Jaina Exegetical Terminology Pk Vibhasa Detailed Exposition

Author(s): Nalini Balbir
Publisher: Nalini Balbir

Page 11

Jaina exegetical terminology Pk. vibhāsā
77
possible to understand this passage correctly: exactly as in the other instances reviewed above, vibhāsā cannot be justified unless it is replaced in its original context.
Devendra's account of Mūladeva's career is a complete recast with considerable additional narrative material of a very brief and simple anecdote preserved both in Sāntisūri's Uttarādhyayanatikā (the avowed model of Devendra) and in the Avaśyaka prose-commentaries, where the only two characters involved are two anonymous beggars (kappadiya-).32
There were two beggars. The first beggar dreamt that he had drunk the moon and told it to (other) beggars. They said: “You will receive a cake the size of the moon." He got one from a householder's wife. Another [beggar) had the same dream. He bathed, took a fruit or some other present and reported to the interpreter of dreams who said: "You will become a king."33 Now, on the seventh day the king died without an heir. This beggar was feeling depressed when a consecrated (ahiyāsio = Sk. adhivāsita) horse came, who took him on its back. This is how he became the king. Then the (first) beggar came to know that (his companion) had such a dream and had become a king as a result of the prophecy (õesa-phalena). He thought: "Let me go where there is milk. I shall drink it and sleep." Will he again have the same dream? May be he will.
In all versions, the story is the sixth of ten examples adduced to illustrate the difficulty of gaining human birth again (catch-word suvine, Sk. svapna: ULUN 160 = ĀvN 832). Each of them (among which the well-known parable of "the turte and the yoke-hole") 34 refers to an extremely difficult task or a very rare event. The conclusion, which is always the same, is expressed in explicit words for the first and the second stories. Thus: avi so vaccejja antam, na ya māņusattaņão bhatt ho puno māņusattanam lahai (śāntisūri, Ut? p. 216, etc.): “He might come to an end (of his activity). However, one who has lost human existence, will not regain it so easily.” Or, avi ņāma so jippejja ņa ya māņusão bhattho puno māņusattanam (ibidem): “It might be that he wins. However, one who has lost human existence will not regain it so easily." In other illustrations, the last part of the sentence, which remains the same, is not repeated, but the mention of vibhāsā indicates that it has to be inferred.