Narrative Tale in Jain Literature

Author(s): Satyaranjan Banerjee
Publisher: Asiatic Society

Page 90

NARRATIVE TALE IN JAIN LITERATURE
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blessed Mahāvīra, is a great Guide. Yea, o beloved of the devas, a great Preacher has arrived here."
Saddālaputta enquired : "Who is that great Preacher, O beloved of the devas.?"
Gosāla replied : “The Samana, the blessed Mahāvīra, is the great Preacher."
Saddālaputta again enquired : “For what reason is the Samana, the blessed Mahāvīra, a great Preacher?"
Gosāla replied : "Truly, o beloved of the devas, the Samaņa, the blessed Mahāvīra, by means of many theses and (as above, 8174, down to) explanations, with his own hand delivers from the vast wilderness of the world all those numerous living beings that, in this right great world, are straying or perishing, because, overwhelmed by the power of falsehood and overcast by the dense darkness of the eightfold kinds of works. they have lost the true path and got on to a wrong road. It is for this reason, O beloved of the devas, Preacher. Yea, O beloved of the devas, a great Pilot has arrived here."
Saddālaputta enquired : "Who is that great Pilot, O beloved of the devas?"
Gosāla replied : “The Samaņa, the blessed Mahāvira, is the great Pilot."
Saddālaputta again enquired : "For what reason?"
Gosāla replied : "Truly, o beloved of the devas, the Şamana, the blessed Mahāvīra, by means of his boat of the Law, with his own hands brings straight to the shore of the Nirvana all those numerous living beings that, on the great sea of the world, are straying or perishing by sinking or drowning or floating. It is for this reason, O beloved of the devas, that I say that the Samaņa, the blessed Mahāvīra. is a great Pilot."
219. Then that Saddālaputta, the servant of the Samaņa, spoke thus to Gosāla Mankhaliputta : “You, O beloved of the devas, that are so clever, so penetrating, so sagacious, so well instructed and so full of knowledge, are you able to hold a disputation with my teacher and instructor in the Law, the Samana, the blessed Mahāvīra?"
Gosāla replied : “No, indeed, I am not."
Saddālaputta again enquired : "For what reason, O beloved of the devas, do you say that you are not able to