Lessons of Ahimsa and Anekanta for Contemporary Life

Author(s): Tara Sethia
Publisher: California State Polytechnic University Pomona

Page 115

Lessons of Ahimsa and Anekānta for Contemporary Life
overheard a Jain nun called Yakini reciting a verse he could not understand. Having been humiliated, he turned first to her and then to her teacher, Jinadatta, for instruction in the Jain faith, which he then embraced. After a period of study, he was granted the title Sūri or teacher and began to promulgate Jainism. In several of his treatises, the colophon or final verse describes himself as Yakini-putra, or Yakini's son, indicating the influence of this Jain nun on his life and thought.
The second set of stories include a dramatic and grisly tale of espionage, murder, and revenge. The Prabhāvakacarita of Prabhācandra (1277 C.E.) and the Prabandhakośa of Rājasekharasūri (1349 C.E.), building on earlier accounts, narrate the tragic story of two brothers, Hamsa and Paramahamsa—who were both nephews and students of Haribhadra." They go to Mahabodhi to learn about the teachings of the Buddha. The brothers are exposed as spies after uttering an invocation to the Jina when awakened by suspicious Buddhists in the middle of the night. They use umbrellas to escape from the monastery. Buddhist soldiers catch and kill Hamsa. Paramahamsa takes refuge with King Sarapāla,' who proposes a debate between
Is These nephews seem to be styled after two Jaina brothers, Akalanka and Niskalanka, whose story is told in the Kathakośa (1077 C.E.) two certuries before a variant story about Haribhadra occurs in the Prabhāvakacarita. In the Kathākośa, the two brothers are put to a Buddhist loyalty test, fail, and beat a hasty escape. Niskalanka is captured and put to death. Akalanka is sheltered by a Jaina queen and bests the Buddhist goddess Tārā in debate (Granoff, 114). The Haribhadra story, which occurs in several accounts, changes the names of the brothers to Hamsa and Paramahamsa. In the Puråtanaprabandha-samgraha, Haribhadra does not encourage the two students to enter the monastery. In this account, Hamsa dies fighting Buddhist soldiers and Paramahamsa is killed after losing the debate. A bird takes Parama hamsa 's bloodied path-clearing broom to Haribhadra, who, in a rage, “makes a cauldron of boiling oil and magically causes the Buddhists to fly through the sky and land in his boiling pot, where they [700 Buddhists) are scalded to death" (Granoff, 117). The mayhem stops when one of Haribhadra's students, sent by the teacher Jinabhadra, interrupts this process. Out of continuing despair (which would not be acceptable within the Jaina faith), he then fasts to death. For a complete investigation of these stories, see the excellent and intriguing article by Phyllis Granoff cited above.
4 No records can be found that confirm the existence of this king.
For Private & PlO8nal Use Only