Lessons of Ahimsa and Anekanta for Contemporary Life

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

Page 132

Sonya Quintanilla, "Exemplars of Anekānta and Ahimsā."
of Ardhaphālaka monks, as seen in the plaque dated to the early third century C.E. (Figure 13),13 and on the lion pedestal of the late second century C.E. (Figure 2). The monks themselves are still highly revered as seen in Figure 13 where the Ardhaphālaka cleric is being venerated by serpent deities, and the lay followers.
How can we tell from the sculptural representations that members of the Ardhaphālaka sect in early Mathura, whom the Digambaras deem heretical, practiced ahimsa? One clear piece of evidence is their use of the rajoharana, which they frequently hold, both in pre-Kushan and Kushan sculptures (Figures 10, 8, and 13). This whisk broom was used to sweep tiny creatures from their path to prevent any injury to them while the mendicants walked. Even the distinctive emblem of the sect, the colapatta, may have been used for preventing injury to living beings. A fifth-century Buddhist source, the Dhammapada-Atthakatha, states that the Nirgranthas wore the cloth not to cover their frontal nudity, but to prevent one-sense beings found in dust and dirt from entering the alms bowl and being eaten or harmed accidentally. It is interesting to note that the bowl is held in combination with the colapatta in early representations, though it doesn't actually cover the bowl itself (Figures 6 and 10).
Another piece of evidence for the practice of ahimsā by the Ardhaphālaka monks can be found in their holding of the
1. The somewhat damaged inscription on this plaque reads as follows: 1. s[i]ddha[m] sam 90 9 gri 2 di 10 6 kolyát[o] gaṇato thaniyāto kulāto vai[rā]to .. (vo]to aryyasura[po] . 2. śiśiņi dhamasriye ... ņavartinā . . . . grahadatasya dhistu] dhanahathi... A. ā...gha[?]sthiviji B. kana śramaņa (Translation: "Hail! In the year 99 in the second month of summer, on the sixteenth day ... the daughter of Grahadata, (the wife of ?] Dhanahathi . . . at the request Dhamasiri, the female pupil of Aryyasurapo -- of the Koliya gana, the Thaniya (Sthānīya) kula, and the Vaira [...vo]." A. “Anagha--șthaviji" B. "The ascetic Kana")
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