Jain Ramayana Part 1

Author(s): Bhadraguptasuri
Publisher: Vishvakalyan Prakashan Trust Mehsana

Page 33

Lanka: Its Decline and Rise
time, this Vanar was a hunter, living in Kashi. In course of time, you became a wandering mendicant. You became a shraman in order to get rid of the bondage of Moha (infatuation) and Maya (deception); and began wandering from village to village; from city to city; and through forests; and in the course of those wanderings, you, once, happened to go to the city of Kashi. Just when you were entering the city, he was going out for a hunt. When he saw you with your shaven head, coming from the :opposite direction, he thought : "Oh! This fellow with a shaven head has made a mess of my plan to go hunting. It is a very bad omen. Now, there is no use in going for a hunt”. He easily became wild with rage. On account of anger, he did not realize the limits of propriety and attacked you with all his might. At once, you died. You were born in the Mahendra heaven and there you remained for a long time enjoying the various heavenly delights and then after your death there, you. were born as Tadithkesh, the king of Lanka.
The offender continued to indulge in such enormities; and went to hell and stayed there for a long time experiencing terrible torments; and after his death there, he was born as a Vanar in the forests of Kishkindha. This is the cause for the hostility between you two."
On hearing the story of his Purvajanma (earlier life), from the great muni, he felt a strange commotion in his heart. “We cannot say what kind of dreadful sins the Jiva commits in his wanderings through the Samsar, and what terrible consequences emerge from those sins". Tadithkesh thought deeply thus; and realized that the Samsar was unreal and insubstantial...
Having saluted the great muni, Tadithkesh returned to Lanka. While returning, home, he did not have a thousandth part of the enthusiasm and zest he had while going to Kishkindha. He was in a state of deep mental and emotional depres sion and wistful melancholy. He had no interest in the throne or in the royal splendour; he had lost all attachment for his sons and the other members of his family, and his fascination for his beautiful queens also had completely disappeared. Moreover, he ceased to have any interest in the progress and pros