________________
Pravacanasara
They had a cow-herd, Mathivaran by name, that tended their cattle. Once that boy, to his great surprise, happened to see a few trees in the centre with green foliage, when the whole forest was being consumed by conflagration The boy inspe cted the spot; he found there a residence of a monk and a box containing agamas, to the presence of which he, as a credulous boy, attributed the exemption of that spot from fire. He carried those texts home and worshipped them daily putting them on a sacred spot. Once a religious monk visited the house; the merchant offered food, and this boy offered these texts; for these acts of piety the master and the boy received blessings from the Monk. The master had no issues, and it so happened that the faithful boy died and was born as a son to him. As time passed on, this intelligent son became a great philosopher and religious teacher, Kundakunda by Further, Professor Chakravarti simply refers to other incidents such as the report, Kundakunda as the wisest man, in the Samavasarana (L.e., the religious assembly) of Srimandhara-svämi, the visit of two carana saints to have it verified, his indifference to them, their consequent return with disgust, the misunderstanding cleared and lastly Kundakunda's visit to Srimandhara-svami in the Pürva-videha country. The merit of the sastra-dāna made him 'a great leader of thought and organiser of institutions. Finally he secured the throne of Acarya and thus spent his life in usefulness and glory',1
6
[p. 7:] ANOTHER TRADITIONAL STORY ABOUT KUNDAKUNDA.-Pandit Premi2 gives, on the authority of a book, Jiana-prabodha, another story of Kundakunda: In Malawa, in the town of Bäräpura, there lived a king Kumudacandra with his queen Kumudacandrika. In his kingdom there lived a merchant Kundaáreethi with his wife Kundalată; they had a son whom they named Kundakunda. Once the boy, playing in the company of his friends, happened to see in the park a monk who was attended on by various householders. The boy carefully heard his sermons. The words and the conduct of the monk influenced the boy so much that this boy of barely
1 In this context, I cannot stand the temptation of summarising here another story from Aradhana Katha-kosa (Ed. Bombay Vira samvat 2442; part 3, Story No. 111), of Brahma Nemidatta which also illustrates the fruit of sastra-dana, and which because of similarity in names, is likely to be misunderstood as the story of Kundakunda, with whom in fact, it has hardly anything to do; the first part of Prof. Chakravarti's version practically agrees with this. In Bharata-kṣetra, in the village of Kurumarai, there was a cow-herd Govinda by name. Once he saw, in a forest cave, a sacred Jaina text; he took it and offered the same with devotion to a great and respectable saint, Padmanandi by name. The peculiarity of the text was that so many great teachers had handled and explained it, but ultimately had put in it that cave. It appears that the saint Padmanandi also puts that Text again there. The cow-herd, Govinda, worshipped that Text all the while; one day he was killed by a tiger (vyāla). After his death, as the consequence of his remunerative hankering (nidana), he was born as the son of a village headman. He grew up quite happily into an attractive boy. Once he was reminded of his former birth after meeting Padmanandi; he entered the ascetic order and practised severe penances. After his death he was born as king Kundesa. Irrespective of the pleasures available, somehow he felt disgusted with the worldly pleasures and entered the order. He worshipped Jina and waited on great teachers, and lastly he became a śruta-kevalin.
2 See Kundakunda Acarya yañce caritra, by Pangal in Marathi, Sholapur, 1906; Premi Jaina Hitaishi, Vol. X, pp. 369 etc.; all references to Pt. Premi have this source in view unless otherwise stated.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
