is a soul independent of the body, while the king thinks that he has proved the contrary by means of experiment. ]
Then that king Pradesi, with his minister Citra approached (the place) where there was the young monk Kesi and standing not very far from him, said: "Are you, Sir, possessed of limited avadhi jñāna, and living upon others ?" Then that young monk Kesi said thus to king Pradesi : "Just as traders in Anka jewels, or traders in conches or traders in tusks, desiring to evade the taxes, do not enquire about the right route, in the same way, you, Pradesi, desiring to avoid decorum, do not ask me properly. Say, is it right, Pradesi, that on seeing me this