Life and Stories of Jaina Savior Parcvanatha

Author(s): Maurice Bloomfield
Publisher: Maurice Bloomfield

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Life and Stories of Pārçvanātha
Story of King Vikrama as a parrot 2"
In the city of Avantī, in the land of Avanti, ruled the mighty and accomplished King Vikrama, by the side of his noble and lovely queen Kamalāvati. One day he addressed the people assembled in his hall of audience:
Ah, tell me! Is there anywhere any accomplishment, science, wealth, or intelligence, so marvelous as not to be found in my kingdom? '3 A stranger in the assembly rose up and declaimed aloud: 'Long have I roamed the treasure-laden earth, but I have not beheld a union of the rivers of glory and knowledge like unto thee. In Pātāla (Hades) rules Vāsuki (the beautiful king of the serpents); in heaven Çakra (Indra). Both these, invisible as they are, are realized by the mind thru thy majesty, O Ruler of the Earth!' He then went on to praise the ministers, warriors, and wives of the king, but found just a single shortcoming in the king, namely, that he was ignorant of the “ Art of entering another's body. The king asked: Where is this to be found? Tell me quickly!' The other replied: 'On the mountain of Crī, in the keep of a man Siddheçvara.' 4 The king dismissed the assembly, put his minister in charge of his kingdom, and, eager to obtain this science, went out from the city by night, without regard to danger or hardship. In due time he
* This is, perhaps, the most interesting and original story of the book. It has been treated in relation to its congeners, and translated in full, by the author in his essay, 'On the art of entering another's body,' Proceed. ings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. lvi (1917), pp. 1 ff. The translation with annotations is on pp. 22-43.
• For this sort of boastful inquiry see, e. g., Jacobi, Ausgewählte Erzählungen aus dem Māhāråstri, p. 39; Leumann, Die Avaçyaka-Erzählungen, ii. 8. 3 (p. 15).
The name means 'Lord of Magic.'