Manuscript Illustrations Of Uttaradhyayana Sutra

Author(s): W Norman Brown
Publisher: American Oriental Society

Page 24

chell; but nothing in the sat the bottom of the pipon the frequency
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THE FOUR REQUISITES conch shell; but nothing in the story would explain the object. Nor is there any explanation for the two bulls and the horse at the bottom of the picture."
In comment on the ninth verse, which remarks upon the frequency with which hearers stray from the true Law, the commentaries tell the stories of the seven (or, eight) schisms of the Jain church. The painting of DV (fig. 7) seems to refer to the third schism. The monk Āsādha died in the early morning when the other monks were asleep, and was reborn as a god. He saw his own dead body lying on earth and animated it. Then he called to the monks to arise, afterwards apologizing for letting them salute him, when he had become only a god and was therefore on a plane spiritually lower than that of a monk. Doubt then arose in the monk's minds about the means of distinguishing between a genuine monk and a god in a monk's appearance, and they ceased giving the monk's reverential salutation to a superior. Some time later they went to the city of King Balabhadra. He had them brought before him as though they were false ascetics. They maintained that they were monks, but he replied that according to their own statement it was impossible to tell whether they were monks or not. Thereupon they saw their error. In the upper register is Āsādha risen from the dead, seated and addressing his disciples. In the lower register is King Balabhadra with the monks.
The painting of JM (fig. 2) refers to the seventh schism. The pontiff Aryarakṣita, when about to die, saw that there were three rival claimants to the succession: Goșthāmāhila, Phalgurakṣita, and Durbalikāpuşpa(mitra). He called them before him and told a parable of three pots, filled respectively with grain, oil, and butter. All three were broken on the ground. All the grain fell out, and all the oil except a few drops, but much of the butter remained. Durvalikäpuşpa he compared to the pot full of grain, Phalgurakṣita to that full of oil, and Gosthāmāhila to that full of butter. The preference, therefore, went to the last. Later Goșthāmāhila became the founder of the sixth schism. The painting shows Āryarakṣita addressing the three disciples, who squat before him with their hands upraised reverently.
4. THE PAST CANNOT BE REASSEMBLED The teaching of this chapter is that a step once taken can never be retraced; a fault once committed must be followed by its effect: therefore, a monk must ever practise the law diligently.
DV has two illustrations, of which the first (fig. 10) is a cliché representation of Mahāvīra seated on his spired throne in an architectural setting preaching to a layman and a monk, who, of course, represent the lay and religious communities. The other painting in DV (fig. 12) shows two scenes. In the upper are three fighters (wrestlers), two engaged in conflict, the third sitting and watching. The reference appears to be to the first verse of the chapter, which states that life cannot be reconstituted; when old age approaches there is no help. In the commentary is a story of the wrestler Attaņa, who in his youth had been invincible. Later he had been conquered by a fisherman especially trained for the purpose;
The identification is very unsatisfactory and problematic, but I cannot find any other which does better.
2 For the schisms see E. Leumann, in Indische Studien, vol. 17, pp. 91-135.
of three pots, he grain fell the compared ll of buttern