Manuscript Illustrations Of Uttaradhyayana Sutra

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

Page 56

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17. THE BAD MONK Breaches of the monk's discipline are the subject of this chapter, and the paintings, with the exception of that in DV (fig. 61), illustrate some of those mentioned in the text. HV (fig. 57) shows in the upper of its two panels a seated monk giving instruction, while another monk stands before him, also in the attitude of preaching, and holding in his hand a circular object that looks like the handle to a begging pot, and in fact a pot is just behind the handle, if such it is. The explanation of the scene is perhaps that it depicts the monk who eats such delicacies as milk, curds, and other dairy products (reprehended in stanza 15), and engages in argument with his superior (stanza 12). In the lower panel a monk reclines on his bed, and another sits beside him, admonishing him or studying.
The reference is to stanza 2, concerning the monk who says he has a good bed, why should he study.
In JM (fig. 58) the painting is in three registers. The topmost is like that in the upper panel of HV (fig. 57), but behind the standing monk is another, who holds his broom carelessly and is perhaps the kind of monk who "throws down his broom at random” (stanza 9). In the central panel is the lazy monk asleep, and at the bottom are two monks engaged in argument, showing the kind of monk who practises altercation with his elders and is ill-behaved (stanza 12). A third monk is in the scene, sitting behind the other seated monk, and perhaps lamenting the deplorable conduct of the disputatious junior.
JP has two paintings. The first (fig. 59), wrongly placed at the beginning of the preceding chapter, shows a seated monk, with his sthāpanācārya (emblem of the absent guru) before him, beyond which stands another monk with his staff upraised as though in angry argument (stanza 12). At the bottom is a seated monk, again probably the superior, and another monk is walking away from him. Between the two is a jar, which may be thought to hold milk or some other forbidden food (stanza 15). The other painting (fig. 60) has three scenes. At the top is the lazy monk lying on his bed (stanza 2); in the middle a seated monk remonstrates with another, who has his back turned and is devoting himself to several vessels of food, into one of which he dips his hand, thus offering a symbol of the greedy monk who eats what is forbidden (stanza 15) or eats at improper times (stanza 16) or eats and drinks as much as he likes (stanza 3) or does not share his food (stanza 11). At the bottom two monks sit facing each other, both talking, that is, engaged in argument (stanzas 11, 12).
The painting in DV (fig. 61) has a seated teacher and a reverently listening disciple standing before him. These are presumably Mahāvira and Sudharman.
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