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NARRATIVE TALE IN JAIN LITERATURE
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hospitability, and who ruled his subjects with justice and affection.23
In the kingdom of Kirtidhara, the Jaina monks usually preached their doctrines and taught the laymen and their disciples good lessons, so that they might lead a good and chaste life even in this mundane existence. One day, while wandering from village to village, from town to town, a Jaina ascetic, a man of encyclopaedic knowledge, who had controlled all his senses and who was also an expert in reading the minds of others, came to that country (Vinītā i. e, Ayodhyā) with his retinue of sādhus24. The king and his subjects went there to make obeisance to him and waited in the exegetic hail (Vyākhyā-Sabhā) to hear his lessons for the aggrandizement of their mental and moral faculties. Kānhada, the wood-cutter, who was in the habit of going to a courtesan's house, was also present in the exegetic-hall. The Sadhu preached the instability of this world and requested the people to take vows in order to lead good and happy lives. He emphasized that knowledge without chaste life (Sila); and austerities without self control, were all worthless. A man of encyclopaedic knowledge might go to hell if he was unaccompanied by conduct (Sila); on the contrary, a dullard and lascivious type of man might become free from the bondage of this world if he pursued conduct truly by taking vows even for a day or two25. Everybody including Kāṇhada, was influenced by his advice. Kānhada, at once, stood up and related his story that as a wood-cutter he somehow passed his days by selling wood. Hence, it was not possible for him to take any vow. He also confessed before all that he was in the habit of going to a courtesan's house, and enquired whether a man of his type was able to take any vow in order to lead a chaste life henceforward. Hearing his words, the Sādhu advised him to take two vows only that he should not go to a courtesan's house, at least, on the full moon day, and that he should not tell a lie for the sake of
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23. Verscs 16-17 24. Verse 19 25. Verses 20-32
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