________________
40
Rishibhashit : A Study
but in the available edition of Vipak-Sutra mention of Soriyadatta is found in the eighth chapter. In this chapter he is said to be the son of a fisherman, Samudradatta, of Soriyapur town. As the story goes, once a fish bone stuck into his throat. All efforts to take it out were in vain and he had to suffer extreme agony.
Some relation between Soriyadatta of this chapter of Vipak-Sutra with Soriyayana of Rishibhashit can be established on the basis that Soriyayana, in his preachings, has mainly preached not to indulge in pleasures of the senses. Same thing has been stated in the Vipak-Sutra in a little different way, that involving himself in fulfilment of needs of the senses, a being suffers anguish.
In this chapter, clarifying the influence of physical senses, it has been stated that getting the means of satiation of the five senses (sound, sight, smell, taste and touch) one should not become attached, desirous, or greedy. These unsatiable physical senses are the cause of continued rebirth. One should neither get attached to the desired things nor get vexed at the undesired things. He who gets attached to the desired things or gets vexed at undesired things, enters bondage of evil Karma.
In the Buddhist tradition 160 Soriya has been refered to as Soreyya. There he is said to be a merchant's son. However, there hardly appears to be anything common between Soriya of Jain tradition and Soreyya of Buddhist tradition. In the Vedic tradition 161 we find a Shauri, son of Shoorsen, in Dron-parva 144/7. He is said to be related to Vasudev, who is said to be the father of Krishna. Still it is difficult to say that Soriyayana of Rishibhashit, Soreyya of Pali literature and Shauri of Mahabharat are one person, or different persons. On the basis of their names it can be accepted that they may have been connected with the geographic area-Shoorsen. In the list of Acharyas in Brihadaranyakopanishad162 a disciple of Kashayan is mentioned as Sokarayan. It is possible that this transformed to Soriyayan in prakrit.
17. VIDUR
The seventeenth chapter of Rishibhashit163 contains discourse of Vidu (Vidur). Rishibhashit has mentioned him as Arhat Rishi. In Jain literature mention of Vidur is also available in Jnata-dharma-katha. 164 There only his name has been listed along with Arjun, Bhimsen, Nakul, Sahdev, Duryodhan, Gangeya and others. Besides this there is no other mention of Vidur in the canonical literature.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
