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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.orgAcharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
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Cf. Fausböll's Jataka, VI. PP. 54-55Susukham, vata jivama yesaṁ no n'atthi kiñcanam, Raţthe vilumpamánambi na me kiñci ajiratha. Susukban vata jivāma yesam no n'atthi kiñcanam, Mithilāyam dayhamānāya na me kisici aďayhatha.
Cf. Udānav., ch. xxx. (" Happiness'), v. 49:“Ah ! let us live exceedingly happy; though Mithila burns, nothing of mine does barn, for I have nothing."
Cf. Mababhārata, XII. 219. 50:
Susukhath bata jiv&mo yeşāro no násti kisicanam Mithiliyam dahyamănāyam na no dahyati kiñcanam
Notes. These four verses (4-7), all characterised by a bigbis
optimistic tone, constitute a sub-group and clearly depict he bright prospect that lay before the Indian religion of renunciation, especially in its Buddhist form. There is a general agreement in the reading of other recensions, while the Prakrit verses differ by substituting certain expressions whicb modify the sense. But it goes without saying that the Prakrit stanzas have considerably deteriorated the lofty tone of their Pāli and Sanskrit :Parallels.
From a comparative study of this sub-group in its several recensions we are led to think that the Dhammapada verses betray a process of later manipulation on a common model, and that this model is no other than the verse which occurs in a story common to the Mahābbārata and the Mahājanaka Jataka (Fausböll, No. 539), designated on the railing of the Bharhut Stūpa as the story of Japako raja Sivali devi". Indeed, both the Mahābhārata aud the Jataka Book go to prove that the teaching of the verses under notice was formulated for the first time in history by a king of Videha, of which Mithila was the capital. All the stories that are preserved, in Indian literature, of Videhao kings, such as those of Mak badeva, Nimi and the Janakas, bring home one fact, namely, that the personal examples of these princes gave a great impetus to the ideal of renunciation. The Jätaku literature, which will ever be read as the largest collection of the older specimens of Indian ballads and folktales, is found to associate such
1 Of. MahAvasta, Il. p. 453. 1:
Mitbilsyam dahyamanayam nasya Anhyati kincana.
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