________________
R. K. BILLOREY
133
fained with food, etc.". Further, it is said, “A monk or a nun should not, for the sake of hearing sounds, go to great festivals where women or men, old, young or middle-aged ones, are well dressed and ornamented, sing, ma
e music, dance, laugh, play, sport, or distribute plenty of food, drink, dainties and spices."4 In the Kalpa Sūtra, ceremonies associated with the birth are described thus: “The parents of Mahāvīra celebrated the birth of their heir on the first day; on the third day they showed him the Sun and the Moon, on the sixth day they obser-.. ved the religious vigil ; after the eleventh day, when the impure operations and ceremonies connected with the birth of a child had been performed, they arranged a great feast on the twelfth day ...... Then they bathed, made offerings [to the house gods] and performed auspicious rites and expiatory acts ..." On the eve of the celebration of birth day of the Tirthankara, the king ordered that the town be decorated with variously coloured flags and banners and adorned with painted pavilions, that the walls bear impressions, in Gośirşa, fresh red sandal,* of the hand with outstreched fingers ; the luckforeboding vases be put on the floor, and pots of the same kind be disposed round every door and arch ; that big, round and long garlands, wreaths and festoons be hung low and high ; that the town be furnished with offerings .. that players, dancers,** wrestlers, boxers, jesters, story-tellers, balladsingers, actors, messengers, pole-dancers, fruit-mongers, bagpipers, lute-players and many Tālācaras be present'.'
The Sūtrakstānga refers to the study of astrology, the art of interpreting dreams, divination from diagrams, augury,
3 Ibid., Part I (SBE, Vol. XXII), p. 92. [The quotation is not quite accurate.-Ed.)
4 Ibid., p. 185. 5 Ibid., pp. 254-55. [The quotation is not quite accurate.--Ed.]
6 According to the commentary, this may also be translated as 'smeared with cowdung and whitewashed' (ibid., p. 252, note 2).
*[The original has gośīrṣa and dardara. The latter is explained by Jacobi as 'sandal brought from Dardara'.-Ed.] **[The reference to 'rope-dancers' is carelesly omitted from here.-Ed.) 7 Ibid., pp. 252-53.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
