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Rishibhashit: A Study
4.
queen to a son. Tetaliputra exchanged the newly born and celebrated the birth of the son.
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Some how Tetaliputra becomes apathetic towards Pottila. A Jain nun Arya Suvrata comes to the city with her disciples. Some nuns come to Tetaliputra's house for alms. Pottila seeks advice from the nuns to attract the husband. The nuns reply that giving of such advice is prohibited for them; they could only give religious discourses. Pottila listens to the discourse and accepts nunhood.
After the death of Kanakrath the king's son, brought up by Tetaliputra, ascends the throne and honours Tetaliputra profusely for his help. According to the story Pottila is reborn as god and wants to convert the husband of her previous birth. She instigates the King against him. Not getting due respect from king Tetaliputra is disconcerted and attempts suicide. Inspite of repeated attempts he fails to commit suicide. As such his life becomes full of disbelief and skepticism. Finding an opportunity, Pattila, turned into a god, preaches Tetaliputra. who becomes a monk. Meditating hard he attains liberation. The same story is also available in Rishibhashit in brief. In order to compare both narratives we give parts of both texts here (See orginal in Hindi).
On doing a comparative study of these two texts we find that: (1) As compared to Rishibhashit the description about Tetaliputra in Jnata-dharma-katha is more elaborate and includes much more supernatural incidents; (2) The language of Rishibhashit uses the syllable 'T' much more frequently, it is nearer to Ardhamagadhi and so, ancient as well; on the other hand, the language of Jnata uses the syllable 'Y' more frequently, contains influence of Maharashtri Prakrit and comparatively recent.
As regards the basic teachings contained in the chapter are concerned, they are vague. In fact the preaching content in this chapter is very low, and Tetaliputra narrates the experiences of his life. He says, "Inspite of having relatives friends, sons, I feel helpless; inspite of having wealth I am poor. Hopelessness led me to suicide but there also I failed; consequently, my life is full of doubt; where other Sraman Brahmans talk of faith, I alone preach skepticism. This lack of faith and skepticism was the cause of his detachment.
Jain Education International
Besides, Jnata and Rishibhashit, Sthanang122 also contains information about Tetaliputra. It mentions that the title of the eighth chapter (Dasha) of Anuttaraupapatik was Tetali. But the version of Anuttarau
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