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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.orgAcharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
( 209 )
Notes. The two Prakrit verses appear to have grown out of one
verse incorporated in the Pali Dhammapada and the Udana. varga, and are, on the whole, similar to two verses quoted in the Divyavadana, probably from an older Sanskrit recension of the Dhammapada resembling that from which å whole chapter is quoted in the Mahāvastu, III. pp. 434 foll. The Prakrit verses stand, as the resemblance of certain words go to prove, nearer in point of date to the Pāli gāthā. Verse 18 might be restored as follows:
(yanimani) ayathani a(lap)u(ni va sarade!
saghavarna? )ni sişani tani diştani ka ratio It is somewhat difficult to say whether it is a charnel-field or a crematorium, of which the Pāli gāthā and the Prakrit verses depict the scene. The expressions saghavarnani eigani (i.e., 'the skulls looking white like concb-shells') and kavotakani athini (i.e., 'the pigeon-coloured bones') can as well be associated with a burning scenes as with the picture of a charnel-field But scanning the verses closely, one can discover that these form an appropriate sequel to v. 17 and complete the description of the fate of a dead body thrown away in a charnel-field. Verse 17 does not proceed farther than the description of a dead body under. going the process of decomposition and lying in the cemetery like a log of wood, and it leaves to verses 18 and 19 to describe what befalls the bodily remains after decomposition and consumption by the worms, birds and beasts, viz., the skeleton and the bones. As a matter of fact, these two verses, no less than verse 17, are based upon the KāyAnupassanā section of the Satipatthâna or Nabāsatipatthāna Discourse, which actually contains the distinctive expressions, e.g., disā-niilisā vikkhittāni, atthikani setāni (corresponding to kāpotakāni of the Pali, and & votakani of the Prakrit verse) sankhavannūpinibhāni (Majjhima, I. p. 58). For such asectic reflections in Indian literature, it is important to bear in mind the following references, which are interesting : 1. Maitrůyapi Up. I. 3=Vijaya Satta, vv. 2-7=Satipatthana
Sutta, secs. 6-7.
1 With regard to tho restoration of the first line we have followed the Baggestion of M. Senart (9. t. p. 76). But instead of alapu one may read alavu.
Also. Ocranuni.
Ajitakeankambala saya, "Bandipancand puris& matam &daye gaccbanti, y&va alahana padani paõnapenti, kápotakani açthini bhavanti, bhasaantihutiyo" (Diglia, 1. p. 56). "KAxtakāniti kapotaka vannini, parāpata. pakkha vannani" (Sumnugala Vila#ni, I. p. 106). The story of Cūlakala and Mahakala in the Dhainmanda-Comy. gives a dotniled account of the possible changes of 4 dend body during creination.
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