Life and Stories of Jaina Savior Parcvanatha

Author(s): Maurice Bloomfield
Publisher: Maurice Bloomfield

Page 73

Story of King Vasu who violated the truth
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knew that he was wrong. In distress she went to King Vasu and begged him to save Parvata, 32 by deciding that ajāḥ meant' goats.' Vasu at first refused to take part in this act of perfidy, but in the end succumbed to the specious argument that his first duty was to protect the son of his former Teacher. A great assembly of wise men was called together; over it presided Vasu, floating in the air on his magic throne, like the moon in the sky (584). Nārada and Parvata presented their contentions, each calling upon Vasu to decide in accordance with the truth. The wise men at the assembly also solemnly conjured Vasu by all the gods and the laws of the universe to speak the truth. Nevertheless Vasu ruled that ajāḥ meant' goats.' Then the gods angrily shook his throne, so that he fell to the ground. Nārada refused to look any longer upon the face of the dog-cooker,' 33 who gave false witness. Vasu went to hell. The gods kept on destroying his successors, until eight of them had perished (598). The story is concluded with an impressive panegyric on truth, which must not be violated even in a dream or in jest (506-608).
diyatāṁ putrabhikgă mahyam mahipate, 'Give my son to me as alms, O ruler of the earth!'
* cvapāka, çvapaca, cvapācika, Prākrit sunahapaya, primarily designation of a Pariah, and thence standard term of opprobrium; see Pärçvanatha 3. 619, 858; Dacakumăracarita ii, p. 30; Mūladeva, in Jacobi, Ausgewählte Erzählungen, p. 63, 1. 21. In Mahābh. 12. 141. 1 ff., Vigvāmitra, during a famine, tries to steal the leg of a dog from a Cāņdāla, an act so degrading that the Cándála himself tries to dissuade him. In Kathås. 13. 148, 189 branding a dog-foot on the forehead is a sign of degradation. Cf. Benfey, Das Pafcatantra, vol. I, pp. 439, 445.