Jain Journal 2003 07

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

Page 37

JAIN JOURNAL : VOL-XXXVUI, NO. 1 JULY 2003
There is another point to be noted. Krsnamisra attributed this verse to Cārvāka who makes a brief appearance in his allegorical play. Krsnamisra has nothing but contempt for his views. Hemacandra and Mallisena, on the other hand, quote the verse under discussion with approval and use it as a stick to beat the Mimāmsakas with. Both of them were adherents of the doctrine of non-violence (ahinisā) while the Mimämsakas, as staunch Vedists, accepted and recommended slaughter of animals in srāddha and other rituals. There is nothing to prove that Krsnamiśra was the author of this verse. It is more probable that the verse was already current as an ābhānaka or lokagāthā (popular saying), a floating verse circulating orally. S-M might very well have taken the verse from PC and believed that it had its origin in the Cārvāka tradition. But the question is : did Hemacandra and Mallisena, too, think that the verse" is clearly in the style of Cārvāka comments"?" Would they use a verse attributable to the Cārvākas in their polemics against the arch-Vedists? Or, did they know that the verse had emanated from Jain circles and it could be employed with immunity?
The verse makes fun of offering oblations to the departed soul in the srāddha ceremony. The Cārvākas did not believe in the existence of the soul without the body. So the banter against the śrāddha ceremony is quite fitting. But that is not the only point. śrāddha also involves slaughter of animals as food for the ancestors. As Manu prescribes :
dvau māsau matsya-mamsena trin māsān hāriņena/ aurabhreņātha caturaḥ sākunenātha pañca vaill
(3.268) Two months with fish-flesh, three months with that of deer, Four months with that of sheep, five months with that of birds.
(Trans. F.W. Thomas) Both Hemacandra and Mallisena quote this verse in the same sections in which they quote the mṛtānāmapi jantūnām, etc.!2
Similarly in order to deprecate himsā in the performance of Vedic rituals, Mallisena quotes a verse that is also found in the Padmapurāņa (PPU) :